Antigua: The Door Collection

Antigua is a beautiful, colonial city nestled in the central highlands of Guatemala, in the shadow of the beautiful Volcán de Agua.  The city was founded in 1543 by the Spanish, who came to colonize most of Central America until 1773.  That means the Spanish were ruling Central America from the time Michelangelo was painting the Sistine Chapel and Copernicus was suggesting that the Sun is really the center of the universe ... until the time the United States of America was founded.

If there was one gift I could give to my children

If there was one gift I could give to my children, it would be the ability to find contentment.

It's not the same thing as simply wanting them to be content. 

The contentment we most often speak of in western society is fleeting, temporary.  It depends on my ability to satiate my child's desires and it is often fueled by commodities.  If you begin to chase it, it may well turn into an eternal rat-race.  But the ability to be content - that is a sustainable, renewable resource.  And it originates in them, not me.

Kaivopuistonranta, Helsinki (2014)

Weekend Roundup

Interesting articles and other specimens abound online this week; here's a taste of what caught my eye.
There's something for everyone here!

1. Trial of former Guatemalan president for genocide >> For the first time in history, a former head of state has been put on trial - and then convicted - of genocide by his own country's court system.  This op-ed in The Globalist was written by Laura Myers of Limitless Horizons Ixil. Laura was our guide and an ambassador from the Ixil community when I traveled to Guatemala with Belmont University in March 2012. Having lived for over a year and a half with the Ixil people in the remote highlands of central Guatemala, Laura's knowledge, experience, and empathy inform her unique perspective on this remarkable event in local, national, and world history.

photo credit: Eric Johansson

2.
Swedish Photoshop expert creates mind-bending images

3.
French-Namibian girl grows up napping with cheetahs, riding ostriches - incredible photos!

4. Finland's contribution to online shopping: Buy anything you see online! - Cool Helsinki-based company Kiosked makes advertising less annoying and more enjoyable for shoppers.  Read about it in the Huffington Post.


5. "Struggle is progress" - A young mother bares her heart as she chronicles the joys and challenges of raising her two small children.  The genuine emotion and thoughts she shares are a beautiful part of the human experience.

6. "The unbearable beauty of Finnish grammar".  Believe it or not, after living here for 8 months, I've actually started speaking Finnish - real conversations!  Even arguments.  I had to aggressively defend American cuisine the other day when some guy tried to blanket-statement American food is bad ... because he ate bad Mexican-style food from an "American" restaurant in Helsinki (where Finns manager and cook).  The parent company might actually have ties to America.  And I had all the words to set him straight in Finnish!

For all the warnings that you get about this being the most difficult language in the world, it's really not that bad.   I have found Russian most challenging so far.  

7. '13 Bankers', Financialization, and the Economy.  This was posted about 3 years ago, but the message is still incredibly relevant!  Let this be a foreshadowing of one of my newest and most exciting projects.  If you find this topic interesting, stay tuned!

photo: Cata Portin

8.  Philosophy of life: Insight & Inspiration with one of Finland's most loved philosophers. He also happens to be a researcher and lecturer at my university.  I had lunch with Esa one day; he's a brilliant and lovely man.  He's also my neighbor, and by some funny coincidence, I now live in the apartment he used to own - where he raised his kids.  Here's a paper on elevated reflection that serves as a great introduction to his work and passion!
If you've ever been to Finland, you understand how brilliantly Esa stands out!

9. What the World Eats in a Week. This is a super neat photograph collection of families around the world, surrounded by everything they eat in a typical week.  Highlights: I was astounded by the volume of what the German family drinks compared to all others.  I was also horrified by the minuscule 1/12th of the British table that contained unprocessed, fresh edibles.  Mexico appears to adore Coca-Cola; Guatemalans have insanely red tomatoes; bananas / plantains must be in every Ecuadorian dish.  Based on this table analysis, I should probably move to Turkey or Italy.  

Bhutan - photo: Peter Menzel

Letters Home

I've just arrived in Namche - a grueling 6 hour walk from the monastery in Pahding.  Besides Lukla, this is about the nearest wifi to the monastery. This country is absolutely beautiful; I wish I could transport everyone here for a little dose of heaven!  

The first thing I do is usually to check my email and read the heartwarming messages from friends and family.  I look forward to these so much.  It makes me happy to hear from you who are following my adventures, and I feel just a little bit more connected to you despite the physical distance between us. In replying to your messages, I often start writing with such enthusiasm, wanting to share everything with you individually, and then realize that I'd like to share these things with everyone! So here are some snippets of my letters home...                            

The scenery is breathtaking at every turn and the people are warm, friendly, so generous. In some ways it reminds me very much of Guatemala. The little farming villages scattered around are quaint and with their low rock walls keeping in the yaks and buffalo - it's almost like a time warp.

It's 2069 in Nepal!  I got a text message a few days ago from my Nepali cell service company which read, "Happy Constitution Day 2069!"  I'm living in the future! I must say...the future looks a lot like the 18th century, prior to the industrial revolution ;)

The trekking is difficult, but not impossible. A reasonably fit person could certainly do it.  There are times when we bound up and down the trail, and then there are time that we trudge slowly, stopping every ten steps to catch our breath. And it is so rewarding!  Every day I feel as though I've accomplished something great!

My breath is literally caught in my throat at least four times a day, at moments when the clouds blow out of the valley and another snow-capped peak, which I've somehow failed to notice before or has been completely obscured, emerges from the white mist.  There's no way I can capture the majesty of these mountains in the lens of my camera.  The best I can do is try, and keep encouraging you to come see for yourself! 

Guatemala - Part II: "Esperanza"

Her name means hope. Esperanza is seven years old and studies in the third grade. She lives with her mother and sisters in Chajul -- a community of 3000 people in the highlands of central Quiche -- and speaks Ixil, one of 22 languages spoken by 22 distinct ethnic groups in Guatemala.

The Ixil [ "ee-sheel"] people are descendants of the Mayans.  A visit to their remote villages scattered throughout the valleys and steep mountainsides of Quiche reveals women in traditional red woven skirts and whipils ["whee-peels"] which take the women on average two and half months to hand weave on homemade looms.

It's a complex process, I learn, as I make my first attempt under the supervision of Esperanza and her family.  At seven, Esperanza has already mastered the basics of weaving. As I struggle to keep track of the many wooden tools involved, her mother, Maria Asicona, smiles over me and adroitly adjusts my errors.  Esperanza studies my blonde hair and foreign features as she stands nearby, transferring a spool of thread to another tool with nonchalant expertise. Her eyes bear a quiet confidence beyond her years.

Guatemala - Part I

We've just emerged from a week in the jungle of central Quiche, Guatemala.  Situated just 150 miles from Guatemala City, what a typical American would normally project as a 3 to 4-hour drive requires in actuality no less than 8 hours, in 20-year-old vehicles imported from the U.S., winding up and down Guatemala's sometimes-paved mountain roads to reach the town of Chajul.

It was here that we followed the coffee trail from the tree to the mug; we were invited into the homes of families in this indigenous community where we shared a meal and learned to weave; we witnessed the incredible poverty of these families and were touched by their joy and generosity. And we were introduced to four different organizations who are actively addressing the challenges and needs of this community in unique ways.

But since I have only a few minutes until the bus comes to pick us up to fly to the Mayan Ruins at Tikal, I will have to dive into the intensity of our experience in Chajul another day.  I wanted to at least share a few photos today!

We're now in the colonial city of Antigua, in a most deluxe hotel - a far cry from the abject poverty which plagues what seems like 90% of this country.  As we drove into Antigua yesterday evening I was thinking how it's almost unbelievable that we are in the same country as the Chajul we left early that morning.

Yesterday's highlight - zip lining in the canopy outside Antigua.

Quetzales - Guatemalan money. 1 USD = 7.90 Q

A First Taste of the Coffee Industry

A new adventure starts Friday morning when we leave Nashville, headed for Amsterdam.  A busy first weekend includes a train trip to Brussels to Saturday.  The NIBS competition kicks off with a welcome banquet Sunday night.  Much to be excited about!

I'm scrambling to get next week's assignments into my professors' inboxes tonight before I leave -- the last thing I want to worry about is trying to connect to the internet in a foreign country while under pressure to get my work in on time.

Now about this trip...

We just had our pre-departure briefing for Guatemala this morning.  It was so neat to have Bob Bernstein, owner of beloved Belmont Blvd coffee shop Bongo Java, tell us about his experience starting a fair trade coffee cooperative several years ago to buy coffee directly from small-scale farmers -- although he doesn't use the term "fair trade" anymore because "it's been bastardized," as he puts it.  Most people refer only to price when talking about fair trade requirements, but it's so much more than that, says Bob.

Bob has a lot of thought-provoking ideas and experiences to share with us, especially in regards to responsible sourcing for coffee sellers, so you'll read more about this as I think about our discussion throughout the trip. What really caught me off guard, though, was this: Of all the coffee-growing and -producing communities Bob has visited during his travels, Ethiopia is the only coffee-drinking community. In all of the other coffee-growing communities, the bean might be the region's biggest economic driver, but it's final product is not enjoyed there.  

Some of the reasons coffee isn't so popular -- or good-tasting -- in Guatemala?  Uneven and inconsistent roasting, and the inability to get water hot enough for a good-quality brew present major challenges. And of course all the best coffee gets exported, so what stays in Guatemala is definitely not the cream of the crop. Bob's cooperative is now working to help coffee farmers in Guatemala improve their equipment so that they can taste their coffee. 

I can't wait to explore Guatemala and experience the entire tree-to-bean-to-latte process!

In other news: I was honored to be nominated by my peers to Belmont's Homecoming Court last week, and even though I wasn't crowned Homecoming Queen, it was so much fun participating! (In fact, I didn't even know that we had a homecoming court in college, so the entire event was a surprise.) My friend Rami was also nominated, so here we are walking out on the court together at halftime of Belmont's Men's Basketball Homecoming game last Friday night!  

Photo courtesy Belmont University