It’s Thursday, March 16th, 2023 at the beautiful city of Panajachel, Guatemala. I must say the experience on this trip is something I have truly never felt before. I have met so many new people, made new friends and created bonds with people I hardly knew. This was a once in a lifetime trip and I am beyond appreciative of taking the opportunity to experience a culture outside of the United States. I have learned so many valuable lessons, ate plenty of good food (including Chicken Pepian), and was able to contribute to a good cause.
The people of Natun have been beyond helpful all week. Pablo, Tyler, and Giorgio have been the best people to work with and I cannot express how much it meant to me for them to show us around and get us comfortable with the community.
Today I started my day with some nice garden yoga (which was beyond relaxing). I don’t think I have ever felt more flexible in my life. It was a nice decompress before a busy day of work. We soon headed to the Natun office and got to work. I was able to polyurethane the mount for the Sainlogic weather station and finally install it onto the roof where it is collecting data to test the next day. I’m so relieved that we were able to successfully get it to work. The next task was to create the mounts for the Peña blanca and Tierra Linda communities. After some troubleshooting with Ray (Roy) and Claire, we were able to put together the mounts with the help of Kathlyn for wood glue and Sam for the lacquer. I couldn’t have asked for a better group. Our dynamic is perfect. Everyone is able to collectively work together as well as have fun with it. Tomorrow is our last working day and I have all the confidence in the world that we will have everything successfully up and running.
After our busy day at the office, we headed to grab some gelato. Arguably the best ~vegan~ gelato I have ever had. Especially the Chai latte flavor. After dinner was Jose Pinguinos. Where we learned about the Marimba, and made our own corn tortillas. Although it wasn’t necessarily my favorite food from the trip, I must say that it was definitely the best dinner experience yet. Miguel, the owner, told us about his life and philosophy and I have honestly found that inspiring. I have been trying to improve my Spanish this whole week but Miguel inspired me to keep working on it even after this trips ending. Who knows, maybe I’ll pick up a language or two.
The inside jokes I have made with every person in this group is what made this whole trip a core memory. I do not necessarily know who actually reads these reflections or if it just for my reference later on, but I will say, matyox!
The real biblioteca is the friends you meet along the way.
Tim Lacagnina