Geographic Alliance of Iowa

By the time you read this the GAI will have changed dramatically.  Jane Gillen our Administrative Assistant accepted another part time job across campus.  This job will be a good thing for her because it does not involve grant money. Jane was a tremendous asset to me personally.  I wish her well. 

For many years her voice is the one you heard on the telephone and the one who made your GAI experiences pleasant.  Those “behind the scenes” duties are the very things that made this organization run so smoothly.  Since I will be working alone for awhile you can expect that the prompt service you are expecting may possibly be a bit delayed.  However, I will do the best that I can.  

We have some exciting things happening within the organization.  Dr. Alex Oberle has submitted a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad to Chile .  If we should be fortunate enough to have it funded the GAI will be heavily involved.  We will be hosting a workshop to showcase our curriculum materials.  Additionally, we will be making presentations at various venues. 

Steve Wymore and Don Peterson are working on a summer workshop called Railroads:  Under and Over.  This will showcase the Underground Rail Road in southeast Iowa and the function of railroads in westward expansion.  The date for this is August 3-7.  Check the information elsewhere in this publication.  I thank them for taking the initiative to generate such an outstanding program for us. 

Tracey Elmer, Ramesh Dhussa, and Don Peterson are working on a summer 2010 workshop for the Des Moines area.  This workshop will have an agricultural theme.  The ideas presented at the Steering Committee promise us another great workshop as we look to the future. 

I will be leading a family friendly workshop to Russia in June 2009.  We do have room for one more male and one more female.  If you are interested please contact me.  This promises to be outstanding.  Thus far our family friendly workshops have been extremely exciting and useful to teachers.  Summer 2008 there were two.  One was to Guatemala and one to the Canadian Rockies.  Both exceeded our expectations.  Please feel free to join us for one of these experiences in the future.  You will find it a great way to treat your family to the world through a geographic perspective.  I have not yet begun to work on such an experience for 2010 but suspect that I will need to begin searching for outstanding venues for us soon. 

Have a great school year and I look forward to seeing you at one of our events. 

Guatemala 2008:
The Marginalization of the Maya

A group of 14 students accompanied Dr. Kay Weller on a new summer adventure:  Guatemala .  We began the tour in Guatemala City , visiting the Ixchel Museum . Here we learned the complexity of meaning contained within the Mayan weavings.  Each symbol and color contained significance, reflecting a piece of the Mayan belief system.  Although Westernization has infiltrated this small country, for example Nike hats and Levi jeans were prominent among the non-indigenous people, much of this traditional clothing is worn today, especially by the female descendants of the Maya.

Guatemala City itself is organized into various zones, each zone varying greatly in safety and appearance.  The group's hotel was located in zone 1, the political and oldest area of the city. The troubled conditions existing in Guatemala were evident as the group was cautioned not to leave the hotel, and guards armed with automatic weapons were sited frequently.   

Next the group traveled to Lake Atitlan , stopping at the ancient village of Chichicastenango en route.  Chichicastenango is home to the largest marketplace of the indigenous people, and the numbers of vendors wishing to sell their wares overwhelmed group members.  The walk to an ancient church was precarious due to the aggressive methods used by the salespersons.   At the church, the group was able to observe the Mayan blending of Catholic traditions with their own rituals, as Catholic saints and Mayan gods overlapped.  Enjoying this quaint village was difficult, however, due to the overpowering pressure applied by the local market owners.  

As the group traveled onward to Lake Atitlan , we noticed a significant lack of industrial development in this struggling country.  Also, the class members were shocked at the unsafe transportation used by the locals on the highways.  Many "chicken busses," retired U.S. school busses painted in an array of colors, passed the tour bus frequently.  Oftentimes the “chicken bus” was overcrowded with worn tires and sometimes drunken drivers.   Lake Atitlan , surrounded by three volcanoes, is largely regarded as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.  The group was able to see smoke roll from one of these volcanoes as they ventured across the lake to the small village of Santiago Atitlan, and also noted the slash and burn agricultural methods on the hillsides.  In Santiago Atitlan, the village members wore the style of clothing specific to that tribe.  Shopping here proved to be much more pleasant to the group, for the vendors here did not overwhelm them.  Another disturbing observation the group noted was the lack of sanitation used.  A sewer pipe drained directly into the lake near the hotel, the same location local villagers visited to wash laundry and dishes and from which schoolchildren collected water and carried to the village.   

The next day was a long journey to Copan , Honduras .  As the bus rolled eastward, class members learned of the long history of social unrest that has plagued Guatemala .  This Central American country elected 25 presidents in 44 years (1821-1865), two of which occupied 25 of these years.   Recent history has not been much more promising as two of the recent leaders disappeared with large amounts of the country's treasury. The imposition of a sales tax caused the textile industry to leave its investments in Guatemala , and Civil War ravaged citizens until 1996.  These factors have combined to create a struggling economy.

Along the route, class members noted a change in the land.  The soil grew more rust-colored and iron-rich.  Then, as the bus crossed the border into Honduras , a friendly moniker appeared.  A Hawkeye symbol proudly decorated a semi-truck passing through, prompting Barry Eberhard to jump for joy and pose for a photo-op, brandishing his matching Hawkeye t-shirt.  After passports were stamped and some quetzales or dollars exchanged into lempiras for souvenirs, the group passed over into Copan , and checked into another tightly guarded hotel.

The ruins of Copan boasted of the development achieved during the Classic period of Maya history. The hieroglyphic staircase records the history of the city, with over one thousand glyphs.  The ball court with angled sides is remarkably well preserved.  At one time, 27,000 people inhabited this amazing city, but after its mysterious abandonment in 822 A.D., residents moved north to Tikal .  The village of Copan provided not only shopping opportunities, but also a chance for class members to see the Honduran lifestyle.

The group spent another long day on the bus learning about the sad state of education in Guatemala .  Schooling is mandatory for elementary school.  Unfortunately, education is not valued and is often ignored.  Citizens see more value in having the children work than sit in class, for a limited elementary education does little for a person, and attending middle school and high school is often difficult.  These upper level institutions are found only in more density populated areas and travel to them is problematic.  Cost also prohibits many from attending.  Thus, less than half of the population is literate.  The state of medical care is not much better, with private hospitals providing care to the wealthy and pathetic public institutions caring for the poor.  Medical missions, conducted by doctors from the USA and other countries, are invaluable to the poor population, providing much needed help to many families.

Touring Tikal was an amazing day!  Here class members encountered imposing temples, which towered over the surrounding rainforest. This UNESCO World Heritage Site was settled in 700 B.C. and its unique appearance provided a location for the rebel base in the original Star Wars film.  The group climbed various temples, including a 212-foot climb to the top of temple IV for a picturesque jungle view.  The heat and the bugs did, however, damper some of the fun of the day, as lunch on site proved difficult with swarming, biting deer flies pestering patrons. 

On the ninth day, Dr. Weller and her students experienced the long 11-hour trek to Antigua , stopping at Quirigua on the way.  Quirigua boasts the tallest stelae in the Yucatan peninsula, as it overshadowed Copan for the last years of the Mayan dynasty.  Along the journey, Virginia de Fuentes, our tour guide, taught the class how to count in Mayan.  The counting system illustrates how knowledgeable the Maya were of the solar system, calendar and the movement of the Earth.

The final day, group members toured a coffee plantation and experienced Antigua , the fourth UNESCO Heritage Site the group had visited.  Antigua remains frozen in time, with cobblestone streets and Spanish colonial architecture, and offered the group the chance to tour a convent dating back to 1736.  This quaint village served as Guatemala 's capital for over two centuries.  Class members heard a nearby volcano rumbling in the night and also saw smoke drift from its chimney.

The farewell supper left class members reflecting on all they learned while visiting this interesting country. We had witnessed a culture struggling to survive changing times and economic hardship.  We saw varied lands, which live in constant fear of earthquake, for Guatemala is the second most seismic active country in the world (after Japan ) with an average of ten tremors each day.  And lastly we saw a friendly and proud country, which hopes to bring many more tourists to see its wonders.  Dr. Weller and her students will not soon forget this amazing place.

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