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Guatemala Day 3 – The Mountain

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On the first day of actual wiring homes in Guatemala, I was teamed with a team from Arkansas. We drove a bit over an hour from Frey Bartolomo De Las Casas to a small unnamed mountain village south of Chabilchoch. It was raining when we left our hotel. We had to make a stop in downtown Frey Bartolomo to find meter poles and sledgehammers. We were not able to find meter poles and had to order those, but after walking into town in a pouring rain, we found a supply of sledgehammers in an open-air stall in the market square.

After loading up on sledgehammers, we drove south and west to our mountain village. It was pouring rain again as we tried to find the village elders that would guide us to the homes we were supposed to wire. The language in this village was they Kichi Mayan dialect, so we had an interpreter who spoke both Kichi and Spanish. He would query the villagers and translate that to our Spanish to English translators. Needless to say, most of the communications for the day were pointing and gestures of where they wanted light switches and lights.

Climb the Mountain

When we first were told that we had to climb a mountain, I looked up and thought “that isn’t too far” and grabbed a single bottle of water. Little did I know that they place we could see on the side of the mountain was only the jumping-off point for the rest of the day-long climb. We followed a paved walking path up the mountain for about a quarter mile and 400 feet elevation, where a few homes and the school and church were located. But we had to then climb another mile and over 800 feet elevation up a slender, rocky, muddy, slick, and dangerous path to get to the majority of homes we were supposed to wire. It ended up taking us over four hours of climbing, sweating, and straining to get a half dozen homes wired up the side of the mountain. I ran out of water within the first hour and was suffering the rest of the day. Luckily, I only had to carry my own backup up the mountain, but holy cow, that was a heck of a climb in treacherous conditions. Descending back down the mountain may have been even more dangerous because of the slippery conditions.

Later in the day we made it to the bottom, where I got some drone video of the location, and we wired up a few more homes. At the end of the day everyone was exhausted, and I was thinking to myself “If every day is this difficult, I don’t know if I can hang with these guys on this project!” Luckily, this was our most difficult installation of the entire trip. We did have to go back a few days later to install the meter poles, but the conditions were drier and we knew what to expect.

These guys monitored the cable blocking the alleyway to our hotel. When we pulled up in the trucks, they would drop the cable for us to pass, day or night.
Tuk Tuk waiting on a passenger.
An armed guard stands right smack in the middle of the Ferromax store in Frey Bartolmo De Las Casas. This was a common site at stores and shops around Guatemala.
We saw this naked guy several days hanging around downtown Frey Bartolomo Des Las Casas. He seemed to be a normal sight and nobody paid any attention to him. One day I saw him just walking down the middle of the street.
The sides streets of Frey Bartolomo De Las Casas were mostly dirt and mud. It was raining hard on our first morning of actually wiring homes.
The guys from Arkansas negotiate with a shop owner to find big sledgehammers. We needed sledgehammers to drive the copper ground rods into the hard dirt.
Four women shopping in dowtown Frey Bartolome De Las Casas, Guatemala.
A lady walking in the rain with a bag on her head on main street in Frey Bartolomo De Las Casas.
Ready to start the climb up the mountain. Notice the guy in the blue shirt who slung the very heavy roll of wire over his shoulder. He had the heaviest load by far.
The orange linemen bags proved to be very helpful for hauling all the supplies up the mountain.
These guys were studs, helping to carry our gear and supplies up the mountain. One villager carried the heavy roll of wire while another villager carried the awkward Milwaukee Packout case.
We are nearly at the end of the concrete path and still have over 700 feet of vertical climbing left.
The trail was rock, slippery, wet, and dangerous in spots like this. One misstep sent a person plunging down into the canyon below. This was a prelude of the trail to come. At this point we are about to climb into the low-hanging rain clouds.
Our team all had heavy-duty boots for this climb. Most of the women and kids had either Croc shoes or slippers or climbed barefoot.
At this point we were about halfway up the mountain and starting to get winded.
Notice the low-hanging rain clouds. Steve Howard said “we are climbing above the sun” and he didn’t seem far off on that comment. At this point we were about halfway up the side of the mountain. The rocks were wet and slippery, and the trail was dangerous.
Up we go into the clouds.
The Arkansas team is approaching a particularly difficult section with slick rocks and steep climbing.
The team had to stop for a break about 2/3 of the way up the mountain. By now everyone was soaked in sweat and wondering how much further we had to climb. We had left the paved trail long behind.
Everyone points to the villager in the blue shirt and felt great respect for his ability to climb the mountain with the extremely heavy spool of wire.
The Arkansas team splits into two groups and starts wiring homes in the village. It took about 45 minutes to wire a home. This first day we didn’t set meter poles because we didn’t have meter poles yet.
This lady nursed her baby while we were busy wiring her home.
The women in the village usually wore very colorful clothes. They worked hard during the day taking care of kids, fixing meals, teaching school, doing laundry, and raising crops and livestock.
While most of the buildings were bamboo or wood, some of the homes were concrete block walls, and this home even had a concrete floor. The gentlemen in the doorway build the home himself, carrying the cinder blocks up the rugged mountain one at a time by hand.
Like many families worldwide, the younger children often help to take care of the younger children. This girl held her baby brother while we worked inside her home. Notice the dirt floors and wood slat walls.
This guy was our Kichi to Spanish translator. Most of the villagers spoke the Mayan language of Kichi and didn’t understand Spanish, we needed a translator for Kichi to Spanish, and then Spanish to English. This was a typical home we wired for electricity. A baby is sleeping in the hammock to the right.
Corn is a primary food ingredient for people in Guatemala. It is easy to grow even in the roughest of terrain. We often saw pots of corn just like this one that families would have on simmer for the day.
The kids liked hamming it up for my camera while the linemen were working to wire their home.
I loved the natural light streaming in from the window and highlighting this mother and child.
The little kids liked me to take their picture and then show them the picture on my iPhone.
The family often sat around watching the linemen as they wired the home. The people often helped after they learned what to do. The guy in the blue shirt carried a heavy spool of wire all the way up the mountain. Notice the corn supplies in the rafters and the cooking mound in the back of the room. This was basically a kitchen.
A pot of corn ready for the dinner meal. The main staple of most Guatemalan’s diet is corn since it is easy to grow in even the most remote places.
This little girl donned my floppy hat and posed for a picture.
Another girl grabbed my hat for a picture.
These ladies sat in the home and watched while the linemen worked. The young man on the right spoke just a bit of English and would try to polish his language skills by talking to me.
This is one of the views down the valley as we walked to a nearby home.
We gave each family a gift bag after the linemen wired their home. The bag contained items such as crayons, coloring and drawing books, pencils, and toothbrushes.
It was quite common for people, especially kids and women, to run around in bare feet, especially when it was muddy.
This guy was a huge help all day. He had one of the nicer homes we wired. It was very remote and extremely difficult to reach, but he had obviously done a lot of work on it himself. It was a pretty basic home but nicely built and exceptionally clean and neat. He was obviously proud of his work, and rightly so.
It was unusual to see these packaged snacks hanging inside a home. These were usually for sale at a roadside store, but not hung like this in a home.
Even though most homes didn’t have much in the way of amenities, most homes had a bible or a picture of Jesus on the wall.
A view from the side of the mountain. We didn’t work at any of these homes, only homes UP the mountain.
This guy was a real worker and helped us all day long. He stayed home from his normal day job to help us run electricity to his village.
Jamie Reeves and Dylan Rupe walk back up the road from a house we had just completed. It was a long, hard day of work but it was quite rewarding. The kid on the left followed us around all day and was a big help.
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James Pratt

James Pratt

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I am an Oklahoma based writer, commercial photographer, editorial photographer and adventurer based in Oklahoma City. I love telling stories about people. A motorcycle is my preferred means of travel, and I have over 5,000 hours piloting small airplanes. My editorial photography has been published in hundreds of magazines and my commercial photography has been used by dozens of companies worldwide.

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