We arrived in Guatemala after a long trip and, as if time hadn’t passed, they were waiting for us with a sign and a smile. For three of us, Natalia, Sergio, and Miriam, returning to Totonicapán meant reuniting with people, places, and families who are already part of our story. For Marcos, Claudia, and Rocío it was the start of a completely new experience. Six volunteers, two different ways of arriving, and a lot of excitement to discover what awaited us.
The first days were a mix of reunions, visits, and first experiences. We started getting to know Totonicapán a bit better at the Mamre ecological park and the Kaxtum lookout point. We also took the chance to surprise-visit the families of the local volunteers who had accompanied Natalia, Sergio, and Miriam in previous years. It was a very special way to reconnect with those who gave meaning to their first experience.
But the reality of volunteering soon arrived. On Wednesday we started the breakfast program for homeless people or those struggling with alcoholism, coordinated by the Obras del Espíritu Santo. More than 60 people receive this breakfast every day, and we got to take part in the whole process: preparing, receiving, serving, and spending time with them.
That same day we visited Doña Rafaela. After everything that had happened in previous years and her family’s effort to move forward, we found a huge surprise: her house had been remodeled, and we had the honor of officially inaugurating it. It was one of those moments that make you understand that volunteering doesn’t end when you go back home.
We also met Estefanía, who worked as a construction assistant until she had an accident with a grinder that caused serious eye problems. She can no longer work, and her family depends on a very difficult economic situation. And, at the end of the afternoon, we started the educational support program, where every day we accompany dozens of children and young people.
Some days we had to change plans. One visit was cancelled and we ended up playing basketball. Another day we swapped classrooms for a construction site: we carried earth and gravel from the road to one of the houses ARCORES is funding and helped prepare and pour the cement floor. Tired but happy, we ended up taking part in a Holy Hour with the local community.
There were also especially hard moments. We visited Marcial, who had been hit by a car and lost a foot, and Ángela, a 43-year-old woman with diabetes and gout, blind and abandoned by her family. Seeing the conditions she lived in, we decided to go back on Saturday. We cleaned her house, bathed her, and sent her clothes and belongings to be washed. Some experiences don’t need many words. Simply being there already matters.
After an intense first week, the weekend let us see another side of Guatemala. We visited the San Cristóbal and San Andrés waterfalls, discovered Mayan culture and rituals, and traveled to Lake Atitlán, where we toured San Juan la Laguna and enjoyed the scenery from the lookout point and from a boat.
The second week we got back to work. We helped build the church in Xantún, moving sand and placing wood, and continued with the educational support program. There was even time to share a movie with the children and local volunteers. But that night we did something different: we delivered 120 dinners to the hospital. Since there’s no waiting room in the emergency department, many people sleep on the street while waiting for their relatives. A coffee and a bit of food may seem like little, but there we understood that small gestures can make a big difference.
One of the visits that impacted us most was to the family of Marcos, one of the children who attends the educational support program. There are 14 of them, and they live without running water, without a bathroom, and in very difficult conditions. To get drinking water they have to go to the school, and to wash clothes they go down to the river. They sleep on wooden beds with no mattress. Getting to know this reality outside the classroom helped us understand much better the children we accompany every afternoon.
We also helped Doña Juana carry the blocks for her new house, and a few days later, we tore down the old one, built with sheet metal and adobe. All together — shovels, blocks, dust, and a lot of effort — we kept discovering that volunteering here takes many forms.
And it’s not all work. One of the most fun moments was preparing a Spanish meal for the local volunteers: paella, stuffed eggs, lemon mousse, and chocolate balls. Afterwards, we split up to visit two high schools and give talks on self-esteem, as part of the projects ARCORES runs in Totonicapán.
We ended these two weeks accompanying the eight people at the Divina Misericordia care home, all of them destitute and without family, joining them for Mass and spending time together. Then came the patron saint festivities of Quiché, and the next day, the Chicabal volcano and its sacred lagoon, where Mayan offerings are made. To end the day, we invited the Totonicapán volunteers to the movies — for some, it was their first time in a cinema. And we all ended up having pizza together.
Two weeks in, the six of us are starting to understand that coming to Guatemala isn’t just about helping. It’s also about letting yourself be helped, learning, listening, sharing, and letting yourself be surprised. Those who had come before have reconnected with a land and people already part of them. Those of us here for the first time are beginning to understand why it’s worth coming back.
And there’s still so much left to experience.
