Welcome to Day 3 with Janine and Madeline! Madeline is a freshman psychology major, and Janine is a junior public health major. This is our first ABST! Today was all about getting introduced to the San Lucas Mission and familiarizing ourselves with how they walk with the community through various challenges. Along with our guides (long-term mission volunteers) we explored several projects including coffee processing and the classes offered at the women’s center. We didn’t know there were so many specific types of coffee, and it was awesome to learn everything from a guy who inherited this passion from his father! The classes at the women’s center covered a myriad of valuable skills, including sewing, cooking, and weaving. The women are given priceless education, dignity, and community through these programs.
At lunch, we had our first round of dish duty! Many hands made light work and soon we were ready for our next adventure!
In the afternoon, we embarked on a medicinal plant tour back at the Women’s Center. We learned about dozens of plants and their unique properties. The mission is able to offer these resources to the community for free. It was fascinating to learn how common plants can treat illnesses like diabetes, prostrate issues, UTIs, blood pressure problems, and many more general ailments. We had a little extra time to hike further into the property and sample oranges grown there! We also caught a glimpse of some smoking volcanoes through the trees!
After we returned to the hotel and recouped, we decided to go exploring around town and made our way down to Lake Atitlán with some artistic admiration along the way. Much of the street art consists of humming birds, which you might see in our photos. We saw some local vendors, but couldn’t purchase anything because we ran out of time to exchange our dollars for quetzals this morning.
Throughout the entire day, we saw dozens of dogs all around the city! Even though we refrained from petting them, we still took plenty of pictures and ended the day by journeying to an ice cream shop! We enjoyed our treats while being entertained by the passersby and breathtaking scenery before heading back to La Casablanca for the night!
