Well folks, this is probably the last post from Guatemala. We leave tomorrow at about noon, and are planning to be at the airport about 9:00 in order to give ourselves plenty of time for checking in.

Today we took a fascinating tour of Camino Seguro (Safe Passage) that I wrote about yesterday. If you didn´t get a chance to see their sight, take a look. I put the link in yesterday´s post. Our guide from Camino Seguro started us off in the city cemetery, which interestingly enough is a great place to view the city dump. It was very eerie looking at the dump from the cemetery. There are vultures EVERYWHERE! Hundreds of them circling the dump, in the trees, perched on the tombs. Very surreal. And anywhere there are birds, there is bird poop. It got all over the van, and in one student nurses hair (I am not mentioning any names here. Getting vulture droppings in your hair is not necessarily something to write home about, but it is something to blog about if it happens to somebody else). Another kind of spooky thing about the cemetery. Apparently the family actually rents the space. Everyone in the cemetery is burried above ground, and if the family doesn´t pay for 2 years, the grave is emptied of the coffin and it is simply dumped over the side of this very big hill into the dump. We honestly say an empty broken open coffin sitting on the side of the hill overlooking the dump.

We couldn´t stay long in the cemetery. It is also not a safe place to be. Lots of gang activity happens in Guatemala City, and the spot in the cemetery overlooking the dump is also the place where bodies are dumped after a gang hit or other killing. I know this is not a very cheerie blog posting, but I figure I might as well share the bad with the good. Just one more eye opening experience for us here.

After looking over the dump (visitors can´t actually go into the dump itself), we had some better experiences with Camino Seguro. We toured the day care center that Safe Passage started and runs for the children of the people who work in the dump. They have a capacity of 60 children ages about 6 months to 5 years, and currently have 54 kids in the school. It is a beautiful place in the middle of so much poverty. The school, and the neighborhoods that these people live in are built on the landfill of the dump, and there is a constant smell of trash and methane. The neighborhood names are also a bit surreal. Esperanza (Hope), Paz (Peace), Libertad (Liberty), and Regalo (Gift). The school has Guatemalan teachers and volunteers from around the world. The kids get breakfast, a midmorning snack, lunch, and an afternoon snack. For some, this is the only food they get for the day.

We also toured the older kids school and clinic. One of the goals, according to our guide, is to simply provide an opportunity to these kids. For some it is the opportunity at a little education, for others it is the opportunity to get a couple good meals a day. For many, it is the opportunity to survive another day. Their entire operation runs on donations, as so many things like this do here in Guatemala and around the world. As we did in order to make this trip a reality. If I can preach for just a moment, consider giving to a cause. If you do already, thank you. If you don´t, please think about doing something, giving something. We couldn´t have done all that we did in three short weeks without donations and gifts, and we have seen firsthand the effects that donations and gifts can make. From Camino Seguro to As Green As It Gets, and so many in between, there are people in need of help, and every little bit helps.

OK, enough soapbox preaching for the time being. It was a fairly somber group after the dump. We had some lunch, and decided for our last afternoon in Guatemala we needed something different. Laura promised all of us a hug if we would take her to the City Zoo, and we took her up on her offer. Off to the zoo. So many highlights, but two things stand out. The Howler Monkey (Laura´s main reason for wanting to go to the zoo in the first place), and the crowd of elementary school kids that crowded around us asking questions. So many questions. They were so eager to ask us about anything, and so eager to learn. It was very cute to see them all. Much thanks goes to Dawn and her translating abilities, for fielding many of the questions and providing answers.

We had an opportunity to reflect and share about the trip this evening. Lots of emotions, lots of laughs, a few tears. All of us have changed in so many ways over these past, very fast, three weeks. We will return to the U.S. as very different people than when we left. Some changes may be obvious (no I haven´t lost 20 pounds, that wouldn´t be a change, that would be a miracle), some may be more subtle. But we have all been touched by this trip, and I am convinced that we will be forever affected by it. We now have a special connection, and I would be willing to go on another trip like this anywhere with anyone in this group. I only hope next time I can take Mary and Sam with me.

Well, I think I have written enough for one night. I´ll keep writing if you keep reading. See you all tomorrow (ok, maybe Thursday very early in the morning). Buenas noches.