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Photoblog: Convite in Ciudad Vieja 7 December
Blog: Nono in Guatemala - 12 December 2010
On the 7th of December, before the burning of the Devil, there is a convite in Ciudad Vieja. The town is a few kilometers South of Antigua and was the first capital of Guatemala. Convites are allegorical parades the day before a procession.At 2 pm dozen of carriages & vehicles with religious, cultural and sport decorations left in front of the main church to cross the city. It was fun to see!
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Photoblog: Quemada del Diablo in Antigua, Dec 7th
Blog: Nono in Guatemala - 11 December 2010
To start the Holiday season, all Antigua gather on the night of December 7th to see burning a large effigy of the Devil (Quemada Del Diablo). Guatemalans believe that the Devil live inside their houses and by burning him, he'll be expelled from their houses and homes. The date marks the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, and is chosen to symbolize the eternal struggle between good and evil.
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Biotopo Del Quetzal, a natural sanctuary
Blog: Nono in Guatemala - 22 November 2010
The humidity and greenness greet the tourists at the Biotopo Del Quetzal, where the breeze, the sound of waterfalls and streams become your eternal companions. The uphill paths in zigzag require any visitor to stop frequently. Some for taking gulps of oxygen to allow them to continue the climb. Others, to look at the sky and the big trees that stand over their heads. The remote hope of seeing the flight of the green bird does not abandon the walkers, even if it is only an illusion.
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Antigua Getaway: Spend a weekend in a mountain lodge
Blog: Nono in Guatemala - 20 November 2010
In the mountains above Antigua, twenty minutes from the city, Earth Lodge is the perfect getaway for a weekend. Own by a very friendly American Canadian couple and their dogs, this small eco mountain lodge and avocado farm has a breathtaking view on the Panchoy valley and the Volcano Acatenango. Come to relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings while listening to the birds singing and watching the eruptions of the Volcano Fuego.
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Bringing you more than just credit
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 11 October 2010
By Eric Burdullis, KF12, FAPE, Guatemala I have written a lot about the auxiliary services offered by microfinance institutions in Guatemala. One blog, Going the Distance, reflected ASDIR´s additional services from insurance to bill pay, and my last blog, Good Medicine, spoke a little about FAPE´s new medical services program. Why do you care? As other Kiva Fellows have stated, microfinance is not the silver bullet that will knock out poverty, it is merely the start.
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Good Medicine
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 6 October 2010
By Eric Burdullis, KF12, FAPE, Guatemala. For most, take your medicine! conjures up negative images of spoonfuls of cherry cough syrup or days spent in bed with the flu. For the clients of one microfinance institution, FAPE, based out of Guatemala City, Guatemala, it is something much sweeter. FAPE recently teamed up with the Canadian Government and an NGO “Gems of Hope” to provide low cost medicine and medical consultations to its clients as well as free health education. How it works. A Gems of Hope team arrives to the village bank meetings with FAPE´s loan officer.
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Going Above and Beyond
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 10 September 2010
By: Eric Burdullis, KF12, ASDIR I was impressed. When I first stepped into ASDIR´s office, I was confronted with half a dozen banners listing the details of all the services they offer. The first banner was for Seguros Columna: an insurance agency that ASDIR pays for to offer life insurance to its clients (essentially, if a client dies, ASDIR cancels the loan: a great service for the family of someone in poverty). A second and third advertised a service to send and receive remittances through Western Union and Sigue.
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Tough Conversations
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 28 August 2010
By Eric Burdullis, KF12, FAPE/ASDIR, Guatemala I started this blog on a scrap of paper during a group visit. I started writing because, well, I felt uncomfortable. I wasn´t quite sure what my place in the conversation should be or even what my facial expressions should be. And this wasn´t the first visit I felt uncomfortable on that day. I wanted to give Kiva lenders updates, journal postings, on a couple of lenders that had fallen behind in their payments…way behind.
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Stay in a beautiful Hotel Boutique in Antigua Guatemala
Blog: Nono in Guatemala - 25 August 2010
A concept designed for people with special tastes, more hotels are opening in Antigua Guatemala, all unique and incomparable in beauty and elegance.Antigua Guatemala, a city of peace and nostalgia, has kept its cobbled streets and colonial style houses with clay tile roofs and elegant balconies. Its temples and monasteries remind you the place has a long history. The city was declared Patrimony of Humanity in 1979 by UNESCO. The whole atmosphere is an essential component for this type of accommodation, the so-called boutique hotels, a style that tends to increase.
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Where there is Poverty: Broken Windows and Armed Robbery
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 14 August 2010
By Eric Burdullis, KF12, FAPE, Guatemala City, Guatemala. ...But today, we stopped at a gas station so my ride could run to the ATM before work. Locking my door, I hid my camera and backpack out of sight and the two of us walked into the station. Two minutes later, when we walked out from the store, my heart dropped. Shattered glass is strewn in the spot next to ours. I secretly hope it´s not our car but know that it is. Running to the car, my door was unlocked and I already knew the rest.
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The Best Story
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 5 August 2010
By: Eric Burdullis, KF12, Guatemala “Again it might have been the American tendency to travel. One goes, not so much to see but to tell afterward” John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley. As a Kiva Fellow, I travel differently. I have too.
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Fourteen months in four countries - from a nine-year-old's perspective
Blog: Fourteen months, four countries, and three kids - Tales from the Field - 24 July 2010
This is a letter from Soraya, my nine-year-old twin daughter to her grandmother, telling all about our fourteen months in four countries. She told me I could post it online.Saturday, July 24, 2010Dear Grandma,
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Tatiana's letter to Grandma about Our 14 Months Abroad
Blog: Fourteen months, four countries, and three kids - Tales from the Field - 24 July 2010
As the last assignment in their home schooling for the year, I asked my three daughters to write a letter to Grandma telling her about their fourteen months abroad. I wanted to see what they found most interesting about the year. I asked Tatiana if I could post hers online. She agreed. This is the letter from Tatiana, one of my nine-year old twins, to Grandma.
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The Jewels in a Watery Crown
Blog: Joe's Trippin' - 22 July 2010
When i travel, i look for something different, something i can't find at home. I enjoy being in situations so completely foreign and alien that i could never in a million years “fit in”. The simple things like language, clothing and physical appearance are sometimes enough to cement the outlander experience.
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Sittin' on the Dock of the Lake
Blog: Joe's Trippin' - 19 July 2010
I am admittedly jaded. After so many years on the road, i have had the honour to see the biggest, tallest, oldest and whatever other superlative there is. Compared to the best 2nd or 3rd place pale in comparison. Central America has been rather underwhelming.
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A Place Out of Place
Blog: Joe's Trippin' - 19 July 2010
Growing up, there was a song on a children's show that went “One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong...”.
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Glancin' Guatemala City
Blog: Joe's Trippin' - 15 July 2010
Travel guides and Foreign Affairs websites are full of overcautious travel warnings aimed more at politics than personal safety. I rarely, if ever, use these sources as a point of reference. Hence the reason i'm moving to Yemen. But when the locals are freaked out by the current situation, then you need to listen.
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A Little Travel Guilt…Copan Ruins, A Necessary Third?
Blog: A Little Adrift - A RTW Travelogue - 14 July 2010
Reluctantly paging through my Lonely Planet guidebook in the quite cool of the incredibly westernized Bagel Barn in Antigua, Guatemala (one of my favorite places for a western breakfast in the city) I was seeking out inspiration. Divine travel guidance. Something of interest to break up the 16 hour commute between western Guatemala and eastern Honduras. I’m not a big planner but I was down to a mere 12 hours before I boarded my 4am bus to the Honduran border so I had run out of time. I should probably ...
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Tikal
Blog: Boodle's Adventure - around the world in 365 days - 12 July 2010
Deciding it was time for a splurge on transportation, we forked out on a private shuttle to get to Flores from where you can explore the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal.
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Flores in a Vase
Blog: Joe's Trippin' - 10 July 2010
Guatemala's northern department of El Peten is the definition of exotic wilderness. With a 21,000 km2 Reserva de Biosphere Maya, some of the most spectacular ruins in Latin America and an seemingly overabundance of fauna, El Peten is the kind of jungle you see in brochures or watch on Discovery Channel.
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A batty tale
Blog: Boodle's Adventure - around the world in 365 days - 9 July 2010
After having a relaxing few days with concerns no greater than what we were cooking for every meal, we were thrown back into travel in the deep end.
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¿Que Tal, Tikal?
Blog: Joe's Trippin' - 9 July 2010
The unmistakeable images of Indiana Jones tramping through some virgin rainforest only to stumble upon a lost temple unseen by human eyes for a millennia, have been etched into the collective conscience of a generation. Alas, such opportunities of exploration are all but gone in our modern world.
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Releasing my inner Batman
Blog: Cogs Watch - 8 July 2010
Bats have always kind of creeped me out. They're not exactly cute and cuddly with their sharp teeth and beady black eyes that shine out of their fury little heads, not to mention their sharp claws which are more than capable of an eye gauge. I never liked evening trips to the Sydney Botanical Gardens, the fear of evil swooping bats far outweighed beautiful sunsets. Nope, bats have never been up there with horses and dolphins on my favourite animals list, and they certainly weren't up there on my things-to-see-in-Lanquin list.
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Volunteering at Loma Linda
Blog: Say Yes to Tacos - 6 July 2010
I just made it back home to VT, after a long day of travelling from Mexico to Portland, a few job interviews in the Pacific Northwest, 10 fantastic days in Seattle with Ana, 5 days in New York with Tom (a friend from Vassar) and Oscar (a friend from Guadalajara), and a long, green train [...]
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Todos Santos makes you smile
Blog: Cogs Watch - 5 July 2010
We’re still trying to maintain a tight timeline in order to have any time at all in Europe. With this in mind, the thought of sacrificing a day to jumping between chicken buses all the way to Todos Santos, which is up near the Mexican border, was understandably put in the ‘should we or shouldn’t we?’ category. Funnily enough it was the guide books (that we sometimes give the brush) that won us over. One said Todos Santos was ‘as raw as Guatemalan village life gets’, the other said it was not to be missed. We were sold!
