last day before it all begins!

Getting back to Xela and a hot shower felt really great, we cooked an amazing dinner with an incredible peanut sauce and had couch surfers over for dinner from Iowa and Nebraska. On Sunday we slept in and packed to get ready to go meet our families. We brought Kate over to Pachaj, where she's doing her internship at Armando's Chico Mendes Reforestation project. I've been to and volunteered in the project each time I've come to Guate, and I have been very inspired by Armando and what he is doing for his country and for the environment. Here is a good article I found on Facebook about what Armando is fighting for:

Through the fog of the Guatemalan highlands, one sees a small nursery among an ocean of hectares of corn fields. This harbor of greenery results from the hard work of Armando López, founder of the Project Chico Mendes. This project was born in 1998 when this quiche activist from Quetzaltenango decided to undertake an ambitious reforestation plan of the Guatemalan forests.

Since his beginnings, Armando refused any governmental help to preserve the independence and effectiveness of his actions of reforestation of a fragile ecological zone. “We do not want money; we only want pride and justice for the Maya people”. The indigenous population largely suffered from the long civil war that has torn apart this small state of Central America from 1960 to 1996. However, with the assistance of volunteers who contributed to propel his non-profit o rganization, Armando succeeded in establishing a solid project in the small community of Pachaj, 6 km out of Quetzaltenango. On top of that, a Spanish, quiche and mam (Maya dialects) school was created for the volunteers so that they can improve their linguistic skills while being lodged in modest families of the community. 

Ambitious objectives

In spite of the inevitable discord with the several governmental agencies carrying an endemic tradition of corruption, Armando hopes to plant 100,000 trees in the next three years to fight the erosion issue in the rivers which carry the water so much seeked by the foreign investors and to compensate the too many trees cut to open agrictultural land (mainly corn). Since it does not have huge natural resources profitable on the worldwide market, Guatemalan reserves of “white gold”(pristine eau de source) which could be contaminated by the mining companies.

“We are thirsty for justice”, repeats Armando, referring to the governmental attempts to privatize the access to drinking water. The founder of the project Chico Mendes opposes, following the example of most natives of the country, a tax on water and public service utilities(bill 4039) such as the use of the roads which would impoverish moreover the Maya population already victim of socio-economic discrimination towards the ladinos (interbreeding Spanish/native). Armando already organized demonstrations in the past to fight this bill.

A stimulating and ecological project

Armando López has a dream. He wants to build a self-sufficient project, independent of lo cal or foreign subsidies - he refused the assistance of Peace Corps as they wanted to impose their development model described as paternalist, insisting on selling his seedlings or on investing in decorative plants - and to keep his seedbed free from chemicals or other substances being able to contaminate the invaluable water resources of the commune. The bottom line is that it is possible to work without pesticides or fertilizers. Armando proved this statement for a decade using natural techniques like the use of warm water to decontaminate the sown trees or the production of his own organic fertilizer with nitrogen extracted from leaves mixed with compost. Armando carries out himself, sometimes with volunteers, the harvest of seeds of pines, cypresses, laurels and other native species directly in the forest. Ultimately, he grows these seeds within a seedbed while waiting for the next planting session to refill the Guatemalan high summits. 

The success of a community alternative as Chico Mendes proves that citizen will overcome the lack of reaction from the official authorities on the national environmental pollution. However, having decided to rely on generosity of private donators, Armando must constantly seek money. He must fix his greenhouse, buy more fertile ground and, perhaps one day, buy a pick-up truck to help his two employees who prepare the ground for reforestation and deal with the new planted hectares. 

Armando remains optimistic for the future of his local project. Chico Mendes makes it possible to set up strong bases for citizen projects after a three-decade civil war which has devastated a country already struggling with poverty. Thanks to such initiatives, the indigenous communities can have a voice to organize against governmental attacks on their ancestral grounds. However, Armando preaches non-violence and dialogue with the government. He has even been forced to cancel exhibitions in the past years to avoid unrest which often comes along with Guatemalan demonstrations. Quoting famous brazilian activist Chico Mendes, Armando wraps up the encounter saying “no to the war, no to arms, but yes to intelligence”.

So Armando came to get us in Xela and pulled up with a brand new pickup - a donation. We got to his house and what used to be the uneven dirt-stone-grass courtyard had turned into a flat cement patio with white cement walls surrounding it, embellished with spotlight-illuminated trees in small alcoves. The kitchen was being completely remodeled and they now have a flushing toilet. 

People like to "talk shit", excuse my diction, around here, and some have expressed doubts about Armando's honesty and handling of donations. The first thing I thought of when I walked through the door onto the patio was How? Where did he suddenly get enough resources to build this structure? Fue una locura! he said - it was a whim! I know Armando is an honest man with a social conscience and an unparalleled passion to take care of the environment and fight for the justice and rights of the indigenous people. His family and him deserve to be happy and get what they want - other people have it easy and don't do anything for a higher purpose or to help the world, why should Armando live in poverty? Does his poverty give more credibility to what he is doing, does it make him a more "noble" man? We were all pretty shaken up by this drastic change in Armando's home and all kinds of questions popped into our heads, questions we didn't ever want to even think of. Adelaide asked, why so much cement? He is an environmentalist after all, cement is one of the worst things for the environment. Why a flushing toilet? That wastes so much more water, the same water he is fighting to save. She said, I liked the other toilet better, where are the dirt floors and black walls I loved so much? 

Dragons decided to stop going to certain communities in Guatemala, like Todos Santos, because they had reached a certain level of comfort, with flushing toilets and showers, and that's just not the Dragons way. It's not an "authentic" experience. But the thing is, it is. People are getting money from the States, Guatemala is going through development. And so peoples' houses change. I have the luxury to choose to be uncomfortable, to come down here and take cold showers for 3 months. I wonder if people here think about that, if they wonder why in the world would we leave our homes and families where we have all the material stuff we can possibly want to go live with people whose dreams are to have a flushing toilet one day. 

The pride and excitement on Armando's face when he showed us the brand new toilet was blinding. This means progress for him, that he made it in a way. It's ironic because Indigenous Guatemalans are very proud of the way they live, of their closeness to the earth, the family, and their spirituality - but at the same time they want to be more westernized. I guess we see things completely differently. One of my favorite things about my family in Pachaj was how we ate all around the fire stove, in different seats every time and sometimes without silverware. I loved how the fire brought the family together, there were no microwaves to reheat your food whenever you want and go back to your room with it. But to them it just meant poverty. I went back to see Estela, my host mom in Pachaj, I was so happy to see her I got teary. We caught up on things and I told her what I'd been doing for the past 5 months since I last saw her. Her and Ingrid, my host sister, kept saying how much they wanted to come back with me to mi pais. Traeme en tu bolsa Leah! Aqui somos pobre. And all I can do is fight back tears, smile, shake my head, and say I hope one day it'll be possible.