Guatemala Day 7 - Service Project: Garden Boxes - Aug 5

So we got up on Friday morning and we were ready to go do some service. Greg came and met us here so that we could just follow him up to where they live and carry out their service projects. 

Everyone having breakfast and getting ready for the day.

This is the outside of the house where the Jensen's live and the home base of  Maya Eco Center (name now changed to Cultiva International).

So we were supposed to do service with the weather like this? It was rainy and cold and we were to help families plant garden boxes. Ok. We'll see how this goes.

When we got there they took us into their house and they explained what their organization was all about and how they got started. 

Really quick bio about them. The Jensen's are from the US. They both served missions in Guatemala in this same general area. The got married and after finishing school and living in the US for a while they decided that they wanted something different so they decided to sell their house, sell their belongings, leave their families and move to Guatemala. They packed everything in their van including their boys and drove to Guatemala. They noticed that in Guatemala, a country with beautiful temperate weather the people were only growing corn. This does not provide much nutrition for them but that's all that they know how to grow. So they started making these garden boxes where they can grow like 20 varieties of plants. They teach (mainly women cause they are home with their children) about nutrition, and gardening before they can get a garden box. Then people like us or themselves go and help them get it all set up and ready. We only had one day to help but it was an amazing experience that I had never had in Guatemala. Thanks to my sister Zildy for organizing this for us!

Their house is so simple but they are so happy including their four boys. Which just goes to prove that we don't need much material things to be happy. This is their bathroom sink.

Getting instructions

Going out to work in the mud! This is their driveway!

These little girls were following us as we dropped off people and materials at the different locations.

This is the start of the fence. They have to keep the chickens out somehow!

Getting the box ready and showing her how to use a drill.

Here we are all done with the garden box and the fence. This is Miriam and she is like 16 years old. She's looking forward to have better food for her family. She is the oldest daughter in the family and they sent her to take the lessons.

The entire crew after we all came back together. They divided us up into 3 groups. This was such a memorable experience! I hope to be able to go back in the future and help for more time!

After leaving the service project we drove to Chichicastenango since we didn't get to go before because of the protest. First order of business... FOOD!

The market is awesome here but mainly on market days which are Thursdays and Sundays. There were a few people there but not the same. It was still fun!

The church in Chichicastenango. 

Something different to eat??? We all flock! Ice cream cones!

Licuados

After Chichicastenango we drove to Antigua. It was dark and it was getting late so we went into town first. 

It's so beautiful in Antigua. It's Guatemala's first capital city until it got flooded and then it got moved to it's current location. So much to see, so little time!

After being in Antigua for a little while we left to find our house where we were staying. There we no signs anywhere and it was dark so we went back and forth, asked a bunch of people and after a long time looking we finally found it. This was another beautiful house that I would want to go back and stay in again. Only one night here.