August 22- To the Dump and Beyond

A number of changes in planned activities today made it the most memorable of the trip. After leaving Antigua, we headed back to Guatemala City for an afternoon flight to Flores in Peten province, which is in northern Guatemala. Our first stop was in the neighborhood of the Guatemala city dump. This is a huge dump, the size of 3 football fields and over 90 meters from high to low point, with a stream running through it. It is the only dump in the entire country for all human waste and sewage. Methane fires and land/garbage slides are common. Everyday, 900 trucks make 3 deliveries each. In this dump, and in the neighborhood surrounding, is a huge subculture. 100,000 people make their livelihood by picking garbage. When a truck enters the yard, people place their hands on the truck to say 'dibs' on the contents. These pickings are taken home, sorted, and sold. It is a bare subsistence living for a family. An American NGO, Safe Passage, has been working to provide schooling to some of the children, and to provide education and job skills to some of the parents here. The school is very nice, with 650 current students, but many more children are on waiting lists-they can only take the most needy and only some from each family. They provide meals to the children which are the best they get. They also have social enterprises with 50-100 women in business training and adult literacy. The women do sewing, or make beautiful jewelry out of recycled magazines. Grand Circle Foundation has decided to switch their support from the Antigua school (which has become self-supporting), to this one, so we had the opportunity to be the first group to visit here. It was a very emotional and eye-opening experience. I have since sent a donation to help support this enterprise.

After the emotional visit of the morning, we did a bus tour through the city on the way to the airport. We flew on a small (80 passenger) propellered plane to Santa Elena Flores in Peten. The biggest shock was the climate change from 75 degrees, to a hot, humid 95 degrees upon arrival. We arrived at La Casona del Lago Hotel, which was beautiful, and right on the lake. The air conditioning in the rooms was welcomed. For our last surprise of the day, Carlos (our trip leader), invited all 16 of us to his house, where his wife had spent 2 days preparing tamales for the group. We got to meet his son and daughter, as well as other family members. A great time was had by all. It was a great experience.