Up North

Dear all:

Below are a few pictures from Uspantan, where I have spent the last week and a half. During my first few days there, I drove with Hilary and Chris, an ex-Peace Corps member, to La Gloria, a tiny Mayan town five hours by dirt road from Uspantan. It looks like Hilary will be building a school up there, with Chris' help - Chris works for a non profit called HugItForward whose mission is to help design and build these 'bottle schools' - cement schools with plastic bottles inside, which saves on resources. Best to check his website for a more detailed description. La Gloria was fascinating, beautiful, and very, very poor. The pictures of the homes and churches below were taken in and around La Gloria.

I also spent a week working with Corazones y Manos, another (Canadian based) non profit that builds stoves for people in need. We built stoves every day, these cement stoves that are better for the women and families, as well as the environment, because they save on wood and prevent smoke from staying in the home. Now there are 62 more stoves up there, and we met so many interesting people. And, guys, guess what! I translated a little bit, did a mediocre job, but my Spanish now is way, way better than it was when I first got here. Yay for immersion.

Hope everyone is enjoying the month of love! Missing you all. xoxo