Michael Wilsonguatemala 2010
Appropriate Transportation
March 23, 2010
How people move around is one of the most vital pieces of information that defines a community. I hadn’t thought about this before until I traveled through Arizona on a publicity excursion for an eye glasses campaign we will hold there on Saturday. Arizona is a small town in the Municipal of Puerto San Jose, a run-down port town since displaced by the larger and more modern Puerto Quetzal (the main pier in San Jose has since fallen into the sea from neglect).
…As we drove through Arizona for the first time in our microbus we flagged in the port,
Weaving Co-Ops in Rural Guatemala
February 24, 2010
One of the most interesting aspects of my GCY experience is the opportunity to periodically shadow Yoli and Clara. These resourceful Guatemalan women are two of the owners of SOLCOM, the small Guatemalan-owned social enterprise that turns a mild profit by delivering healthcare products to rural communities. Recently, Yoli, Clara and I were scheduled to leave on a campaign to sell eyeglasses. We planned to leave at 9:00 a.m. so I showed up at 8:30. It turned out that Yoli and Clara had other important things to do, so we didn’t actually depart until 10:30. That’s life in Guatemala for…
Read the rest »Transportes Rodriguez
January 26, 2010
Have you ever thought about where your water comes from and how many people are involved in bringing it to your faucet?
…Recently, out of curiosity, I headed off with Don Omar in his water truck. Don Omar is a pretty successful businessman in Santo Tomas; he owns a small farm and also owns a water delivery service called Transportes Rodriguez. Starting work at 6:20 a.m., we headed to a farm nearby to use its deep well to fill up the 55 barrel truck for the first run of the morning. We then headed to a small colonia (the romanticized
Transportes Rodriguez
January 25, 2010
Have you ever thought about where your water comes from and how many people are involved in bringing it to your faucet?
…Recently, out of curiosity, I headed off with Don Omar in his water truck. Don Omar is a pretty successful businessman in Santo Tomas; he owns a small farm and also owns a water delivery service called Transportes Rodriguez. Starting work at 6:20 a.m., we headed to a farm nearby to use its deep well to fill up the 55 barrel truck for the first run of the morning. We then headed to a small colonia (the romanticized
Chuchos
October 15, 2009
…I had a pretty exciting encounter with a chucho today. A chucho is a wild dog. So as I was panicking that I couldn’t find my phone, I walked down the street to Zuleika’s house (one of the other fellows who happens to be staying with my host mother’s sister, or something like that). I needed to find my phone because I was worried I had gotten pick pocketed on the Chicken bus. As you know from my last post, this would be very easy place to get pick pocketed on the chicken bus, because there’s obviously a lot of
Read the rest »
Chuchos
October 15, 2009
…I had a pretty exciting encounter with a chucho today. A chucho is a wild dog. So as I was panicking that I couldn’t find my phone, I walked down the street to Zuleika’s house (one of the other fellows who happens to be staying with my host mother’s sister, or something like that). I needed to find my phone because I was worried I had gotten pick pocketed on the Chicken bus. As you know from my last post, this would be very easy place to get pick pocketed on the chicken bus, because there’s obviously a lot of
Read the rest »What the heck are you doing you crazy fool
October 13, 2009
Today we commuted entirely alone for the first time ever. Just the five fellows living in Santo Tomas Milpas Altas. The world didn’t seem to like that idea.
Today Zuleika and I left the house twenty minutes late, knocked on Ian’s door to make sure he had left, and got to the bus stop at exactly 7:50. We got lucky and got on the micro bus that was waiting near the stop. If you’ve ever been to the Air and Space museum in Washington DC and seen the miniature van that the McDonald’s stand out front uses to move food…