Hello friends and family!

Yo yooo, my name is Richelle and I’m one of the bloggers for this AMAZING trip our group will be going on! Throughout the week that we are in the mysterious and beautiful Guatemala, Austyn and myself will be making periodic blog posts regarding the trip – what we did, what we say, who we met… and all of that jazz! Also, each day we will try to feature one of the members on the trip about their experience and thoughts that day, so keep an eye out for that!

We would like to introduce the fun group with you! Below you can find the first group photo we took at one of our group meetings leading up to this exciting trip. Back row: Heather, Austyn, Richelle, Hailey, Molly, Nicole (UWO advisor) / Front row: Shelby, Eric, Crystal / Not pictured: Danielle

Here’s a little about the trip: During our time in Guatemala, we will be working with the organization De La Gente, which is a nonprofit that offers community tourism in order to give visitors the “real cultural experience by encouraging interaction,” as well as allowing us to support the local artisans and farmers. While there, we will be focusing on concepts of sustainability, and we will be working hands-on with the local communities through activities such as an artisan workshop, eating dinner with farmers from the co-op in their homes, and browsing around the market(s) to become more immersed with the culture.  We will also be learning about  and working with the coffee growing process and the importance of coffee in the community of San Miguel Escobar.  The hope is for our group to become fully immersed with this different culture.

Wish us safe travels, as we leave for the Chicago airport at 7:30am tomorrow from campus! Hopefully, we will be arriving to our final destination in Guatemala around 10:00pm (central time). Thank you so much for your wonderful support for everyone, and we hope to keep you as updated as possible through this blog!

Best,

ASB Guatemala 🙂