Craig Kelvin: The Blog of Cwaig

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 compound; the students joined us for the day and were our translators for our tours. I was paired up with a wonderful girl named Kellyn who’s English was top notch, I enjoyed spending the day with her and all the other students from the school.

We drove from Morales to Tikal with a stopover in a wood workshop that works mainly in Rose wood and Cedar. The skill of these wood workers was nothing short of amazing, so much detail is put into their work. I thought this stopover was very interesting because we learned about sustainability in the rain forest. I found this informative and interesting because in British Columbia, the forestry industry is one of, if not, the biggest industries we have. My father works in the forest industry, so growing up I heard all about the industry and I found the comparisons and differences very interesting. We arrived in Tikal at about 5 pm so we didn’t have much time to explore, although the star gazing was excellent and peaceful. In the morning we get to walk to the Mayan ruins, I am excited to go there as prior to this trip I did not know too much about the history and culture of Mayans, which the more I learn about the more fascinated I am.

I must say this trip has been an amazing time so far, I’ve learned so much about the culture of Guatemala, and I have been enjoying meeting the locals who all have been really nice, they have no problem with going out of their way to talk to us and always wave to us as when we walk or drive by. It is a shame that this trip is only 10 days and half over; I would to love to spend more time down here travelling to different parts of the country learning more about the culture. This for sure is not going to be my only trip to Guatemala, I do plan on returning here and exploring more.