Trip 3 Days 6, 7 & 8

Well if you followed the news over the weekend, you will know that all of Guatemala has blown up and sunk into the sea. Actually, as aweful as the news reports have been concerning volcanic eruptions and flooding leaving people homeless or dead, in Antigua and the surrounding villages, things were just really wet and that's about it. Even the house that we built last week with the constant caving in dirt, held up through the storm. So I guess we were very fortunate. The only really down side for us was that the rain ruined any plans to site see over the weekend. So we just hung out, played some cards, and watched TV. As for Monday, the sun finally came out and we finished the house with a roof, a door, a window, some paint, and a fiesta. We had been listening to Guatemalan music all week from the family's stereo, but on this day, we rigged up my Ipod to the stereo and listened to some musica de los Estados Unidos - kicking off with the Commodores' "Brick House." Actually, our young adults seemed just as confused about my music selections as did the Guatemalans. The night before, we made a chocolate cake with the inscription: "Bienvenido Hogar" (Welcome Home) spelled out on top with M&M's, and we began our "house completion" celebration with the family by each having a slice. During the customary "handing over of the keys," Maria (the mother) broke down expressing her gratitude and her regret for not being able to repay us. We explained how the money to build the house came from many, many different people and we were really just the workers. Since this is the last of our Guatemala Help Weeks, we cleared our house of all unopened food and gave it to the family along with some other presents. It was a sad goodbye, as usual, but it also was just what most of us needed. After a week of bad weather and illnesses, we needed a shocking reminder of the good in which we have been participating. This realization was certainly expressed at our evening discussion.
I would like to say that this is it, but the Pacaya Volcano (at which the first two groups enjoyed climbing and roasting marshmellows over lava) covered the airport with ash and canceled our Tuesday flight home. Presented with the options of waiting until Saturday for the first available flight home or driving to El Salvador (5 hours away) to fly home from there on Thursday, we opted for El Salvador. So on Wednesday, we will add one more Central American country to our travel itinerary.
As for Guatemala: Adios Amigos! You were a great place to call my home for a month.
Thanks for reading,
Fred T. Mercadante
Campus Minister