Excursion day: Mayan village

Today we woke up and had breakfast at seven which consisted of black beans, fried plantains, scrambled eggs, and one of Guatemala's many different juices. After breakfast, we began our bus trip to a town close to Patzun. The car ride was fairly long and very bumpy. This village is located pretty far into he mountains so the roads were rough! Needless to say, we did a litle off roaring in our vans. We were visiting the village wih an organization called Behrhorst, which installs gray water filters, provides access to drinking water, and constructs safer stoves and sanitary latrines in villages around Guatemala. It is a great organization that provides extremely beneficial resources to villages in rural Guatemala. When we arrived we were greeted by the auxiliary mayor of the town and several other organization members, in addition to approximately twenty children shouting Hola!!! in unison. It was adorable. We then went on a tour of the village which was full of many fields of crops, such as broccoli, corn, snow peas, and many others. It was extremely impressive. We then went down into the woods and saw the spring they had made allowing them to have access to running water. The set up wa extermely impressive. We then got a chance to play with the kids, sing songs, and play duck duck goose! Then the people of the village made us traditional food of their village. This was a corn based broth with chicken, rice and vegetables, and tamales. It was very good and very generous of them. We then got a chance to look at their houses and see the stoves the organization installed. These stoves have a little chimney that allows the smoke from the stove to go outside the house. This allows the smoke to go outside and the house to be ventilated, helping women and children to avoid respiratory illnesses. The town was amazing and we were so lucky to have a chance to see what Behrhorst does to help the people in rural Guatemala!
Rose (Occupational Therapy Student)