San Marcos, Guatemala

In my last blog post I talked about how in February I participated in an MCC Learning tour in Guatemala, in the department of San Marcos, close to the Mexican border. The most recent issue of MCC's A Common Place magazine features the work being done in San Marcos with the partner organizations, and after reading the articles, I started reminiscing about my trip and what I had learned, and so I wanted to share a bit more about it.

I mentioned already the beauty of the San Marcos mountains, and the diverse and interesting group that I had the privilege of travelling with.
Some other highlights of the learning tour included:
- crazy rides in the back of a pick-up truck, on winding, bumpy, dirt roads
- hiking up-hill to the communities of La Vega del Volcán, Nuevas Maravillas and Toniná (these remote communities do not have road-access)
- sitting around the fire-stove to keep warm, with a family who hosted us for the night in La Vega del Volcán, and sharing a meal of delicious fresh trout (from the family's fish pond!)
- listening to 2 Americans in the Learning Tour group, talking about the experience of being shown hospitality, and being hosted for the night by a Guatemalan man and his family - this man had once been an illegal immigrant in the US (or illegal alien, as American media likes to call them) and a supposed "threat" to their country, and was caught, put in prison and then sent back to Guatemala. Yet when he found out that visiting Americans with MCC needed supper and a place to stay for the night, he volunteered his hospitality without a second thought. Maybe if more Americans (and Canadians, for that matter!) had experiences similar to this one, where they were able to get to know the stories of their "enemies", and knew the legitimate reasons for why so many Central Americans come to North America to find work, the immigration debates in the US and Canada would be a bit different!
- spending the night with a host family in Nuevas Maravillas, admiring the beautiful flowers all around their house and small property (part of the flower-raising initiative), watching the sunset, and then looking at the beautiful stars, and the lights from a nearby city in Mexico, at night. Their house may not have been much (it consisted of 2 small wooden buildings, dirt floors, and an out-house) but their hospitality, and the view that they go to bed to, and get to wake up to every morning, were priceless!
- spending an afternoon working and giggling alongside the women of Nuevas Maravillas, chopping long grass, and helping to prepare a natural compost/fertilizer mixture for their crops and gardens. I used a machete for the first time!! And still have all my fingers left, to type this tale :)


These articles in the Common Place magazine give a good summary of what I learned and saw during my week in San Marcos. It gives new perspectives of poverty and the struggles faced in rural Guatemala, and a side of immigration that we often do not hear about in the media.

If you do not have time to read the whole magazine, I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE you to at least read the first 3 articles (New opportunities without leaving home, First person, and Immigration journeys) and watch the Video Slideshow where fellow volunteer Nate Howard, part of the MCC Guatemala/El Salvador team, talks about MCC's work.

Link to MCC's Spring 2012 A Common Place magazine