As 2012 draws to a close, it seems like a ‘Year in Review’ post is necessary. I complained bitterly about turning 23 this year because 22 was so awesome, and I find myself feeling the same way about 2012: it was so good that I’m simply not ready to part with it. Regardless of my [...]
Over the course of our nearly two weeks in Guatemala, the strength and the survival of the people was most evident. It did not matter whether the people we met were survivors of current mining struggles or survivors of the internal armed conflict and genocide. Through our readings in-class prior to the field section, one [...]
Hello world! Welcome to my reemergence on the temple scene! This time in Tikal! (Yay exclamation points!!) I’m here to talk about a far more important issue though: SWASS. This term was brought up by my friend and fellow traveller to define the situation I found myself in at the Mayan temples of Tikal [...]
This was the first trip that I had use of Instagram. Let me say: Genius and I know why Instagram posts and ravings have popped up everywhere recently. As for any Twitter followers, I’m sure you’ve already realized how much I am loving this app. You’ve had to suffer through numerous pictures of drinks, dogs [...]
I’ve been putting off writing about Zacualpa. Guatemala, as a whole, was so emotionally charged, and so incessant, that I’ve been trying to avoid delving back into it all. My last few posts about Guatemala were hurried. I skimmed over the details, or simply provided photos, like those of Lote 8. I didn’t want to [...]
The church in the town of Zacualpa located in the Guatemalan Highlands is a place of suffering. Used in the internal conflict as a centre for detention and torture, it, along with many other places in the country, is now a place of memory. Here are candles we lit in memory of the people who [...]
In Zona 1 of Guatemala City, there is a huge amount of graffiti, much of it political. Whether it is related to mining, genocide, the disappeared or justice as a whole, you will be hard-pressed to find a block without some kind of political statement along the walls of its buildings. This is one of [...]
The day spent getting from Coban to El Estor felt like a lot of driving, but it was nothing compared to the day getting from El Estor back to Guatemala City. Part of the reason for this long drive was our indirect route to the city through the community of San Rafael del Flores. Like [...]
This is Emilio. Of all the people I met in Guatemala, this man sticks with me the most. Here, he is holding a canister of tear gas that was used against the women and children of Lote 8 during the evictions. He cried when he told us of how, at the age of 52, he [...]
Basing ourselves in the town of El Estor along the shores of Lake Izabal in the Eastern part of the country, these two days were spent conversing and learning about the contemporary issues in the region. The issues relate to the nickel mining companies located that has been based in the regional for over 40 [...]
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