Stepness at Zaculeu

The church that the step team are working with, took them for a day out to Zaculeu - the ruins of the centre of the Mam mayan group. Some great pyramids -- and plenty of opportunities for posing!
After the mayan ball game, you're supposed to sacrifice the winning captain to the gods.

beach weekend with Striders

So last weekend a bunch of us went to Monterrico to celebrate a few of our birthdays. Monterrico is a beautiful beach on the Pacific coast of Guatemala. It was great to be among friends to chill out and relax.










We went out for dinner one night - and just as we got settled on the deck of a nice restaurant, the storm came. Really heavy rain and thunder and lightning all around us! It was almost like being back in England for a summer holiday -- we were just missing the flask of tea and sandy sandwiches!
But the storm soon passed.

Football scores!

So yesterday was England's first match in the World Cup, against the United States.
I have to admit that I'm not much of a football fan - but occasionally make an exception -- and defending our honour against a country that can't even call football by it's real name was one of those exceptions!

I wasn't really sure how this would all go down in Guatemala as here they have a funny love-hate sort of relationship with the States. For many the American dream is still alive and well, and thousands migrate north in the hope of making their fortune (both legally and illegally). Mostly this leaves broken and divided families and communities all over Guatemala. Many love the opportunities which exist due to the proximity to the states, and the remittances (money) that relatives who have made it in the states can send home - as well as all the films, music and American 'culture' in general that invades Guatemala as much as anywhere else. But on the other hand, they detest the influence the States has politically, most evidently in their involvement in the 36 years of civil war that devastated the country and particularly the indigenous population. They're also not that keen on the States these either for their treatment of all the illegal Guatemalan workers there.

On the other hand, their relationship with the English is also a bit confused. It was only about 5 years ago that Guatemala officially recognised Belize (the neighbouring country which was previously a British colony) as a country in it's own right. Previously they had still claimed sovereignty there - even though they speak English (well kind of) and you can buy Baked Beans and Cadbury's chocolate there - clearly demonstrating it's English (not Spanish or indigenous) heritage! And then there is the Castillo de San Felipe (St Phillips Castle) situated on a river near the Caribbean coast which was built specifically to keep out the English Pirates (who were stealing the gold and precious stones that the Spanish were sailing back to Spain after stealing them from the indigenous groups in Central America). On the other hand, the majority of Guatemala don't actually know where England is and many assume it is a state in the United States.

So with all that complexity going round in my head, I met up with a few English friends and we went to a shopping centre where they were showing the game on a big screen in the food hall.
I was surprised and happy to realise that the huge crowd of Guatemalans filling the hall were all cheering for England, and they were even happier to see some real English people. Of course this is Latin America and the response to any football game is always passionate and loud. It was great fun (even if the game itself was a bit of a disappointment). But what made me laugh the most though was that whenever we saw a shot of David Beckham on the sidelines, the whole hall was filled with girly squeals, rather than manly football cheers!

volcanoes, storms and life as normal ! ??

So it's been a bit eventful here in Guatemala.
A couple of weeks ago, Pacaya Volcano (which I have climbed a couple of times) erupted and sent clouds of volcanic ash raining on Guatemala City and around. A bit surreal, but not that desperate - apart from for the 1000 or so people who were evacuated from their homes close to the volcano.
But then the following day it started raining heavily and didn't stop for 2 days. We lost power for about 12 hours but didn't think too much of it. It was only later, that we realised that it was tropical storm Agatha, and that throughout the country about 100 people had died, mainly as a result of landslides. Over the next few days we found out that now something like 90,000 people had been made homeless and were staying in makeshift shelters.
In a mountainous country like Guatemala, it's usually not the storm itself that does the most harm - but the landslides that it causes. This is even more likely in areas where there has been serious deforestation (ie everywhere), and where the quality of houses and roads is poor.
There have been several stories in the news about bridges or roads -which were virtually brand new, being swept away in the storm. Guatemala has always been affected by tropical storms and as a result has quite stringent building regulations --- but very little in the way of enforcing them.
So here it all feels a bit strange -- there are still 90,000 homeless people. The government has assigned several collection points where we can donate clothes and food items for those affected. Some organisations I know are also involved in the distribution - but at the same time most of life carries on as normal. It's weird to be affected and yet not be affected. I pray for more of God's perspective in all of this.