Guatemala
From the majesty of the mountains and volcanoes to the exotic flowers that bloom year round… and the rainbow-like color scheme shining in the Mayan villages throughout the country side.
We come to the raw sewage running through the garbage dump and a public cemetery that is shedding its bodies into the pits of the dump. This is where the poorest of the poor live and work.
Guatemala is a country of contrast. It is a complex, fascinating, and yet troubling culture. The people seem able to survive the most unthinkable of circumstances.
Fifty years of civil war that killed thousands of Mayan people has not destroyed their resolve. Hurricanes and drought have severely affected their primarily agricultural lifestyle.
Abject poverty exists at the foothill of majesty. Lake Atitlan (a volcanic lake sitting amidst three volcanoes) is said to be one of the most beautiful places in the world.
And yet 63 percent of the population is still illiterate. The majority cannot afford to even feed their families. The average income for the majority of the country’s population, which is still of Mayan descent, is approximately 87 percent.
The open-air markets display the Mayan artisan crafts colored like a rainbow… and fruits and vegetables from which the dyes were created centuries ago.
The fact that in the city, the Hyatt Regency Hotel, shopping center, theater and food courts exist almost literally across the street from “the dump” is a visual picture of the entire country of Guatemala.
What you see… is not always what you get.
Standing on the edge of the dump, you see the blue/green windows of the Hyatt towering over the horizon. It is a sight that just doesn’t make sense.
What lies beneath the surface of this country may never be completely known or understood.
But it is where God sent us to begin serving the poor and taking hope and love to those without.