Capilano University Students Blogging Abroad

Imagine yourself in a foreign place in the global south, living with 18 strangers for a two week period.   I’ll admit I didn’t know what to expect upon signing up for the Guatemala Field School tour, but in the end, I have come out with a new outlook on life, and 20 new extended family members.   This experience has been life changing for me, to say the least.   Before going to Guatemala, I had never really traveled abroad.   Now, after having experienced life in the global south, seeing poverty and sufferance first hand, and hearing the testimonies of people who have been victimized by many decades of civil violence, I can say that I am a changed woman.   Although 20 years has passed since the worst human rights violations in Guatemala, former Guerilla leaders Yolanda Colom and Sylvia Solorzano affirm that the challenges facing Guatemala “after Peace,” continue to become worse than during the period of civil violence in Guatemala when hundreds of thousands of p...

     We have come a long way over the past 9 days of this trip and it has been beyond anything I could have expected. By emercing ourselves in the lively Guatemalan culture, we have taken a step out of the classroom into reality.  Leaving Livingston      Today is day 9 of our excursion and I am saddened to say that we had to leave Livingston- my Guatemalan paradise. As we packed our bags to leave, memories from the night before filled my head. We had a fiesta- Livingston style- at a reggae bar called ‘Duga’ located right outside of our hotel. We were joined by our new friends who were locals in Livingston and we shared music, laughter, and dancing. There were bongo drums and guitars and an amazing local from Belize named Mario got our whole group up on stage one-by-one to teach us how to dance ‘punta’, a type of Guatemalan dance. As the night went on our fiesta kept growing as locals who were passing by joined in to see what was happening. ...

Best. Trip. Ever. Guatemala, Day 7. Lounging on a patio perched above the Caribbean Sea; a warm breeze rolls in as cold drinks are set on our table. From staying in a Monastery to Chichi’s busy markets, from ancient Mayan ruins to exotic toucans, monkey, tarantulas and new friends; this surely is a wild and unpredictable experience. Currently, we are on our last day in the coastal town of Livingston, and it is so beautiful. Having spent the past week traveling all across Guatemala and experiencing the Mayan culture, it really is an entirely different world over here; Rasta colors painted on buildings, reggae music playing in the streets, and the evident presence of a different group of people-the Garifuna. In the early afternoon, we were lead through the town on a walking tour with a local man named Polo, and as he showed us the many interesting things in town, he also explained the culture and its fascinating history. Polo explained that as the Garifuna are very indigenous to the ...

Like many people in this field school, traveling has always been a passion of mine. Having spent a fair amount of time in the Guatemala’s neighbouring country, Honduras, I felt confident that I knew what to expect here. However, as I sit here in the shade, beside our beautiful hotel in Livingston, I am struck by an overwhelming feeling of amazement and bewilderment. Is this really happening to me or am I stuck in a surreal dream? Blue skies surround the never ending Atlantic Ocean, and green palm trees glisten in the light of the intense sun. Tony entertains the group with beautiful Spanish music as we eat breakfast on the patio overlooking the water and as birds gracefully fly overhead, singing their own songs of nature. How could this perfect world not be a dream? Everyday my expectations of this trip are surpassed and everyday countless opportunities arise.   Yesterday, after our early morning adventure in Tikal, we crammed into the vans and set off for another five hour drive...

Howdy all! Today we are sitting in the rainforest in Tikal, a site with ancient Mayan ruins on them which I am very excited to see in the morning, even though we have to leave at 5am. So far, this trip has been an amazing experience, everyone has been gelling together with no problem at all and they are all great and friendly people. When we arrived in Morales after leaving Antigua, we stayed at the Del Monte compound and visited a box factory to learn about the fascinating world of boxes, as well as a banana Plantation to learn about how bananas go from the plant to your local grocery stores and also got to see the working conditions of the employees. I was amazed to see how many steps go into getting bananas ready for purchasing, I did not realize how difficult it was to get the bananas ready, as well as the working condition which did not seem to bad except for how hot and muggy it was inside the plant. We also got to spend the day with the students who go to school in the compoun...

Today was a day of great anticipation for a lot of us in the group; we got to explore the archaeological site of Tikal, which has the tallest temples of all of the Mayan ruins. We stayed in the actual park just a small hike away from the site. It’s astonishing how alive the jungle is, the sounds during night are much louder than in the day. There is a symphony of different species but only the sounds of crickets were recognizable to me. We met at 4:45 am (which meant we had to get up around 4am or 2am Vancouver time) in order to start the hike up to watch the sunrise over the Mayan ruins. It was pitch black when we woke up and there was only electricity provided at the hotel from 6pm-10pm and 6 am-8am in the morning so we had to get ready with our flashlights and headlamps. The sky was clouded over as we walked towards the site. The entire walk was in the dark with only our flashlights to guide us. Finally we reached the site and climbed through the clouds which filtered through th...

If you are the type of person that likes the feeling of what I like to call “realness” then you are a perfect candidate for a trip to Guatemala. This country has been amazing, in the sense that I am getting a real first-hand experience of what more than half of the world has to offer. Of course, being a Canadian you are accustomed to law and order for most of the time. However, Guatemala can offer you a different experience. Not necessarily something like crime and illegal actions being done everyday, but the atmosphere is just different! Starting off from the airport most cars down here are not from Germany or Britain such as BMW and mini coopers, rather the Guatemalans mostly drive Toyota and Peugot or better yet they drive motorcycles. Although poverty is present everywhere in the world, I witnessed a more extreme type of poverty down here in some part of Guatemala. For example, brilliant students who are qualified to go to university may not be able to accomplish such goal because...

Hola amigos!! Como-estas? We are in Morales, Guatemala and this trip has been more than I’ve ever expected. Days have been long and very busy. However, why would you not take advantage of your time here? We’ve been going through the towns, seeing the local people, walking the old 3 rd world streets of Guatemala. I’m sure in all of the past blogs my classmates have intrigued you to visit Guatemala and to the Capilano students, inspired you to take advantage of the study abroad opportunities.  I had previously participated on a field school last year to China and let me tell you, the experience here in Guatemala has been a whole new one. I was skeptical of this field school because my realm falls inside of business and not sociology, but I have been able to learn things I don’t think I’d ever learn in a classroom setting.  Participating on this study tour has given me the chance to embrace challenges, get out of my comfort zone, learn a new culture, but the most impo...

Greetings from the bar at the Del Monte banana plantation in Morales, Guatemala!  I raise my glass of vino tinto to salute the uayeb.  Presently we are mid-uayeb – the five-day period between the end of one tun, or Mayan year, and the start of the next.  In any sort of liminal zone – in between nations, or commitments, or  times – there is promise and also danger.  The usual limits are weakened, the solid wall that splits possible and impossible suddenly coils into a question mark… a transformation can happen.  But you have to be paying attention, or you’ll miss it. Two days ago we visited Chichicastenango.  This town in the western highlands is renowned for the persistence of the old Mayan ways.  Here it was that the Popul Vuh (the Quiche Maya creation story) was preserved in the Church of Santo Tomas, and rediscovered in the 1700s.  And here, as Ignacio revealed to us, one of the ancient gates between human and spirit is still open. Ignac...

It’s only day three of our Guatemala trip and it feels like we have done enough to have been here for a month! So many amazing things to see and experience; and I think our guide, Ignacio, is doing an awesome job at making sure we see and hear about as much as we can in the little time we have in each place. Today we spent the entire day in Antigua, which was great because I have a feeling it might be my favorite place in Guatemala. It is truly beautiful; full of life and culture. It’s definitely the kind of place I expected to see in Guatemala. The narrow cobblestone streets, however, I was not quite expecting.  The amount of buses, cars, motorbikes and pedestrians all crammed into these crazy lanes astounds me! I’m pretty sure that if you can operate a vehicle here you can drive anywhere in the world because it’s mindboggling.  One of our first trips of the day was to the village school where we visited the school children and they very bravely gave us a presentation on wh...

Wow. Today was full and exciting, for the first time I truly felt like I was in somewhere foreign, the adventure is on! Guatemala City is typical of Central American cities. Bright, pastel coloured two-storey buildings covered in tattered signs and hosting smiling, curious faces. Today we spent a lot of our time traveling, for someone who gets car sick instantaneously I was quite impressed I kept myself together- we all handled the windy twisty road like champs. We arrived in Chichicastenango. The city was quaint and lively with the market. We took a beautiful stroll through the city, up to its highest point. There we bought. Each colour signified a specific wish; mine were red and black, representing love and the banning of evil spirit, respectively. After hiking a hill we came to a blessing ground with crosses and the remains from previous offerings. Although the wind kept blowing our candle out, I didn’t take it as a sign of uselessness, rather our wishes for health, love, purity, ...

Jungles. Ruins. Ancient secrets. Colonial cities frozen in time. That’s what comes to mind when one first thinks of Guatemala. Or at least that’s what came to my mind when I first learned about this course. In fact, it is all true but serves only as a part of what defines Central America. Having visited Cuba and Mexico before, I feel like I have a sense of what to expect in Guatemala yet every place is different. And I hope to be able to fully experience the uniqueness of Guatemala’s culture, people and places. I am glad that we’ll be spending our time out in the field with local people, and seeing the real Guatemala, rather than getting a narrow view from the confines of a comfortable resort getaway. The real exciting part is that I will be filming a documentary showcasing the student experience on this study abroad trip. Although wide in scope, I think it’s going to be a really fun project. Equipped with my handy Canon T3i and a few accessories, I’m ready to roll. I’m looking f...

I woke today feeling excited, anxious, and unprepared. How could I ever be ready for such an adventure? Like many travellers I had that feeling in the pit of my stomach and the thought in my brain that was telling me I forgot something; and I know that as soon as I get on the plane I'll know exactly what I forgot. It feels like just yesterday that I was saying that I would be going to Guatemala in a few months and knew absolutely nothing about the country or culture. I still feel quite similar in the way that I have no idea what to expect or what to be prepared for. But even with this feeling, I am extremely excited and can't really even put my feelings into words. I am looking forward to truly immersing myself into a previously unknown culture and hope to learn more than I could ever read in a book. I've heard many times that Guatemala is the country that cameras were made for; but I have also heard that there is no possible way forthe beauty of Guatemalato be captured i...

"What are you going to do there?" is what I'm asked most often when friends learn that I am traveling to Guatemala for a Study Abroad sociology course at Capilano University. "Are you building something or doing something for the people?" ( My professor is rolling her eyes thinking, not this again!) At first I struggled to answer. I turned to our group leaders for eloquent responses. But truthfully, I regarded them sceptically when they replied: "We are reminding the people of Guatemala that the world hasn't forgotten about them." As much as I try to convince my kids that my mere presence is a blessing in itself, I was having a hard time believing I could convince Guatemalans (especially in my broken Spanish!) of the same virtue. Canada is a relatively small player in international politics, so why would a group of university students from a small town in BC bear any impact on the lives of Central Americans?   In preparation for our trip, we have b...