Posted in Guatemala on October 17, 2017
Saturday, October 7, 2017 Arrived in Antigua late at night.
Sunday, October 8, 2017
Being a Sunday, we had a walking tour of Antigua. We went to a Jade factory and saw how they cut the jade and polished the pieces by hand to form some of the jewelry. That evening we ate out a Frieda’s.
Monday, Oct 9, 2017 Breakfast next door at Fernando’s, delicious breakfast menu and the best coffee in Antigua.
Took our transport van to Open Windows Learning Centre in San Miguel Duenas. We took a tour of the Learning Centre and saw the library filled with books in English and Spanish. The children come to this library after their school classes to do homework and read. The Centre also has a computer room where the children learn computer skills and play games. We walked to a nursery close to the Centre and saw their plants, trees and flowers. We all did some rebar work – bending the rebar and cutting the wire.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
We drove to the Eco Filter factory and saw how they made the filters and then on to the school for more rebar work.
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
The finished rebar units were erected at the house site. Concrete was mixed and poured.
A few of us got off the van before arriving at the hotel and walked around a market with lots of stalls, and also walked around a large superstore which sold everything you can imagine. Our dinner at Fernando’s was hamburgers.
Thursday, October 12, 2017
We completed more work at the house site hauling sand and rocks for mixing the concrete. The sand and rocks had been left at roadside so we had to haul it into the house site via a line of volunteers passing buckets.
As Theresa’s birthday was the following day and we would be away from the site installing some Ecostoves, the Learning Centre prepared a surprise birthday party for her. We all sang Happy Birthday and cheered her and ate some awesome cake. The candles on the cake were blown out by the children. They had lots of fun.
Friday, October 13, 2017
We drove out to Alotenango to install some Ecostoves. Thirteen of them. The stoves are economical as they use a third less wood, which is their only source of heat for cooking. They are then able to vent the smoke to the outside of their homes. Absolutely brilliant concept and the owners of the houses where they were installed were ecstatic with them when they saw the smoke coming out of the chimney.
– Lorna Stephens
Posted in Guatemala on October 17, 2017
