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Danielle Bero ’07 (Astoria, N.Y.) designed her own interdisciplinary major combining creative mediums and social justice.She spent her winter break in Guatemala taking the three-week interim-session course Guatemala: Innovations in Development taught by Mark Crain, Simon Professor of Political Economy and chair of Policy Studies, and Nicole Crain, visiting professor of economics and business. Below is a first-person account of her experiences. Many students share their experience and images of interim-abroad courses in “Through My Eyes, In My Words.”
When thinking about an econ course, a lot of people would least expect a country like Guatemala to be a choice for study. But because of its natural resources and large human capital, Guatemala is a country beginning to flourish.
By studying the different regions, people, markets and bureaucracies, one can see where the faults are and where improvement can take place. The first place to start is education.
Our program partnered with Francisco Marroquín University, the top university in the country, which is where many of our lecturers, tour guides and friends were from.
We rarely stayed in one place for long and got to see a lot of the country and its different areas. We started in Antigua, the old city. This is where the capital used to be until volcanic eruptions and earthquakes devastated the area. Antigua had many historical buildings from the colonial area and the roads were cobblestone. On the horizon, volcanoes were visible and at times Pacaya would be smoking. The current capital is Guatemala City, which was our next stop.
Guatemala City was broken up into zones, some were really dangerous and others looked very similar to parts of Manhattan, where there were taxis and malls. At night, students from Francisco Marroquín University would take us out and we encountered a large gap in socio- economic class. Some people would be outside begging for money with their children, or trying to sell us things. Other Guatemalans wore designer clothes, had cars, and money to spend. Some even had body guards.
One morning we were up at 5 a.m. to witness La Terminal, one of the largest markets in the country. There is said to be more than 1 million U.S. dollars moved in that small area each morning. We could buy anything from tomatoes to love potions.
Although the market was located next to a police station, the vendors said there is little help from the government when it comes to thieves. La Terminal has its own private security and street politics when it comes to stealing: death. This consequence certainly stops everyone from stealing. La Terminal was one of several markets that we visited, all being fairly similar. Being gringos, the vendors would raise prices for us, so we were taught how to barter prices and what prices were reasonable for certain items.
We visited many museums, including the Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress, The Jade Museum, and the Mayan Ruin Museum of Tikal.
An expert on Mayan culture gave us tours of the Mayan ruins and we got a chance to sit in on several religious ceremonies. While on a tour of the ruins in the jungle in Tikal, we came across spider monkeys and went tarantula hunting.
We stayed at a coffee/tea farm in Los Andes, where the families and the workers receive free education and healthcare.
Later, with much difficulty and a few injuries, we climbed a volcano. We ended our stay with a dinner, attended by the students we met and the lecturers and tour guides from the program.
Having previously traveled abroad to Sub- Saharan Africa and the Bahamas, seeing people living in extreme conditions did not come as something new, but it doesn’t make it any easier to accept the privilege that we are born into. I think that the presence of positive businesses like the coffee farm in Los Andes is important for the economic and educational growth of the country. Without an educated population, the country will not succeed, but because of poverty, child labor is important for many families’ survival.
I think it is important for American students to know about the world and especially study abroad to gain a better insight and become more culturally accepting and competent. But it is important not to simply learn about the issues and problems, it is most important to take positive action.