Lazy & Crazy on the Cahabón (Written for the OGG Blog)

Semuc Champey

The geological oddity that is Semuc Champey is widely advertised as the most beautiful spot in Guatemala. It consists of a series of limestone pools and gentle waterfalls that perch atop the raging Cahabón River. At its mouth, visitors can gawk as the river disappears in a torrent beneath their feet, and then, after relaxing in the cascading turquoise blue waters above, watch as the river furiously remerges 300m below.

The Cahabón River

The Cahabón Disappearing Beneath Semuc Champey's Lime Stone Bridge

And Reappearing 300m Below

Meanwhile, up above...

Photo courtesy of Laura Huddart

OGG, after an epic week in Tzibal, arrived in Lanquin, a quiet town that largely exists as a service station and hub for the travellers looking to lay eyes on and wallow in the waters of the Lanquin River and nearby Semuc Champey. There, the group settled into a cabana at El Retiro Lodge, a “backpackers paradise” if there ever was one, to enjoy the first of 3 days of relaxation and reflection before ITT. On day 2, OGG migrated the 11 km to Las Marias, a more modest refuge strategically situated 800m from Semuc’s gates. The group spent the better part of the day basking in the sun and bathing in the pools of Semuc before taking to candle light and exploring the nearby Kamba Caves.

Despite its many hotels, hostels, and rumours that Lanquin would imminently acquire its first ATM, rumours that have been circulating since my first visit in 2007, the tourist town still provides no way of getting all important Quetzales. So, leaving the group at Guatemala’s natural spa, Allison and I hauled ass into Cobán to haul out dinero. Not an unenjoyable journey by pick-up and micro through the “egg carton hills” and one which was deliciously capped off by a lunch of empanadas and papas fritas. But, TIG (this is Guatemala) and with wait times the 4hr trip turned into 6 and we returned from our day just in time to see the rest of the group returning in inner tubes from theirs.

The following day the group returned to Lanquin to meet the guys from the Association of Tourism and Ecological Development of Saquijá (ADETES). Deep in the thick of the Guatemalan jungle, and tucked into the mountains of Alta Verapaz, the community of Saquijá was founded over 100 years ago by a group of three families. Today the community boasts about 1000 residents, most of whom live as subsistence farmers. But since 2006, they have begun to use the attraction of the river to improve their circumstances through a community based tourism initiative. ADETES has received professional training from international rafting instructors and the Red Cross of Guatemala and now guides foreigners and locales alike down the class I, II, III, IV, and V’s of the Río Lanquin and Río Cahabón, on a route that has been ranked one of the top twelve jungle river trips in the world by Paddler Magazine.

The "Dream Team"
Photo Courtesy of Allison Isaak

Sadly, Laura had fallen ill and she and Jay remained behind as the group geared up and set out for 5hr’s of craziness on the Cahabón. Despite, confronting “Rock N Roll,” “Entonces,” and the infamous “Tres Hermanos,” OGG’s “Dream Team” and “Unnamed Boat #2” emerged unscathed from a river that had recently and severely victimized two PeaceCorps volunteers. Back at Las Marías, OGG enjoyed a good meal, a better beer, and a well-earned bed. The following day they would be heading by Micro across the Chixoy-Polochic Fault and Minas Mountains to the Department of Izabal where they would visit the mining affected communities of Cahaboncito, Lotte 8, and El Estor.

The Land of Love & Tortillas

Tzibal is a small indigenous village located about two kilometers from Campur in what I affectionately call Guatemala’s “egg carton hills” but don’t try to find it on a map. There are about 380 Q'eqchi' residents who rely on the farming of coffee, cardamom, bananas, black pepper, and mandarins as their principle sources of income. The community has no electricity or running water, but has just acquired a cell-phone signal, albeit faint, and to we CLARO carrying Trip Leader’s frustration, only for those with TIGO. We also quickly learned that the community boasts abundances of love, generosity, and tortillas, so many tortillas.

The Egg Carton Hills

From our bienvenidos at the escuela, to meals with our lovely families, soccer games in the street, haircut, healthcare, and Chicky (oh so delicious chocolate covered cookies) runs to Campur, jungle hikes, evening masses, and poolside parties, OGG spent an amazing week cultivating cross-cultural connections and constructing a “bottle school.”


Bottle School projects are being undertaken across Guatemala with the support and tutelage of OG partner, Hug-It-Forward. HIF is a San Diego-based non-profit that blends intangible change with tangible results. They utilize 100% of donations on the ground in the communities where bottle schools are built; meaning absolutely no money is taken for overhead or salaries. Their Bottle Schools are only initiated by community invitation and initiative. The participation of the collective ensures a sense of local ownership and pride while serving the educational needs of the community’s children. Hug-it-Forward then coordinates with the Guatemalan Ministry of Education, and other organizations (including PeaceCorps), to facilitate the construction and sustainability of the innovative structures and its services. There are already no less than 10 built in Guatemala with many more in the planning stages.

How it works

But I’ll let Ali, Allison, and our fantastic PeaceCorps host, Hannah, share there takes.

Hannah (quoted from her blog ¨Cartas de Lejos”):

“The 11 volunteers (Canadian and American University students/recent grads) stayed in the village with host families and worked at the school each day, classifying the 10,000 bottles (a horribly tedious task that I owe them big time for) hauling rocks, and playing with the village children. I owe these guys a huge thanks for their time, dedication, and amazing enthusiasm for the bottle project and the Tzibal community at large. The community could not have been prouder to host this lovely group of "kaxlan," and their stay will long be remembered by the families they stayed with and the children who will soon have a brand-new school.”

Allison adds:

“… Well, we tried to spend the week working, but we kept getting distracted by the kids wanting to play with us, the teachers taking pictures of us, women inviting us to their weekly woman’s group, families taking us on a hike through the jungle, and the whole town throwing us a fiesta that lasted for 6 hours. What a week. But we did manage to move some concrete and sort the thousands of bottles that will be used in the construction of the bottle school…”

Constructing Bottle School
Additional photos courtesy of Laura Huddart

 Ali tells a little more of the story:

“Tzibal stole our hearts to the fullest extent. From the first step we took into the classroom to the last steps we took out of the aldea [hamlet], we felt the strongest sense of hospitality imaginable. Upon our arrival, the teachers and students arranged us to walk in a single file line into the classroom so that they could give us each an individual round of applause.”

They then serenaded us with Q’eqchi’ and Spanish songs, challenged us to games of musical chairs and fed us fresh fruit and Caparina. When we finally admitted defeat, we were introduced to the families with whom we would be spending the week. The hospitality however, never ceased.

“Throughout the entire week they housed us, fed us, did our laundry, and genuinely cared for us as a family would. What really got me was that they provided us with everything we needed and more, which was particularly grounding considering they had next to nothing to give. Living with next to nothing, my family showed me what it was to be truly happy. This is a community with no running water, no electricity, and few, if any, living comforts at all, and yet they live like they have all they need. In carrying out their daily lives, they taught by example that simplicity makes for a richer life than complexity. This mindset rang through the entire community; never before have I interacted with happier children than those of Tzibal, and what do they have? A community soccer ball, basketball, and volleyball. The ability of those children to take what they have and make the very most of it was, to say the least, refreshing after growing up surrounded by the excesses of North America. The spirit of the entire community- men, women, and children- was in one word inspiring. I have never met a more resilient, hospitable, and purely happy group of people in my entire life.

The kids of Tzibal
Additional photos courtesy of Allie Stote, Allison Isaak, and Laura Huddart

Allison goes on to describe the unique connection that was made.

“From the moment we set foot in the community to the moment we left, we felt so welcomed … Sure we didn’t speak any Q’eqchi’ and yes, most of our host mom’s didn’t speak any Spanish either, but somehow we still communicated and connected and my host mom still wanted my cell number, not sure what she will do with it but the gesture was really touching. She also tried to teach me how to make tortillas at which I failed miserably but I made a solid effort. The whole community was so thankful for our presence and so gracious to us that we at times felt like we hadn’t done enough for them in return for all their gratitude, and so to my family and friends in Tzibal, I say, “bantiosh,” [Thank you in Q’eqchi] and hopefully we were able to have as positive an impact on Tzibal as Tzibal had on us.”

OGG & Tzibal
Additional photos courtesy of Allison Isaak, Chelsea Poupore, and Laura Huddart

“B'antiox” indeed. OGG was so touched by the hospitality, generosity, and so taken by the genuine connections they made with the community of Tzibal that participants decided that their work on the bottle school was just simply not enough. So after some, but not much, deliberation, and an über unanimous decision that OGG’s fundraising should stay with its heart, in Tzibal. For those unfamiliar with Operation Groundswell: One unique part of OG’s program is that each and every participant is required to fundraise $1000, 50% of which is used to facilitate contributions to local partners and projects, and, in part, to help offset the burden and costs associated with accommodating X number of gringos. 35% is secured in a central OG fund for larger scale and longer term projects while 10% is used to carbon offset all participant and TL flights.


So, OGG reflected on the week’s events and recalled their participation in a community meeting which all of the town’s women and many of the children attended. The gathering had been held in an old church space because none of the women’s houses were big enough to host the group. They remembered that the following night, we had attended an evangelical church service that was held in someone’s one-room homestead. Locals and OGers had been crammed onto the few benches with children, big and small, necessarily sitting on their parents’ laps. Nevertheless, many people had been forced to stand in the doorways and outside the house to participate in the service. Additionally, our work in and around the school and afternoon activities with the kids had made us all acutely aware that the only space for outdoor games and sport was on the town’s main road, a sloping patch of dirt and gravel, where in addition to the dangers of turning vehicles, serious falls, scrapes, and bruises were common. Needless to say the community’s need for a safer place to play and learn was obvious. And combining this need with the lack of space for women’s meetings and social gatherings, we came to the conclusion that fundraising could be used to contribute to the construction of a recreational and civic space. So a covered “Cancha“ was proposed. Not just a safe place for games, gym class, and after school sports, but a public space capable of accommodating the community’s social congregations.


The team voted and agreed that – pending the wishes of Tzibal’s 300 citizens – we would continue working with Tzibal to construct its first Centro de Comunidad.
Enthusiasm for the collaborative project hasn’t diminished. A potential design has been generously provided by Baird Sampson Neuert Architects and a new larger plot of land acquired courtesy of a local resident. However, even with the pledges of land and labour, material costs will still exceed community means and OGG’s budget. Participants have therefore channelled their enthusiasm into a renewed fundraising effort. The goal is $6,500, a daunting task but a modest sum for what will become a social hub and living testament to cross-cultural and communitarian initiative. For all those equally inspired to help, we invite, nay, we ask that you to make a pledge, small or large, Quetzal or Dollar.

On behalf of OGG 2011 and the community of Tzibal, Thank You, Gracias, and B'antiox!

Pledges and donations will be accepted on Operation Groundswell’s dojiggy fundraising site available below.

 DONATE NOW

For more information: See an executive summary of the project proposal below or please feel free to contact me or any of the other team members. Directions are at the bottom.

Project Proposal: Executive Summary

Introduction
Tzibal is a small indigenous village located about two kilometers from Campur in what I affectionately call Guatemala’s “egg carton hills”. There are about 380 Q'eqchi' residents who rely on the farming of coffee, cardamom, bananas, black pepper, and mandarins as their principle sources of income.  The community has no electricity or running water, but abundances of love, generosity, and tortillas, so many tortillas.


From OGG’s bienvenidos at the escuela, to meals with our lovely families, soccer games in the street, haircut, healthcare, and Chicky (oh so delicious chocolate covered cookies) runs to Campur,  jungle hikes, evening masses, and poolside parties, OGG spent an amazing week cultivating cross-cultural connections and, when there was time, “building” a bottle school. But it didn't end there.

OGG was so touched by the hospitality, generosity, and so taken by the genuine connections they made with the community of Tzibal that its participants decided that their work on the bottle school was just simply not enough. So, after some deliberation and a unanimous vote it was decided that OGG’s fundraising should stay with its heart, in Tzibal. For those unfamiliar with Operation Groundswell: One unique part of OG’s program is that each and every participant is required to fundraise $1000, approx. 50% of which is used to facilitate in-country contributions to local partners and projects. Approx. 35% is secured in a central OG fund for larger scale and longer termed projects while 10% is used to carbon offset all participant and TL flights.

After some reflection and community consultation, the need for a safer site to play and facility capable of accommodating community congregations was made explicit. Consequently, participants concluded that they should respond to the community’s request and contribute to the construction of a civic and recreational space, the result is “La Cancha” project, a covered outdoor Centro de Comunidad.

Enthusiasm for the collaborative project hasn’t diminished. A potential design has been generously provided by Baird Sampson Neuert Architects and a new larger plot of land acquired courtesy of a local resident. However, even with the pledges of land and labour, material costs will still exceed community means and OGG’s budget. Participants have therefore channelled their enthusiasm into a renewed fundraising effort. The goal is $6,500, a daunting task but a modest sum for what will become a social hub and living testament to cross-cultural and communitarian initiative. For all those equally inspired to help, we invite, nay, we ask that you to make a pledge, small or large, Quetzal or Dollar. Donations can be made at www.operationgroundswell.causevox.com/Tzibal

On behalf of OGG 2011 and the community of Tzibal, Thank You and B'antiox!

The current situation
Additional photos courtesy of Allie Stote and Laura Huddart

La Cancha - The Beginning

The Goal (Why Give?)

The principal goal of the Cancha project is to construct a public and multi-purpose community centre and versatile recreational infrastructure. The site is situated in close proximity to the community school facilitating its use for school related games, sports, and activities. Outside of school hours the space will be available for soccer, volleyball, and basketball providing a safe space away from the effects of alcohol and domestic violence, which remain concerns in rural communities such as Tzibal. Additionally, the community centre will provide a forum for cultural and civic gatherings, including fiestas, ferias, performances, community consultations, and the women’s group meetings. Tzibal’s access to comparable facilities is limited by its isolation. Moreover, localizing such events will promote civic engagement and cultural enrichment, sustaining and further fostering the strong sense of community already present in Tzibal.

The Way (Courtesy of Baird Sampson Neuert Architects)

Based on community consultation, OGG consulted award winning Toronto firm, Baird Sampson Neuert Architects about plausible design options. Preliminary plans were subsequently drawn up and presented to Tzibal in September 2011. The design includes a paved court with nets and goal posts. Reminiscent of a Mayan ball court, 3 tier bleachers will frame the two lengths of the Cancha. Two steel support arms and one tensioned cable in an A-frame formation will stand in each of the four corners (two tall: approx. 7 metres and two low: approx. 3 metres). The roof utilises a web of steel cabling held in tension by the rigid steel substructure. Suspended above, aluminum panelling will span the 1000m2 tented surface providing shade, shelter, and natural drainage. Beneath the two low drainage points will be 20,000+ litre cast concrete cisterns. Positioned, adjacent to the catchment cisterns will be sanitation facilities (special sinks known as pilas as well as showers) with latrines positioned nearby.

The Innovation
Courtesy of Baird Sampson Neuert Architects

The Preliminary Design
Courtesy of Baird Sampson Neuert Architects

The benefits of the Cancha’s innovative design and the campus’ multifunctional holism are as follows: 

1. The suspension roof and substructure minimize the use steel components reducing weight while maximizing strength and reducing overall cost by more than $10,000. 

2. The paneled cable roof is devised to act as rainwater catchment system channelling rain water from its 1000m2 surface area to cisterns below providing a sustainable public source of potable water and service to sinks (pilas) and showers on site. Average precipitation in the area can reach 400mm/year and, therefore, catchment potential is over 320,000 litres/year. 

The campus will also accommodate dry composting toilettes which will, in combination with the sinks and showers, service a sanitation and nutrition program developed by Youth Development Peace Corps worker, Hannah Gdalman. Pilas and showers will service improved community hygiene regiments, while the DAFF inspired dry composting latrines will improve waste management and provide fertilizer for a tiered fruit and vegetable garden that will in turn contribute needed nutrient rich foods to local diets.

The Second Draft
Courtesy of Baird Sampson Neuert Architects

The Floor Plan
Courtesy of Baird Sampson Neuert Architects

A-Frames, Cisterns, and ...
Courtesy of Baird Sampson Neuert Architects

... Composting Latrines
Courtesy of Baird Sampson Neuert Architects

The Budget

Project Revenue in CAD$
Tzibal Community Donation	$ 600 + all manual labour and transport
OGG 2011 Donation OGG Alum Fundraising	$ 1,500 $ 6,500
Pending OG Project Fund Request	$ 6,500
Pending OGG 2012 Donations Municipality Contribution Total Revenue	$ 2,000 Basketball/Soccer Nets $ 17,100
Project Expenses in CAD$
Land Property	$ 2,000
Gravel	$ 1,500
Steel Posts	$ 1,500
Roof Cables	$ 4,000
Aluminum Roofing	$ 3,500
Cement	$ 3,000
Goal posts/nets	no cost
“Pila” Sinks, Shower & Toilet	$ 1,000
Transport of Materials	no cost
Manual Labour	no cost
Total Expenses	$ 16,500

The Plan

The initial project proposal and preliminary design, which was developed by the OGG 2011 participants, henceforth referred to as OGG Alum, Program Coordinators, Ben Sampson and Jay Wall, as well as Baird Sampson Neuert Architects, received overwhelming support from community leaders. However, the Cancha will require approximately $20,000 worth of land, labour, and material inputs. Although, this is dramatically cheaper than similarly sized structures and more easily implementable than more traditional court designs, it nevertheless, remains well beyond the means of any single stakeholder and thus can only be achieved through a sustained collaborative initiative. For their part, OGG Alum committed $1,500 to help secure the two cuerdas of land required for the facility’s footprint and to facilitate the commencement of necessary clearing and grading. This was delivered in person on October 3, 2011 by Ben Sampson. The OGG Alum additionally pledged to raise $6,500 privately in hopes that that number would be matched by OG’s central project fund. In this regard, on October 9, 2011, a project proposal was submitted to OGHQ which included a formal request for $6,500 in grant moneys as well as provided the framework for the establishment of the Tzibal Cancha Project Fund which launched on Oct. 15, 2011. The remaining inputs will come from the community, the municipality, and locally based NGO’s in the form of financial contributions and material donations.

As of January 1, 2012, the Cancha Project Fund held contributions from five OGG Alum and their generous donors amounting to $4,000. A second transfer was subsequently made to Tzibal on March 3, 2012 so as to facilitate the requisition of materials and the commencement of construction. On March 5, 2012, OGHQ approved the grant request for $6,500 and began welcoming donations at www.operationgroundswell.causefox.com/Tzibal. May 1, 2012, is now the final deadline for the achievement of the all required revenues. Final blueprints and total funding will be subsequently transferred to on-site coordinator and community member, Eric Cuz Choc in person on May 15, 2012 with construction slated for June & July, completion set for early August, and the Cancha’s inauguration tentatively scheduled for August 2012.

But we need your help. So, please Give!

The Stakeholders

This is the wonderful and diverse group of people working together from Guatemala, Canada, and the United States to bring this project to fruition.

The Community of Tzibal San Pedro Carchá, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala
Hannah Gdalman Youth Development Volunteer, Peace Corps OG Financial Liaison Aldea Campur, San Pedro Carchá, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala		Erick Rodolfo Cuz Choc Director, Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta OG Materials/Operations Coordinator Aldea Tzibal, San Pedro Carcha, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala
Ben Sampson OG Guatemala Trip Leader Project Coordinator Toronto / Guatemala / Ghana / France ben@operationgroundswell.com ben.sampson.coburn@utoronto.ca tel. 416-505-4262 (Canada)  / 502 4679-0301 (Guatemala)		Jay Wall OG Guatemala Trip Leader Project Associate Toronto, ON jay@operationgroundswell.com tel. 416-899-6633
Allie Stote OG Guatemala Participant Project Coordinator Cambridge, MA stote.al@gmail.com tel. 781-548-1063		Allison Isaak OG Guatemala Participant Project Associate Brandon, MB allison.isaak@yahoo.ca
Chelsea Poupore OG Guatemala Participant Project Associate Oneonta, NY poupcm05@suny.oneonta.edu		Laura Huddart OG Guatemala Participant Project Associate Toronto, ON laurahuddart@gmail.com
Nichole Trudeau OG Guatemala Participant Project Associate Ottawa, ON nikki.trudeau18@hotmail.com		Eva Tong OG Guatemala Participant Project Associate Vancouver, BC e.tong02@gmail.com
Porschia Thomas OG Guatemala Participant Project Associate Ajax, ON porschia.thomas@live.ca

DONATE NOW

Back On the Road BUT Still Off the Grid (Written for the OGG Blog)

Its day two of ITT and I have hit the proverbial wall. 4 weeks of early mornings and late nights, nursing and counselling participants, 9hr milk runs, oh and of course regularly scheduled OGG projects and activities have taken their toll. Sniffles have been joined by pressure headaches, joint pain, and body aches. I’m currently kickin’ back in a hammock slung on the dock of my bungalow hostel nestled in the mangroves of Rio Dulce, listening to the soothing sounds of nature but all I can think of are, in no particular order, budget, itinerary, my ERB protocol, my survey design, my course registration, and did I mention budget. But let’s not wallow in self-indulgent despondency for too long. The past weeks have been incredible. 9 recent strangers left the comfortable rituals of life back home in Canada (and the US), choosing instead, as I did 4 short years ago, to explore the small, funny shaped space below Mexico and allow it to leave its indelible mark on their lives. And this past week will no doubt reflect heavily on the shape that that mark will take. But first it’s worth recounting how we came to arrive in the community Tzibal, OGG’s most memorable stop yet.

By Friday afternoon the group sat weary but proud on the steps of Todos Santos’ Municipalidad after conquering the 6 day, 70km trek from Nebaj across the Cuchumatanes, that had tried patience’s and tested resolves. But after a brief charla, some spaghetti and only 12hrs of R&R, the group was on the move again, this time by bus across Highway 7W, a faint dotted line that meanders across Google maps from Huehue to Uspantán, before crawling along the steep edges of Quiche’s mountainous ridges to San Cristobal de Verapaz, then finally descends down to Cobán. 


In 2008 disaster struck this area when a section of mountain near the once beautiful Rio Negro buckled and collapsed to the valley floor below. Beneath the rubble lay a 2km stretch of Highway 7W, the only tangible connection between the highland towns and Cobán, the capital of Alta Verapaz, and economic epicentre for the region. The national government however, remains defiant in the face of local demands for the roadway’s reconstruction, citing the elevated levels of seismic activity in the area. Activity that some community members and Canadian NGO Rights Action believe is directly linked to a hydroelectric project that in addition to having plugged the Rio Negro, reducing the once mighty river to a trickle, has purportedly drilled 40km from the dam site through the bedrock to the current location of its generating station. Investigation is still pending but due to the importance of the route to the local economies, a makeshift alternative has been constructed by the surrounding communities reconnecting the misty mountains of Quiché to Alta Verapaz and Cobán’s bustling markets. Because the government is perceived to have contributed to its destruction and has thus far played no part in its reconstruction, the road has been effectively privatized, complete with guard posts on either side restricting through traffic to community sanctioned vehicles. An impressive display of autonomous community action. 


Despite the appearance of slumbering passengers on the micros which run the 2½hr journey from Uspantán to San Cristobal, however, the road is definitely not for the faint of heart. The hastily constructed dirt and gravel track is prone to wash-outs, and is often slick from the rain and mists. The Guatemalan government considers it unsafe and has posted dramatic signs warning of its perils. Lonely Planet, demonstrating a little literary panache, describes the journey:

“After a section littered with boulders, the road seems to end at the brink of an abyss, then descends relentlessly into a valley along a rock-strewn track and up again over a similarly ravaged surface, as drivers boldly navigate hairpin turns and passengers pray their vehicle doesn’t lose its grip over the muddy surface.”

RN-7W or whats left of it.

In spite of, or perhaps, because of it being quintessentially off the grid, I had planned for the group to brave this hazardous yet beautiful part of Guatemala rather than return to Guate to take the more mundane freeways. However, because the trek had forced us to leave baggage behind in Xela the crew had to be separated. At 5am I departed with Ali, Allison, Ana, and the Quetzaltrekkers guides for Xela while the rest stayed behind in Todos Santos with Jay with the intention of beginning their journey later that morning. My crew successfully arrived in Xela, visited banks, tiendas, and repacked before a lunch of tostadas and choco-bananas. Finally, we said a hasty goodbye to our adopted OG’er and friend Anna from the chicken bus door and off we went to reconnect with our team in Uspantan, saving the best part of Highway 7W for the following morning. After a good rooftop game of Apples to Apples and sweet, sweet sueños in the beautiful Hostal Don Gabriel, we were off. Weather allowed a more civilized crossing of the gorge than I had experienced during pre-con but periodic screams, and the near constant cries of “wow” kept our Guatemalan escorts entertained as OGG made its way to Cobán. After some creative troubleshooting landed the group on a farm truck for the remaining 2hr drive, the team was welcomed into Campur by Peace Corps volunteer, Hannah, and local coordinator, Eric, to begin a week of bottle school building and bonding with the neighbouring community of Tzibal.

The fearless OGG crew courageously crossing RN-7W.
 Photo Credit: Allison

OG Goes Off the Grid (Written for the OGG Blog)

Having conquered Santa Maria everyone displayed a new determination and the calves to match, and seemed keen to stretch their new legs “off the grid”. So following our week in Xela OGG hooked up with Quetzaltrekkers again to undertake a week long trek across a 70km stretch of the Sierra Cuchumatanes, the highest non-volcanic mountain range in Central America. The walk took us from the Ixil Triangle, a unique and isolated enclave of Ixil Maya, who had endured perhaps the most intense and sustained repression during the civil war, to the colourful Mam Maya community of Todos Santos, where the traditional white and red striped trousers still adorn the men’s legs and the blue ribboned straw hats still sit atop people’s heads.


On Monday morning, Jay and crew departed with guides Eric, Anne, and Santi for Nebaj, while I remained in Xela to resolve OGG’s chronic cash conundrum. The group arrived uneventfully in Nebaj in the late afternoon, and after taking in the sights and sounds of Guatemala’s largest Ixil community, everyone met Bernardo, a town elder, who in his own language described his and the communities experience beneath the repressive regime between 1977 and 1982, at the height of the civil war. With the help of his Daughter and OG participant, Chelsea, his tale was relayed to the group.


 He explained that in the Ixil Triangle emigrants and guerrilla sympathizers were targeted and by 1981 disappearances were widespread with suspected supporters sometimes buried alive in 40ft deep mass graves. The army required all campesino’s to acquire permission to go their fields, detailing time of departure, and return, when instructions were not followed to the letter, culprits would be punished as guerrilla accomplices. Simultaneously, the government began a war of attrition against the areas inhabitants, prices on basic commodities were artificial hiked, salt climbed from 3Q to 10Q. People were increasingly forced to flee into the surrounding hills. Bernardo, described how he and his family retreated to the refuge of the mountains leaving behind all of their belongings. With no shirts and no shoes, they roamed, and they lived. But the Army was given orders to seek and destroy all those finding shelter in the mountains. Soldiers burned homesteads and harvests while military planes dropped pamphlets throughout the area promising immunity to those who chose to return. But when people heeded the call they were immediately targeted for torture, and slaughter. Consequently, people turned their voices to god, asking why. Then even Nebaj’s sacred spaces became the scenes of horror as the army used churches to trap, torture, and kill those that had sought sanctuary within. By the 90’s fighting had calmed but according to Bernardo the army’s repressive presence remained.


 While participants proffered questions, the most potent follow up came from Bernardo himself who posed the group one of his own: Why did we care to know? A potent and perturbing window into the pronounced sense of abandonment and isolation felt by the victims of the genocidal campaign in the Ixil Triangle.


While the group listened to and learned Nebaj’s story, I bumped along the gravel roads of Quiche enroute to our reunion. But as my Chicken Bus raced around hairpin turns, with only the near constant sound of the horn to announce our intentions to oncoming traffic, a landslide up ahead turned the snaking cliff side mountain road into a bottle neck, and funnelled a cattle truck directly into our path. Choosing hillside to cliffside, our Chicken Bus swerved into the rocky face, sending passengers, human and feathered, flying. Luckily, except a few cuts and bruises, the passengers emerged one by one, and soon they and I were all standing safely alongside the road, bags and cargo in hand, awaiting the next passing Chicken Bus.


 I arrived in Nebaj just in time to have my wounds tended to before a dinner of pasta and delicious strawberry rhubarb pie at Popi’s Restaurant and Hostel, a self-sufficiency project of Mayan Hope, a non-profit dedicated to providing educational, nutritional, medical, ecological, and other needed services to indigenous families, villages, and abandoned or abused children of Guatemala.


After a hearty Breakfast, OGG set out from Nebaj, ascending and descending the mountain slopes, passing through a number of the regions more isolated communities. In one such community called Acul, rowed houses, pretty red roofs, and a visit to local cheese farm betrayed a more sinister history. Anne, Quetzaltrekker’s lead guide explained that one day in 1980-81 the army had come. They lined up all of the local men, dividing them into guerrilla and army sympathizers respectively. Army supporters were then brought to the school and told that they would go to heaven, while the guerrilla supporters were taken to the church and told they would go to hell. They were subsequently thrown into a hole dug in the church floor, trampled and buried alive. After the outright destruction of all its existing stores and houses, Acul was reconstructed as a prototypical example of the model villages, the virtues of which Guatemala extolled internationally (see the article, "Guatemala 'Model Cities' Prove More Like Prisons," printed in the LA Times in 1989). For some of us, it became difficult to ameliorate the beautiful and tranquil veil that the landscape provided with the terror and tragedy that lay beneath it and still haunted the homesteads that we passed.


In the evening, the group arrived in Xexecom, and settled on mats and mattresses in the small community’s school house before joining local families for a fantastic dinner and authentic Temascal (a Mayan steam sauna) before bed. At 3am OGG rose to tackle the hardest part of the trek, a climb up to the summit of an immense plateau strewn with huge limestone boulders originating from the ocean floor. After some snacking, relaxation, and a snooze in the sunshine, the team continued along the plateau passing several small settlements where the local people make their living growing crops, herding sheep and making hand woven textiles. Later in the afternoon, the group descended the face of a beautiful ravine on which perched a small community. There an abandoned school house served as shelter for night.

OGG takin' a pausa amongst the rocks.

Ali and Chelsea share a moment.

Anna and Ali demonstrate who's who.

The following morning we descended to the valley floor to enjoy a hardy breakfast at the river’s edge before climbing the opposite slope and conquering its aptly named Agony Hill. Just before lunch the group was challenged by Agony’s bigger brother, Terror Hill. But OGG rose to the challenge, with its TL’s losing a foot race by only 1:20 to the record setting pace of Quetzaltrekkers’ guide, Santi. Santi is an amazing young Guatemalan man who with a little help from the Hogar Abierto and Quetzaltrekkers’ has earned a scholarship to continue working with the trekking organization and its affiliated home for vulnerable youth.

Santi!

Lunch was served on a beautiful hill with views of the plateau, before a chicken bus whisked us off to Laventosa, a small indigenous town on the east side of La Torre, the highest non-volcanic point in all of Central America. There we met Geronimo, a local community man who is attempting to carve out a sustainable tourism enterprise for him and his community. After a delicious dinner, Geronimo stayed with the group telling us of his and Laventosa’s toils during the war. His amazing tale left many of us struggling to digest.

Ali and Geronimo at La Torre.

The following morning Geronimo’s son helped guide OGG to the top of La Torre. At 3837m the summit provided the group a spectacular view of Mexico and virtually all of Guatemala’s volcanic range including OGG’s previous nemesis, Santa Maria, which now looked insignificant in the distance. The peak also proved opportune for a game of high-stakes, high altitude Samurai.

OGG at the top of La Torre (3837m)

From La Torre, we descended down through the beautiful Cuchumatanes Mountains to the streets of Todos Santos, our final destination. Despite exhaustion OGG decided not to pass up a visit to a completed bottle school. Meeting with its bubbly PeaceCorp volunteer, Stefanie, the group got to see the future fruits of their labours and get the goods on their upcoming project with Hug-it-Forward and the community of Tzibal. In the evening, a charla with Francisco provided a contrasting account of Guatemala’s guerrillas, criticising their perversion of the revolutionary idealism and laying blame for Todos Santos’ torments squarely at the feet of both warring parties. A satisfying dinner of spaghetti followed, and the weary trekkers were soon settled in at the Hispanomaya Spanish School, a non-profit, cooperative language school that donates all its proceeds towards scholarships for local school children.


Allison tells of the week’s epic travels:

“The trek. So we have discovered that it is impossible to stay clean in this country for more than 10 minutes, especially whilst on a 6 day trek through the mountains, splashing through puddles, sloshing through mud, slipping and sliding, taking down the tour guides in front of us as we fall - Japleen, discovering that socks and sandals are the worst possible combination for hiking, and being drenched from head to toe in our own sweat. As a result, we all decided to embrace the hippie within all of us, which included taking on new names like Earth Spirit, Munching Squirrel, and Prairie Wind. This movement was initiated by James who tore the sleeves off his shirt using his raw strength and the toe nail of a lion. Hiking an average of 13-15 km a day is no easy feat especially when you throw in the 87 switchbacks, Agony Hill and the Terror Hill, unless you´re Santi, the local 19 year old tour guide who ran up the hill of terror in about 7 minutes, not even out of breath while the most of us took anywhere between 15 to 30 minutes. However, the view is absolutely breath taking. The landscape that we passed trough is so diverse and so stunning, it´s unbelievable to wake up above the clouds and look out across the other side of the mountain at where you were yesterday or where you will be by the end of the day. Some nights were pretty chilly so group snuggling was again appreciated. On the last day we reached the highest non-volcanic point in Central America, and looked out over the horizon at the peak of Santa Maria and thought to ourselves, yeah, we conquered that too. Of course, a mountain summit is not complete without a celebratory game of Samurai. The trek was not only a physically challenging but it was also an emotional journey as we heard the stories of several locals and their experiences throughout the Civil War and their continuing struggle with poverty and abandonment by their own government. By the end we were all exhausted but in a good way, knowing that we had accomplished a lot more then we had thought ourselves capable of and feeling more connected to the people we had met along the way and the beautiful country that we have the opportunity to explore.”

A picture says a 1000 words...

Allison and Porschia all geared up.

James conquers day 1.

Just another view on Day 2.

OGG descending to camp on Day 2.

Anna and Nikki enjoying a cup of tea river side.

'Cause trekkin' 70km on one's feet is just too damn easy for OGG.

Ali and Allison taking us to the gun show.