Guatemala is a place of many contrasts. In one day you can count a list of observations that are endless: the women carrying a basket on her head dressed in a modern polka dot dress and bright red stiletto shoes; a woman wearing traditional indigenous weaved skirt and shirt walking along the sidewalk chatting away on a mobile phone, a hummer driving down the old cobbled streets of the small rural town of Anitgua; the old man wearing shiny black banker shoes and a courier style jacket on a gleaming Harley Davidson and the most inconspicuous MacDonald’s I've ever seen with the exterior as humble as any street vendor but with an interior as glossy as any 5 star café (outdoor patio with quaint old water feature and all). What topped the list was sighting, at the end of the evening, when the cobbled streets were empty, a white stretch limo roll quietly down the road – all this in an old town surrounded by active volcanoes in the middle of Guatemala. I write this as I sit in one of the only ‘cafés’ in the rural town of San Juan, Comalapa in Guatemala called Café Chixot. I´ve ordered the first Mocha (with a slice of carrot cake!) I´ve seen in a month travelling though Central America: not in the big cities of Guatemala or Cuba but here in these ancient streets of Comalapa. But what is perhaps more surprising is that the eco word has appeared to reach these parts. 100% of the coffee in this wee oasis of a café, is sourced from local coffee bean growers and producers, as its tag line suggests: `!Mi café, tu café, nuestro café! (My café, your café, our café). On the back of its newly laminated paper menus is the café’s mission which goes something like this (if my semi-Spanish speaking travelling partners have translated correctly): to ensure the reforestation and eco production is carried out as an alternative way of taking care of and safeguarding economic activity for many families and small cultivators of coffee. One of the Long Way Home volunteers I´ve been working with has been helping to build a primary school out of old tyres, plastic bottles and earth filled sugar bags, told me that the word has already spread about this new eco method of building. Some of the locals, having seen or been a part of its construction have adopted a similar approach to re-using ´modern` synthetic materials to build with. A resourceful lot anyway, it´s no surprise the adoption rate has been so quick, particularly in a country that has taken on the technologies of the modern world (mobile phones and the internet are most prominent) so swiftly, even in the most remote and poorer rural areas. Let’s hope the positive influences from the west outweigh the negative for all we need is another mass produced line of chain stores on another same, same high street in the world!

Ask the question “how much money does it take to live a happy life?” and the majority of answers would look something like this: “enough to provide my loved ones with a comfortable home, wholesome food, a creative/peaceful play time and something to give back or donate to a charitable cause”. In essence we all know that money doesn´t equal happiness though it sure can help to ease a few worries in times of hardship. For some people, especially in the modernized western world, it takes a trip to an underprivileged, poverty stricken place to realise the elements that make for a happy life – gratitude for what we already have, for example. One of the quickest (though not always easiest) ways to do this is by volunteering in a foreign land that doesn´t have any of the mod cons one is used to. A good one that I´ve been working with is ‘A Long Way Home’ on their project in San Juan, Guatemala. The organization put its roots down here a few years ago with the intention to build a park and garden sanctuary for the local community. Once a piece of land that had virtually nothing but shrub on it, Parque Chimiya now has an organic vegetable garden, an organic compost heap, a sunflower garden, running water with pump, electricity, a volunteer house for 7 people with a small stove, a cold shower and compost toilet, a pine tree nursery nurturing tree for reforestation, a children´s playground, and a grassy football field for the local kids to play on. The not-for-profits current project is building a school for the local San Juan community which will eventually give 200 kids the opportunity to have a proper education. Many children here are lucky to finish 6th grade as they tend to leave early to help their families work the land in order to pay for food and other basic provisions. With this new school there will be more of an incentive for kids to stay longer and give children who may not have had the chance before to actually attend. This in itself is a wonderful contribution to the town. Another great aspect of this project is that the school is being built primarily from recycled and eco friendly materials. The school will consist of eight classrooms, four workshops, two storage rooms for trade classes, administration building, an eating hall, a recreational area and a garden. The pictures here show the workshop buildings which are three quarters of the way finished. The walls have been build using old tyres, ´cob´ mud, chicken wire and glass bottles. The walls will have a lime stone finish. The glass bottles in the roof act as colourful mini sun lights: a creative addition to what will be a mainly white exterior (though I´m sure the children will add plenty of bright light to the place. It’s wonderful to see the not-for-profits like Long Way Home having a long-term effect on these underprivileged parts of the world. Not only are they helping whole communities but they give volunteers who travel from the US, UK and the like, the comfort of knowing their work is making a real difference. If you’d like to learn more about Long Way Home and how you can contribute or donate visit www.longwayhomeinc.org