in your wake

like wine

glistening in a glass cup

under the heat of the desert skies

with her relentless beauty

untamable until she reaches your hands.

she falls vulnerable

melting under the heat

seeping into every crevice of your

fingerprints teetering

between the security of your grasp

and falling between the cracks.

Yet you mull her around

as if she were the most precious wine

created for your lips.

deep inside mine

or maybe you slide mine

deep inside yours

but they glide nonetheless

like nothing I have ever seen

eloquent but messy

nervous yet sanguine

and full of a perception

where we endure

a new adventure

that has yet reveal it’s mysteries

meek but mighty

letting your beauty

encourage and entice

my every step

feeling your breath

swell inside of my

own lungs

sultry and waiting

for that smile that ignites

my body like a narcotic

in the stark moonlight

like thieves

stealing one kiss at a time

look over and smile

at me with those

dangerous eyes

and whisk me away

into the night

with your satiny voice

and delve into my

warmth with your arms around me tight

reach beyond the skies

and bring the moonlight

back into my eyes

and keep me safe

during these

still nights

in the stillness of

our peace

lean on me

as I lean back onto you

feel the pressure

of our pasts bring

us together

let us strive

rather than suffer

take my hand

my curious friend

on a journey towards

the ever after

like smoke lingering in the air

after a long drag

and desire her watery blues

like the ocean craves salt

dance in her waves

of brown hair exploring them

as if she were foreign territory

make her feel like a goddess

with your touch

dear shadow?

For even that part of you is fading too

Why do you never come around?

Your child calls for you

The monster that lurks under your skin

has defeated any good you have

touched

But your life could change love

if you just

woke up

but in a world of your own

I drift in and out like the tide

being pulled by the moon

as you toss me on the shore

then tug me closer

flailing into your murky beauty

so I can feel your waters

as the salt and sea encompass me

I was very nervous going to Guatemala since I never really learned much about it. There was only one way to and I dove right in. The team I went with was all different people from other Whole Foods stores who had excelled over everyone else in their departments in the entire company so it was a great pleasure to know I was in such an ambitious crowd. There was so much excitement that it was truly hard to contain it.

Most of our time was spent in Pena Blanca, a very rural community that has built a trust with Whole Foods team members and the staff of G.V.I. (Global Vision International). We were able to actually meet the people that so many have donated money and donated their time, love, and energy for. We has learned that there was about 800 people in the community and only around 80-90 homes. Most of the village was agriculture with a school (built by GVI and Whole Foods Team Member Volunteers) and homes intermingled within the community. They had one store that we had seen that they could buy some goods from but it was clear they depended highly on towns like Panajachel for other goods they could not produce. Another thing that was interesting was that they mainly spoke Chaquequal (not sure if I spelled it right!) But it was the traditional Mayan language, one of 23 different dialects! So what ended up happening for most of the translations was that it was translated first into Spanish and then to English.

But our first day in Pena Blanca was to visit the school. When we arrived they were doing some sort of assembly, my take was it was of a talent show and the children were dancing to different songs. We weren’t sure if it was improv but it was adorable nonetheless. There was one particular little boy that just stole my heart who was dancing solo and was wearing his shades and just sort of bobbing for a few minutes to the tune. You could just tell that the kids were excited to show off their dance moves and when it was time to go back to normal class they all scurried to their classrooms….kind of. They didn’t show the same discipline as kids do in schools in America but maybe it was the fact that there were strangers with cameras? They were very excited to have us photograph them. But to walk in the school that I know my fellow team members were helping teach and helped build was so humbling that I didn’t know how to react. One little girl, I believe her name was Rosa was following everyone with a camera and asking us to take photos of her! So of course I have a few of her. Another thing that was very important to me was that the kids (partially to entice and encourage their education) were given meals at the school. It was all about their nutrition and making sure that they grew up to have better lives and healthier lives. Which is personally what I am all about.

After the school we walked through a corn field to see two stoves that were being built by team member volunteers. We were blessed that not only did we meet the team members (who had their teenage children tag along to help) but we got to meet the families that were receiving these stoves. One family even let us take pictures of them and let us see the stove and the inside of the room they cook in. It was black and caked in soot and I could only imagine how smokey it was when the wife and daughters were cooking before the stove was put in. And it wasn’t anything fancy, just an enclosed stove for burning wood and a chimney to guide the smoke outside rather than in their lungs.

The next day we started at the Banural- Grameen bank (the bank Whole Planet partners with) in Panajachel so that we could actually meet Almogir the director of Guatemala’s branch. We were able to hear so many stories of great success and then learned that in his area there was a 100% payback rate. I couldn’t believe it! No loan was left unpaid and these women were prospering. How wonderful, a dream and a miracle coming true for so many made available by this bank. After we talked to him we drove back up to Pena Blanca. The short was was closed due to mudslides, which is very common and can really isolate villages like Pena Blanca. So on our way up I was actually able to ride in the same car as Almogir. What a wonderful soul he is. And he is so down to earth, I loved being able to hear him talk about his work and his life, just an amazing story.

We had gotten to the one thing I had worked so hard and waited to see, the Pena Blanca meeting for the micro credit clients. Granted we were two and a half hours late due to the detour so we just wanted to use the restroom! That I still believe broke the ice and let them laugh at us and feel more comfortable around us. While we were waiting for the team to use the restroom we had the chance to talk to talk to the one woman who was fluent in Spanish. Her name was Maria and with her loan she not only was able to expand her business and have her children go to school but she put herself through school to learn spanish and is now going to technology school so she can work with computers in the city.

Once everyone was ready for the meeting it had begun. I am not sure what happened in the first part, I am guessing a prayer because they all bowed their heads and closed their eyes but looked very serious and then after a minute they were back to the meeting. They were lined in groups to pay the portion owed at this meeting and they didn’t seemed burdened to do so. In fact, they seemed happy and proud. We got to here how they were able to now give their families food and their children books and pens for school. They were now able to survive with supportive husbands and a supportive community. Maria had also taught them to write their names, so each woman (there were about 20-25?) got up and wrote their name on the whiteboard, giggling the whole time of course.

After the meeting it was a slur of photographs and deals being made to show us their goods. We had agreed to go to one of their homes which was close and easy to get to according to them, not so much to us. We drove for a small ways and then trudged on foot in the rain up a hill across a mini waterfall and back down another hill to where they lived. They basically had an adobe house that was empty on the inside with a single lightbulb. I was perplexed, this is worse than the poorest poverty I had ever seen in  the US. But they called it home, and this was moving up? But they had plans for more rooms and bigger housing, and I know they will accomplish this.

The trip itself was amazing, to see the foundation not only working but thriving more than I had believed it could. I want to go volunteer and I encourage people to donate. For those of you who want to know more about the foundation this is the website, and please consider donating!

WWW.WHOLEPLANETFOUNDATION.ORG