Fist full day in Guatemala City

My first full day in Guatemala and boy has it been full!! In the morning we were given a brief lecture on Guatemalan history by and indigenous Guatemalan. Its crazy to think that I'm in a country that is not even 20 full years removed from a 36 year long civil war. This man told incredibly humbling accounts of how a time when the government was run by the army. He talked about how he experienced first hand village mascaras and torturing of village and religious leads by the army. He told one story in particular in which the army came to his village, dug a huge hole in the center of his village, poured oil in the hole and set it on fire. Then they lined everyone in the village up around this whole and told them to identify their organizing leaders and religious leaders. when no one spoke up and officer grabbed the man nearest to him and threw him in the fire. They continued to do this one by one until finally people started naming their leaders who were also thrown into the burning oil. The exploitation of the general population by those in power is sadly a common trend in Guatemalan history.
We then traveled into down town Guatemala City. We visited the main congress building and the central square where the historical presidential palace and first catholic cathedral is. Down town Guatemala city is a maze of winding narrow streets completely lined with building fronts. When we pulled up to the house of Congress it looks just like any other slightly worn building in down town (aside from the extra 5 or six guards with machine guns outside) and then when you walk in there are beautiful tile floors the change as you turn every corner. Our guide took us in the a meeting room where all four walls are lined with a mural that describes Guatemala's turbulent history. One thing that i love here is how much color there is everywhere. From the intricate tiled floors of the congress building, beautiful manicured gardens that surround the national palace and even the ordinary buildings, homes and shops. the streets are lined completely with infrastructure and the only way i could tell where one establishment ended and another began was by a change in color or detail to the walls. The color, especially around the government buildings is something i think the US is lacking in.
We then traveled to the city dump. Now that sounds weird right? why did we visit a dump? there is actually a whole community of people who make their living on pick garbage. there is no system of recycling for homes her so people look for recyclable materials and other metals and reusable materials to sell. As you could probably imagine this way of life is not one to be desired and the community where these people live are comparable to refugee ghettos almost. Violence and crime of every type is very prevalent and drug trafficking is the second most established way of making a living here. the reason we visited this place was because there is a small school there that focuses on the children of this community. Often their parents are drug addicts or unfit parents for other reasons. The teachers we met with were some of the most amazing and strong willed people I have ever come in contact with. they struggle to give these children (and also young adults) a chance at achieving their dreams when no one else has cared to. the principle of this school talked about the struggle she goes through trying to teach these children, in very subtle ways, that their parents are not role models and the their parents way of life is not the way the world is everywhere.
After this visit we traveled to Antigua. this is the original capital city and an old colonial town from the time of the conquest. it is strait out of a fairy tale. the streets are all cobble stone and there are surrounding mountains everywhere you look. We will stay the night here and travel to Quetzaltenengo tomorrow where we will stay for just about a month.
now i must pass out for a bit so i can stay awake at dinner. but first two things that have made me laugh today. #1 Guatemala City public transport appears to have a contract with US public school system because their buses are all old yellow US school buses. its pretty funny to see a bunch of people at a bus stop and then a yellow school bus with a blank blank (fill in county of your choice here) public schools written on the side.
#2 i don't know if im going to be able to take a nap because there is a parrot in the court yard of our hotel that says "hola" to every person that walks by:)