Guatemalan Casa-Hogar

By Xanthe Webb

See photos from this trip

"Magnifico!" - It's a good thing I was able to borrow a Spanish-English dictionary while I was down in Guatemala for three weeks! I defiantly used it more than once, me not knowing the slightest bit of the language and all. Lucky for me, throwing yourself right into a household of a Spanish speaking, orphanage owner, cook, and nine children was the fastest way to learn. Here I hope to tell you a little of my experience at a rare and amazing 3rd world country orphanage and a little of the outdoor adventures as well. Just read my account for a "travel the world" experience in all!

When I first arrived I wasn't exactly sure what was expected of me, but I realized that this casa-hogar (orphanage) had a laid-back, caring atmosphere. There were nine children, four 4 year-olds to a 17 year old girl, only a year younger than me. One of the six founders of the orphanage lives there to run the place, along with a woman who cooks, cleans and cares for the children six days out of the week, who also has her own family in a city hours away. I felt overwhelmed with the feeling of sacrifice while I was there.

The first weekend there, after only three days, I felt my first dose of homesickness. Yeah it's funny though because I wasn't longing for the States, I missed the orphanage. I had gone with some friends I had met the first day to El Salvador for the weekend, and even though I had only experienced the casa-hogar for so short a time, I already missed it. In my first three days I had come to know the established times for meals, when the children left and came home from school, when the owner would be out, and what time I was supposed to tutor the youngest children. I was already into a habit I liked.

In El Salvador I was able to beach-jump between the coastal towns from Acajutla to La Libertad. I have never had so much fun at the ocean before! The tides were amazingly powerful and enormous! I will also recommend going to Central America in the rainy season (May-October) for the weather. It's exceptional, it is still hot but you get showers every couple of days that are refreshing! I was able to see some wildlife while in El Salvador such as a sea turtle, birds and of course crabs and fish! Everything was superb.

For the remainder of my two and a half weeks at the orphanage, I was able to spend more time with the children, help around the kitchen, see more of the city of Chimaltenango, and on occasion go out to experience more of the country. I ran errands, went to the markets, malls and even saw a movie at a theatre in Guatemala City. My second and last weekend with the orphanage crew was spent with the owner and another volunteer. We traveled up to the Iximche Mayan Ruins and wandered around for a while. I marveled that I was actually walking where ancient inhabitants of the Americas had walked in the same exact spots. I loved learning about the history and surrounding myself with it for a few hours. Iximche was wonderful, but I will as any tourist guide, recommend Tical and the other surrounding Mayan ruins as well.

After the ancient ruins, the other volunteer and I ventured on our own to visit the old colonial, tourist city of Antigua. It is beautiful, every building and road is styled back to its own colonial, European style. There is a gigantic, tourist market in Antigua where you will see more Americans than in the States. I let myself become a typical tourist for a few hours as I bargained and purchased gifts for my friends and family.

I returned again to Antigua a few days later with a few of the founders of the orphanage. We had gotten a treat at the Burger King, and were taking pictures of the old Cathedral when something caught all of our eyes. One of the three active Guatemalan volcanoes, Mt. Fuego, was erupting! It was the first time in well over a decade and the locals that I was with were shocked with such a big and long eruption. It was pitch black outside, but the mountain that resided two hours away was shouting lava hundreds of feet into the air, making it look so close and spectacular. It was so beautiful and caused no damage to any villages so I count myself extremely lucky to have seen that once in a lifetime event.

That happened to be my last night with the people from the casa-hogar. It was so difficult for me to leave. They had taught me so much, not just Spanish and Latino-style soccer, but I had learned how to relax, how to slow down my hectic, American lifestyle. I had grown attached to each of the children. Yes, I was going to miss taking care of four 4 year olds at the same time. I had taught them and they had taught me. But it was what I had signed up for, and I made myself motivated by deciding to come back when I had finished some school and saved more money. I also wanted to come back to the states so I could tell some of my "rich friends," as they called them, about the orphanage and the funding they need.

So I was able to say a drawn-out goodbye the next morning after my Dad had arrived to pick me up at the house. I took one last sip of my new favorite drink arroz con de leche (I knew I wouldn't be able to make it the same), and was able to leave with my Dad.

We stayed in Antigua to shop and relax the first day, which gave us a change to catch up. The next morning bright and early, we got up for a day of mountain biking. It was an all day, scheduled event. My father had scheduled activities through a touring company, and the bikes were first on our agenda.

We road for miles and miles, but our guide always told us we could stop whenever we were ready. It was a difficult, fairly technical bike trail that was very steep and rocky in most places. We cycled through many small Mayan villages, streams and saw the steep, farm covered, rolling hills. We rested a few times and stopped at a market area with a great view of the Lake Atitlan valley. Our destination was the lake, because our next activity was kayaking and lunch on the lake.

We were tired but got on the kayaks to enjoy the beautiful, famous water. Once I had relaxed a little and craved a little excitement, I decided to jump into the lake to refresh myself. The water was fantastic and they call that the winter season down there! We had experienced a full day of adventure in the mountains of Guatemala, and were ready to get back to the hotel in Antigua so we could be rested for another action-packed day.

The next morning we woke up even earlier because the volcano, Mt. Pacaya was quite far away. We missed the usual traffic up the side of the volcano, which was extremely nice since I prefer to hike alone. Only on the way down did we start passing large groups going up, so I'd recommend going early.

It was incredibly misty and green! Beautiful, almost like how you picture northern Europe. Hiking was very steep for almost the whole hike, only flattening out towards the last 5 or 10 minutes. It took maybe an hour and a half to two hours, but was well worth every effort. We didn't even see any lava and it was still worth it. It was mistier that normal, because you can usually see the orange glow through the mist, but not that day. I still enjoyed myself so much and found interest in many other aspects of the volcano.

The black rock against the lush green ground and heavy fog made for spectacular pictures and memories. The horses and dogs wandering around were very intriguing and cute! We had lunch on top of the mountain with steam rising everywhere around us. The rocks were so hot in areas that all you had to do was kick them and a fire would start up and stay unless you extinguished it. I was thoroughly amused. The hike down was of course easy and very quick considering how downhill it was. We then spent the rest of the day driving west toward the Guatemalan coast, which was ok, because I was more than happy to sleep.

That night and the following day, my Dad and I were able to relax along the ocean, enjoy good meals, and lounge in the pool. It was the tropical paradise that you picture for vacations. There was also a spectacular sunset that night, so we spent quite a while walking along the coast taking pictures. I collected sand, shells and even a coconut to take home with me! It was a perfect way to relax.

The next morning we were driven into the capital city so we could be close to the airport for the next days departure. We ate at restaurants close to the hotel, and could have chosen to go out for one last day of adventure, but we were exhausted and I happened to be wrapped up in an exciting soccer game on the television! So we spent our last night resting, reminiscing and deciding things like what the first thing we wanted to eat when we got back to the states was! Perfecto!