During the first two weeks of December, Pedro, Elias, Marsolino and I were busy planting vegetables and getting jobs lined-up for the students' arrival in January. We finished planting a field of guisquil behind the auditorium. These vines will be ready to be trellised in January, a perfect job for the students. We have also seeded more carrots, radishes, peas, cilantro, cucumbers and squash.
Two terraces seeded with carrots
On December 9, two of my good friends from home came to visit me. Tyler Breneman and Jeremy Spangler made the trip from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to San Pedro Carcha, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. On Monday, Tyler and Jeremy helped Pedro, Marsolino and me complete a stairway into the main garden. The existent stairway, constructed with old car tires, did not extend to the top of the hill. We discovered, while putting in more tires, that the old ones at the top of the hill had been buried under subsoil, most likely due to a mud slide. Eight semi-truck tires have been laying around the farmyard ever since I arrived. Though a bit large, they work well as steps.
Tyler bringing in a tire
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| Photo: Jeremy Spangler |
Jeremy keeping it moving
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| Photo: Tyler Breneman |
Pedro and Jeremy carving out ledges for the stairs
Marsolino, Pedro and Tyler filling the tires
Before
After
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| Photo: Jeremy Spangler |
The crew: (left to right) Marsolino, Stefan, Pedro, Tyler and Jeremy
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| Photo: Jeremy Spangler |
Having Tyler and Jeremy working with me was a great encouragement. It was wonderful to spend time with my friends from home. I appreciated the gringo power that day! I welcome anyone else reading this blog to come visit me and assist on the farm. Let me know when you are coming!I accompanied Tyler and Jeremy into Belize to renew my visa and spend some more time with them until their return to Pennsylvania. I enjoyed seeing the agriculture of the Belizian countryside. It was interesting to see citrus groves and sugarcane fields bordering the road. I would have liked to capture these scenes on camera, but this was a bit difficult to do when traveling at 90 kilometers per hour!
During my return to Guatemala, I traveled through Spanish Lookout, one of the Mennonite communities in Belize. I felt at home among the rolling fields. If not for the palm trees in the fence rows and screeching parrots overhead, I would have thought I was home in Lancaster County. While I waited for a bus outside the large general store, I chatted with a Belizean gentleman who informed me that the Mennonites are very industrious, raising maize, black and red beans, numerous vegetables, chickens, hogs, and cattle. Much of the harvest is exported to Guatemala, he told me. I would have liked to have spent more time viewing the agriculture in Spanish Lookout.
A harvested maize field with farm buildings in the distance
A field of beans
Two weekends ago, Alfredo Jr. and I built our own kite to fly in the Chamelco park. I have been hoping to build a kite for sometime after seeing many people flying them around the town. There is usually a strong breeze in these mountains, which is perfect for kite flying. I had a plastic bag to use and Alfredo found the string needed. Two maize stalks served as the frame. That Saturday, Alfredo and I eagerly journeyed to the park to try our kite, but alas, there was not sufficient wind to fly a kite that day. We did get the kite to fly nicely for about 30 seconds, but that was all. We will have to try kite flying again in the future.
Alfredo Jr. on the way to the park with our kite
It wants to fly!
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