y the time the Mountaineer gets into your mailboxes, Cami Hillis, Samantha Bjornestad, and Brianna Terry will be home from their trip to Guatemala. I'll admit I had to look on a map to see where it was. This article will just be a teaser as I can't wait to hear from them on their trip of a lifetime.
Guatemala is a country located in Central America, bordered by Mexico to the north and west, Belize and the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Honduras to the east, El Salvador to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the south.
The trip started March 20 and their last day is March 31. Guatemala 2025 was a repeat of going to Guatemala as the Rotary Club of Edina invited other Rotary to join them again for the 2025 International Service trip to Guatemala.
"The purpose of the trip is to deliver 654 life-saving water purifiers to remote villages in the mountains surrounding Coban in partnership with Resurrection Priory Monastery, St Patrick's Church of Edina, and the Rotary Club of Coban. Fellowship and travel to new, exotic places were also part of the journey! "
The itinerary :
March 20 left Great Falls
March 21 they arrived at Guatemala City and went to Antigua. It was a 15 hour trip.
March 22 they went to San Antonio while waiting for the rest of the Rotary Clubs.
March 23 was the first day they learned how to build the water filtration system.
March 24-25 They placed their first water filtration system at the school in Socorro. They also went to a coffee plantation
March 27 Went to Sandiego for more water filtration stations and di a variey of service jobs
March 28 they hiked to the Acatenango Volcano
March 29 They hiked back down.
March 30 Mayan ruins and shopping
I can't wait to read or hear them talk about it! Rotary is, first and foremost, a service organization, so a trip to support a country that needs water-saving purifiers and, on top of that, to take two Big Sandy students with them to show the value of service is an extremely important adventure.
