Life on a farm...in Guatemala.

It's been one beautiful week since I arrived on the farm in Coban, a little city nestled in the mountains in central Guatemala.

The weather here was really unexpected. It rains almost every day (though the last two days have been sunny and warm and beautiful and we are all so thankful) and it likes to sit around 55-60 degrees while it rains. 

In other words, it's pretty chilly, not like a tropical palm tree paradise that you probably imagine...though it is a paradise.

Across the driveway is a rock quarry where men work Monday - Saturday noon picking at the rocks by hand and loading them into trucks.

The farm is home to six jersey cows and several calves, two horses (one of which, Poise, I get to love and run around on bareback for the next month,) several chickens, dogs, rabbits, peacocks, turkeys, pigs, goats, etc. etc.

Every day the cows are milked by hand - two guys to milk six cows, and then they, along with the calves, are let out during the day until evening milking when they are brought in for the night.

They also have endless flower, fruit, and coffee trees, along with corn up on the hill where the goats graze daily, tied on strings and pegs stuck in the dirt. 

The corn is chopped and packed into three little silos along with countless bags to be fed to the animals.

There are three families here - the one I am living with (Julia, her husband, and two precious kiddos,) and right down the hill lives Julia's parents, and up the road a bit are her grandparents. 

My "little brothers" here are 8 and 2 - Rodolpho is learning English and is so good at explaining something in Spanish when I don't understand, and Mattias is in the "copy everything anyone says" phase. Love love these kiddos.

Maria also lives with us and does the cooking and cleaning. One night she tried to teach me how to make tortillas, as she skillfully shaped them into perfect circles. Mine were less than perfect, but we had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs as I tried.

(Bet you can't tell which ones are mine;))

Every few days we visit Julia's "abulitas" (grandparents) to get fresh Jersey milk, cheese, fruits and veggies, and anything else the dear folks want to share. I have been adopted into a beautiful three generation Guatemalan dairy farm. :) 

The first few days I got to experience a lot of authentic Guatemalan things before starting work Monday. Julia's dad took me on a motorcycle to where they were cutting trees and hauling them out with oxen.

I've also been introduced to more foods than I knew existed. A classic favorite here is "Leche con canella" which is basically milk boiled with cinnamon, and it's amazing. We've eaten chicharrones (pork in vinegar) tamales and totuyos (tortillas with cheese or beans inside) and a bunch of strange vegetables (most I can't remember the name) that are delicious, but one, Wiskil, dried out my hands like a crazy chemical. Julia laughed when I asked what happened to my hands and she said it's just the vegetable, but wash my hands enough and I'll be fine...it took a few days, but now I know.

And as silly as it sounds, I was so excited when I got my own pair of "botas de hule" which are simply mud boots. But, in all of my travels I have seen workers with these boots, cutting wood, working cattle, riding horses, and I wanted so much to be a part of that and work with them. Finally, finally my dream to work on a farm in Central America is coming true and I have the boots to prove it!

Anyway... :) The first few days here were spent getting my acquainted with the area and my family, as well as shopping for things (they refuse to let me pay for anything while I am here - one way I afford to travel) and preparing things for the course for kids which started Monday and runs 8-12 every morning Monday through Friday for the next month. 

We cut out faces to make balloon animals, got supplies, put pretty paper on all the tables, and did a lot of basic farm cleaning. 

Then Monday, we started the course for kids. It's for city kids who want to experience farm life, and daily we teach the kids a little more about how to work on a farm. The schedule is the same every day - 

8-9 activity one

9-10 snack break and games

10-11 carpentry or walking exploring and

11-12 activity two.

Every day before the course starts, someone prays. It doesn't matter if they are with other people's kids, or if someone doesn't believe. They don't worry about politically correct, they thank God and ask his blessing before every day, and it's such a beautiful thing.

My job is to teach milking the cow and feeding a calf in the morning, and after carpentry or our walk, I teach riding. 

I can't help thinking over and over, this is what I was created to do. I absolutely love being here for one, but also, working with kids and seeing them at first shy and afraid - afraid to touch the cow, afraid to ride the horse, and slowly opening up and being excited to see milk go in the bucket, and slowly becoming confident enough to ride alone...and it's only been four days! 

While I am milking cows or riding horses with one group, there are two other groups alternating with Julia and her mom, making cheese, planting seeds, feeding the rabbits and birds, and milking goats. Maybe I'm biased, but I'm pretty sure horse riding with me is everyone's favorite.

Of course it's fun to play in between the work, too. On rain days, we jump rope (they begged me to participate in their jumping contest, and I won. Ha!) and when it's sunny we play in the yard on a home made teeter totter and canopy zip line, or duck duck goose. Kids never get tired of it.

The same kids come every weekday for two weeks, and then they are finished and there is a new group of kids for two more weeks. Most of the kids (ages 3-10) are wonderful, but the first day there was a little boy who wouldn't stop crying for his dad. Of course I was in charge of making him happy, so I'd take him to the horse, then goats, then to play, but nothing worked for more than a few minutes. At the end, I heard him telling an adult I was an ugly person, and I couldn't help but laugh, like its my fault his dad left him...gotta say, I was really really happy to hear he wasn't coming back.

After kids are picked up (Julia tells the parents twelve sharp, but since it's Latino time, there are always still one or two kids here at 12:30 or 1.) we share an awesome lunch (have I ever mentioned Guatemala food is my favorite?) and afternoons are spent riding Poise (who is tall and beautiful and fast and adventurous,)

...heading to Coban for one thing or another, meeting with people, making chocobananas with Rodopho, or just sitting in the hammock listening to happy Latino music. 

I'm sure there are seven million other things I could tell you, details about the town and terrible drivers and crazy people who are assumed to have drank pigs milk, but that will have to do for now. Much love beautiful friends. Until the next time Julia goes to get her hair done and drops me at McDonald's where there is wifi. :)