Both teams had the same experience by the end of the day (where one team went in the morning, the other team went in the afternoon & vise versa) so I will share the main story of the day.
One team started the day by participating in a real Latin American experience, shopping in the market!
The students were divided into teams and given 100 Quetzals (the Guatemalan dollar) a list of items to either purchase or take pictures of, and sent off to the market in the center of Guatemala. Points would be awarded for getting the best price on items, for the best looking produce and for purchasing the correct items. J Bonus points were to be awarded for the first team back to the guesthouse & for the team with the most amount of money left over at the end.
Some of the items on the list were fairly well known, such as a bunch of celery, a pineapple and a minimum amount of black beans. Others were a mystery to the team, like wiskil, sandia, apio & cebolla. Then there were the strange & exciting, like getting a picture with a pig’s head (dead or alive), getting a shoe shine, posing with a police officer, eating a tortilla hot off the grill and holding a live chicken! What a blast!
Off the teams raced, assured they had the speed & knowledge to win this competition! A few challenges stood in their way of total domination. One challenge was that the list was in Spanish. The little bit of Spanish the team members had learned was noticeably silent on “market phrases”. Most of the vendors spoke no English & in some cases only spoke the local dialect of Poqomchi! What a hoot watching the team members attempting to mime a pig’s head or asking where they can get a haircut! Another challenge was that there are thousands of Guatemalans in the market and the streets are very, very narrow. The Canadians were very polite & often got shoved aside by petite Guatemalan women in a rush to get their shopping done before all the good deals were gone! If one was to stop and let a Guatemalan cross in front of them, often they had to wait for a line of 15 or so others who were “motoring” through in tow. It was as if the market was working in opposition to completing the task in good order.
Once all the teams had safely returned, as with all competitions, there are winners & there are losers. One group triumphed with a reward of marshmallow-covered chocolate on a stick, while the others were left to console themselves that at least there would be a number of tasty meals over the next few days! Grocery shopping was done for the week.
In the afternoon, the team went to a nearby coffee finca (mini-plantation) to learn about the process of picking & preparing coffee beans. The surrounding mountains are at the perfect altitude for growing some of the best coffee in the world. Many of the team members now have a new appreciation for what it takes to satisfy their caffeine addictions.
The entire team changed into good clothes & walked to church for another real Latin American experience. The congregation of 200+ was very energetic with their worship, most were singing praises at the top of their lungs! The message was given alternately in Spanish & English by Les Peters, the Field Director of Impact Ministries, and translated by his wife Rita. With the addition of greetings from and to a number of guests, an alter call & more worship, the service finally ended after about 2 ½ hours! It is very eye opening to see how other cultures worship & pray. Lot’s of emotion here in Guatemala!
With dinner & an evening of debrief and discussion of the day, it was decided that lights out would be at 10:30 PM. The next few days will have very earlier starts & the team needs to be rested up for their children ministry activities.
Hasta mañana!
- D. Werth
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