First stop, Antigua!
Well, well, well! We are finally here in Guatemala. Nine o’clock Guatemala time we landed in Guatemala City on May 18. As we snacked through the dark and empty streets of the city ironically the only flashing and blinking lights (not traffic lights) I saw were the neon boards of American fast food joints. We travelled late night through the smooth, sleek roads of Guatemala City to the bumpy cobblestone roads of Antigua, which was going to be our first base for groundwork.
Casa Rustica which translates to Hotel Rustic where we stayed was surprisingly located in the midst of bustling of tourists in the city. Our first day tour was to an elementary school that had big classrooms with lots of children to fill them. We walked into a second grade class and they were all amused to see us barge in and shouted out “Hola,” in unison. I was shaken when I heard about the high school graduation rate in Guatemala being 17 percent. I wondered how could these happy, cheery and enthusiastic children give up on education? The only conclusion I could think of is that the education they are given in school does it really help in fulfilling their immediate needs. Even if the education may turn out to be helpful on a long term, it would also probably make them think about leaving the country in the quest for higher education.
Another memorable place we visited was the landfill of Antigua. The landfill was a huge 40-foot pile of garbage with sandwiched layers of hauled soil in between. There were salivating and big bellied dogs running around along with sneaky vultures hovering above us. It was a very intimidating site and may quickly overwhelm anyone. Supposedly the landfill site was going to be a 10 month project, but it is still running after 14 years. Antigua being a major tourist attraction earns the most through tourism. The constant influx of foreigners is driving the government to divert all the taxpayers money to beautify public places and continue dumping trash on the outskirts without giving any heed to the repercussions.
Antigua is no doubt a very beautiful but tiny city with the volcanic mountains standing in the background looking like the guardians of the city. A funny thing I came across was that the restaurants are deceptive on first sight, on two occasions I was left dumbfounded when I thought it was a small cafe but I was led through a small passage to a beautiful and lush setting that was invisible from the outside. This is exactly how I feel the beauty and happiness of Guatemalans can be understood, by getting to know them better and at a deeper level.