Inching towards Freedom

Guatemala, the largest Central American country, is home to Tikal National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The “Place of Whispers” has ancient ruins from the Mayan times, dated from 600 BC to 1000 AD. 

While Guatemala was a short 4-5 hour stop on our way to Costa Rica from Belize, we still got a chance to learn a lot about the country’s history and current issues.   Our local, highly educated and opinionated tour guide gave us a flavor of the country's politics. When asked about woman’s rights, his answer was bluntly, “what rights?” When we asked him about gay rights, he simply grunted implying, “are you out of your mind?” He continued by saying that people ostracize gays and they don't dare come out.  We asked if the elections were fair in Guatemala and he responded by saying, “no, of course” as if it was a given. He believes that his country is corrupt and if he had a chance to lead the country, the first thing he would do is shoot the politicians. “Politicians know how to create a problem out of a solution, they get paid to do it," he went on.  He said that the elders in the small towns know what the most pressing problems are and how they can be solved. He believes the people have the answers; it is just that no one asks them. He continued, “the kids here pick up a machete before they pick up a pencil,” backing up the statistic that 30% of men and 50% of women are illiterate. According to him the illiteracy is not an issue of too few schools or poor teachers, but a political tactic to keep the population ignorant and easier to rule. People just don’t have the means or the motivation to go to school and the government is not making it easier or encouraging it. 

Guatemala has serious gang and crime issues related to the insatiable demand for drugs from the United States.  Our guide said we should legalize drugs because we are losing the "war on drugs."  He said he thought he'd be the last person to support remnants of the old regime that in the Guatemalan Civil War destroyed 450 Mayan villages, killed 200,000 people and displaced another million, however, he said we now need a strong hand to handle the drug criminals.  There is some optimism in Guatemala now because at least now people can talk about politics and in the old days they could not.

It was interesting to learn about the special relationship between Israel and Guatemala. Given Guatemala's claim to Belize which was a British colony, Guatemala supported Israel's creation as an affront to British rule in Palestine.  Guatemala tried to get votes for Israel's creation and its vote ensured the final approval of the state. Israel in turn has provided arms to Guatemala in addition to educational and healthcare support.  The numerous Star of David signs show the Guatemalan appreciation.

Elizabeth, Queen of Belize?!

I was really surprised to learn that Belize had been a British colony until 1964 and English is still the official language there.   Mexico had tried to take Belize for Spain but it was defeated by Britain. The Spanish continued to try for Belize but were never successful. In addition, Guatemala claimed Belize as a territory and this has been a point of contention in the past although more recently the two neighbors are trying to cooperate more.

Belize is home to the second largest barrier reef. We took a boat ride to Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley where we got a chance to see many different sea creatures and the corals. Although the underwater life was not very colorful, the ocean was picture perfect and there were little houses everywhere painted in yummy pastel colors.

Belize is trying hard to make tourism a main industry but it has a long way to go to become a “Costa Rica”. Unpaved roads can be bumpy and, in fact in the little town of San Predro, in addition to a few taxis, everyone uses golf carts to get around.  They kept things simple there:  Front Road, Back Road and Middle Road.  Don't miss Hidden Treasure restaurant and Victoria House, both of which serve delicious local fish.

Tati and Me

Colored buildings and shanty roof tops decorate the streets of Managua and Granada. And while the streets are covered in trash, and poverty seems to drip from leaking pipes, one can still see some lingering happiness and joy on the faces of the towns’ people.

I went the Nicaragua this past February with 15 other students from my school. We were participating in a program called Knight School where students have the opportunity to take a week off from the normal class schedule and pursue a particular interest either locally or globally. We visited the country for a total of ten days through Me to We, a corporation that is affiliated with the non-profit organization Free the Children. Two years ago, I had the privilege of working with Free the Children in leading a group of girls to raise over $5,000 for a clean water project in Equator. These two organizations offer students from Canada and the United states educational and service learning trips to rural and developing parts of the world.

The goal of the trip was to start building a preschool for children in a community near Granada. Currently students age three to fifteen study in the same classroom with one teacher. At the end of this project they will get a separate learning space with multiple teachers. In addition to working on the build site, we got a chance to play games and get to know the children that attended the school. While, unfortunately, I don’t speak Spanish, I was still able to make a connection with one particular child. Her name was Tati and her hair was always so sweetly styled in pig tails and braids as well as adorned with an array of colorful hairbands. She was, in my opinion, one of the most adorable kids in the school group. One day we played Duck Duck Goose and Quack Dily Oso all morning. I tried to wave goodbye to her from afar but she wasn’t looking at me. All of a sudden though, she turned around and waved back. I was so overjoyed by this little gesture of communication. My goal coming into this trip had been to make a connection with someone or meet a memorable person, and that is exactly what I was lucky enough to experience. While our short stay allowed our group only a chance to dig dirt for the foundation, we still had a great sense of satisfaction that we had contributed to a worthy and sustainable cause.

Looking back, this was a rewarding trip in more ways than one. Not only were we able to help people we didn’t know but also we got a chance to strength the bonds with people from our own community. Even if I don’t make it back to Nicaragua, I plan on following the progress of this community and especially Tati. 

Sydney for New Years

I was so happy when we finally got to Sydney, because this is the place I most wanted to go to. I LOVE CITIES! And plus it was New Years Eve! We had dinner at a place near the harbor at the Rocks that used to be a prison. Sydney used to be a place when convicts were sent from England because there was no room in the homeland. Eventually the mayor did a social experiment to see if they gave the convicts land, if they would behave better. They did and years later we have the Sydney we know today. Now Sydney is the sixth richest country with a GDP of almost a trillion dollars and having only 22 million people and being the fifth largest country it isn’t that hard. During our stay we visited a couple museums. My favorite being the modern art ones, which never fail to impress or surprise me. We were of course were not going to miss the Sydney Opera house. Opened by Queen Elizabeth 1973, the beautiful design of the sails was designed by Jørn Utzon With more than one million self cleaning tiles, an 10,000+ pipe organ, and concert hall with 2769 seats, this massive building took 16 years and 102 million dollars to build. I was so happy to see the beautiful building I had always heard about. But to me, what was more beautiful, were the giraffes at the zoo! I have an obsession and I think my brother and I took around 1,000 photos just at that section of the zoo. And of course I couldn’t leave a city like this without paying my dues to Topshop and Zara! 

Ayres Rock

When we flew to Ayres rock we first landed on a red dirt path with no buildings in sight. I was so stunned not only because of the ruralness but also the heat. It was unbearable. Along with long hours in the air conditioned hotel room, we also went on a sunrise tour in the early morning. We had to wake up at 4:30 but it was worth it… up until 9:30 when it got really hot out. We saw a really beautiful sunrise as well as seeing the grand Ayers rock turn red. It is really beautiful and large, especially in the morning when you can actually breathJ We also got to hear from the Aboriginals who lived near what they call Uluro or Ayres Rock. Although they claim to not be able to speak to us in English, they all need to know the language in order to communicate with other tribes since there are over 250 tribes each with their own language. We got to see some of their art and daily tools as well. They used something called “kitty “which is a black stick with bulb at the end that when heated can expand quickly. They use this to mend items together. It seemed as if there was white guilt in the Australians because when we asked the translator any question regarding any topic that could be considered private he rudely didn’t answer in order to avoid “sensitive” topics. The Aboriginals have been in Australia from about 40,000 and have dealt with a lot of discrimination from the white settlers, but in the end have adapted to coexist with them.