Guatemala

Our Enrichment Voyage stopped for two days in Guatemala. As with the other stops, passengers (voyagers) could select from a wide array of shore excursions: Pacaya Volcano Hiking Tour, Guatemalan Highlands, Lake Atitlan - the Mayan Wonder, Safari Wildlife, among others. 

A number of our Friendship Force members struck out on their own with Aila Erman from St. Petersburg, Florida. Their destination: the beautifully restored colonial city, Antigua. And since the city is almost a mile high, you escape the scorching heat of the lowlands, making it a great place to explore by walking the streets.

Here, even if just for a day or two, you get a glimpse of at least three different Guatemalas: First, there is the historic, colonial Guatemala that dates back to the 16^th century. The architecture alone is worth the visit. Second, there are the people and traditions of Mesoamerica: the Mayans. Although Antigua is several hundred miles south of the famous Mayan complex, Tical, the rich art and traditions of the Maya culture are easy to experience in Antigua.

Several of us visited Casa de Artes, a delightful arts center that is as much a folk museum as it is a store.  The handiwork displayed here was made in various villages, using centuries-old techniques. I selected a colorful table runner for my wife, Jill, an art teacher who loves indigenous art, particularly fabrics. The embroidery was done by hand in the same style as a huipile, the blouse worn by Maya women.

Third, in Antigua you can discover the Guatemala of today. School children on their way home from school, merchants selling their wares, and you get the impression that everyone is a merchant. Their friendliness makes it okay, as you realize you are instantly identified as a tourist and a potential customer. But you don’t have to look far to see the poverty that afflicts so much of the population, and you remember that this is a country of 14+ million people with an average income of under $5,000.  And though you can’t see it on the surface, there is the legacy of the civil war that was so destructive for decades, until recently.   

In Antigua, even during a brief visit like ours, you take in these different worlds, wondering how you can be a culturally “green” tourist – enjoying the history, diversity and local charm without somehow ignoring the underlying poverty. After all, tourism is one of the main sources of income, and the few dollars spent on handcrafted souvenirs can be a major source of income for a local family.

What does this mean for the Friendship Force? We do not have a club in Guatemala, and as with other developing regions of the world, we tend to shy away, not knowing how to introduce our programs. Certainly our mission of cultural understanding through friendship is universal, and we are eager to go beyond our current destinations and visit places like Antigua, to enter the homes and hearts of the people.  But how? Many of the people here may not be able to travel to visit us. The challenge in Guatemala and dozens of other countries is to design a Friendship Force program format that is not always based on mutual travel but on some other shared objective.

Left to Right: Vey Smithers, Louisa Wheeler, Dennis
Wheeler, George Brown and Aila Erman.

Here is where Aila Erman’s connections with Antigua come into the picture. She took our group to Antigua not just to show off this wonderful town, but to meet longtime friends of hers, Vey Smithers and Dennis and Louisa Wheeler. They are American expatriates who have lived in Antigua for more than 30 years. The Wheelers came to the region as American Peace Corps volunteers in the 1970s. Vey fell in love with Antigua as a child when her family wintered there. They have made Antigua their home, and among other ventures they established a non profit organization (NGO) that works with the local villages to the north that are ignored by the Guatemalan government.

Their organization is PAVA, a Spanish acronym that roughly translates to “assistance for the indigenous people of the highlands.” Each year PAVA, supported by these expatriates and their friends “back home” in the USA, conducts projects with the local people in the highland villages: building bridges, schools, fresh water sources, among others. But the value they give is not just financial. PAVA is a local grassroots organization that provides financial and logistical support (www.pavafoundation.org). The projects are community driven. Representatives of the community come to PAVA to explain their needs. If feasible, PAVA works with them and largely provides the materials, the engineering and helps cut through the government red tape. The villagers provide the labor.

What if the Friendship Force joined hands with PAVA in Antigua?  We don’t know what it would look like, but it seems worth the effort. Aila and I are going to invite the Wheelers and their associates, both Guatemalans and American expatriates, to try designing a Friendship Force program that enables our members from abroad to spend a week in Antigua – enjoying the unique culture, history, architecture and cuisine AND to visit and make friends with PAVA’s Maya villagers in the highlands, learning about their lives. Our Friendship Force ambassadors would also become “friends” of PAVA by each making a small financial contribution.

It is a different way to establish the Friendship Force in a new country, but it seems worth a try. And it certainly would live up to our new Friendship Force themes: Explore, Understand, Serve. What do you think?

A colorful surprise

Last evening on our Enrichment Voyage, while docked at Puntarenas, Costa Rica, we were on the deck watching the western sky. The clouds seemed just right for a great sunset. There we were, cameras ready for a ritual of nature that takes place with total predictability every day. We knew the sun would set at 5:52 local time and, with any luck, we’d witness the recurring beauty of changing colors as the sun dipped below the horizon.

But something unexpected occurred. From the other side of the deck someone called out, “Look at the rainbow!” We rushed to the other side of the deck and there it was, a magnificent rainbow. All of us have seen rainbows before, but this was different. It was a complete rainbow with both ends easily visible. Even more surprising, the rainbow didn’t fade out after a few minutes. It was still there 15 minutes later and lasted until the fading sunlight took it away. 

So there we were, with two wonders of nature simultaneously displayed – the expected sunset and the completely unexpected rainbow. Which side of the deck would we favor? Not surprisingly, it was the rainbow. The unexpected rainbow provided more delight than the equally magnificent, but predictable, sunset. 

Isn’t that the essence of exploring? Finding and delighting in the unexpected. But that can happen only if you are open to the discovery of what you weren’t looking for.  Anyone who stayed on the western deck last night will have great photos of the sunset, but they would have missed out entirely on the rainbow.

That is why it is so important, to me, that the new Friendship Force tagline begins with Explore! Exploring means not only looking for the unknown, but being ready to embrace it when it is found. In the Friendship Force we explore the world of cultures and peoples who are different from ourselves. We enter the unknown as we cross the threshold into our host family’s home for a few days or a week, as I’ll do next week in San Jose, Costa Rica. There are always some expected delights as we get to know each other. We expect that our hosts will enjoy sharing their homes with us as well as their family life.  We expect to learn about their food and their customs. We expect to have them show us some of the famous sites in their region.

But often it is the completely unexpected that provides the most lasting memories: it might be an invitation to a special family event—a wedding, an anniversary, a graduation, a neighborhood social gathering. Or it could be something that is part of their regular life, such as a religious observance that is so very different from our experience, yet because we are there with friends we are able to feel a connection. I remember going into a church outside of Tbilisi, Georgia, while on an outing with my hosts. The church was isolated and very old. There was no sign of life anywhere. But when we entered the church there were candles burning in the Orthodox tradition. As we lit our own candles I realized that others had been there before us lighting candles, and that others would follow. It was an experience that provided me with a totally unexpected connection with a tradition that I didn’t understand but could now begin to appreciate.

 I now have some nice photos of last night’s extravaganza of nature – the expected and beautiful sunset and the equally beautiful, totally unexpected rainbow. I’ll keep those photos to remind me of the importance of keeping alert to both as I continue this and future travel adventures. We should never be so focused on what we are expecting that we miss the unexpected.

What is your greatest unexpected memory?

Voyaging

40 Friendship Force members are on a voyage of
discovery with Enrichment Voyages.

In the Friendship Force we emphasize our mission of creating global understanding by calling our programs “cultural exchanges” rather than “trips.” While all of us enjoy being tourists from time to time, the focus of a Friendship Force experience is exploring new cultures and making friends, not just sightseeing.

I’m now on my first Enrichment Voyage on the Semester at Sea ship, Explorer, along with 39 other Friendship Force members. Like the Friendship Force, the Semester at Sea sponsors are very intentional about the purpose of this program: we are constantly reminded we are on a “voyage,” not a “cruise.” After five days into the “voyage” I now understand the distinction, and love it! Each day at sea there are multiple “enrichment seminars” led by experts in their fields. Yesterday, for example, you could choose The Power of Choice: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives; Introductory Astronomy: The Night Skies of Central America; The Biological Diversity of Mexico and Central America; or several others. I found it difficult choosing which to attend, and I enjoyed those I did.

Particularly interesting is the keynote speaker, Sir Christopher Ball, a very distinguished retired Oxford professor. His challenge yesterday was for each of us to identify something new to pursue in life. His told us it is okay to be “good enough” in most things, but we should all have at least one area where we are striving for excellence. He took up running at age 70 and now, six years later, he holds the record for running 10 marathons in 10 days! That level of achievement may seem beyond reach, but he is a great inspiration for each of us to aspire to excellence.  

George Brown and Edward Helm of FF Florida Suncoast, who
gave a performance as American humorist Mark Twain.

There are also sessions led by our fellow passengers. I’m very proud of the programs offered by Friendship Force members. Our own Edward Helm of St. Petersburg, Florida, provided a superb performance as Mark Twain to an overflow room. During the same hour his wife, Adrien, was leading a session on journal writing. And in the days ahead Graham and Jennie Wigley from Wellington, New Zealand, will lead a session on their recent experience with a service project in Nepal.

Each day we are learning that this is, indeed, an enrichment voyage, not a routine cruise. But that is not what impresses me the most.  In addition to the general friendly and relaxed atmosphere of a very comfortable cruise ship, the 450+ passengers are all traveling with the common purpose of learning about the region we are visiting—Central America. This makes it particularly enjoyable and easy to strike up a conversation with people we don’t know.  It also is a great environment for sharing Friendship Force experiences. Everybody I meet seems to have already heard about the Friendship Force from others in our group. We’re not even half way through the voyage and I’m running out of Friendship Force brochures!

In short, we are finding that changing strangers into friends is an important part of “voyaging.” That is something we in the Friendship Force know all about. 

Wish us bon voyage!

The MV Explorer, a "floating university" that will carry us 

from San Diego, down the Pacific Coast, through the Panama 

Canal and up to Costa Rica. Along the way we'll enjoy 

educational presentations by special lecturers on board.

Today I’m off on a Panama Canal cruise with 39 other Friendship Force members from five countries. It should be a great adventure for all of us, traveling together on the Semester at Sea April 2011 Enrichment Voyage. (www.enrichmentvoyages.org)

For years we’ve been wondering how to connect the Friendship Force with the growing popularity of cruises and I’m hoping we’ve found an answer. The unique educational focus of this cruise is ideal for our members, and the flexibility of allowing some of us to disembark part way through the cruise for a homestay in San Jose, Costa Rica, seems to be a perfect fit.

As with any new adventure there are lots of unknowns: What will the ship be like? Will the educational programs be effective? How about the shore excursions, will they work for our group? If we like the cruise will we be able to develop a partnership for future cruises with similar excellent fares? What about our fellow passengers? Will we be able to talk to them about joining the Friendship Force? Will the five-day homestay in San Jose be long enough? We’ll have answers to all these questions and more soon enough.  Having so many unknowns makes the journey all the more exciting.

On a personal note there is also a bit of history for me. It isn’t my first time through the Panama Canal. When I was just seven years old my family set out from North Carolina to Japan as the first step in my parents’ 20+ year career as Presbyterian missionaries to Korea. We traveled by train to Galveston, Texas, and there we boarded the SS Dr. Lykes. It was an aging freighter that looked magnificent to me, but I can still recall my mother saying it was so decrepit she wondered if it would make it to Japan. We sailed from Galveston in early September 1952 and made our way through the Panama Canal and from there across the Pacific to Yokohama.

It was a 30-day adventure that would be one of those early childhood memories that don’t seem to fade with time. I still remember sitting in deck chairs with my father, listening to the World Series on his brand new Zenith Transoceanic shortwave radio. I think it was the Dodgers and Giants – both in New York in those days. I can’t remember who won, or who we were supposed to be cheering for. Probably the Yankees, I’ll have to ask my father, who turns 90 this week. He has memory problems, but won’t have trouble remembering that!

This time it will be different. A modern ship, with Internet, entertainment, TVs in our rooms, and lots of amenities. And 500 passengers, instead of 12, for making new friends. But like my first Panama Canal crossing almost 59 years ago, I’m hoping it too will give me some memories to last a lifetime. Stay tuned.