Nineteen Scouts and Scouters from Troop 1519 enjoyed a week-long adventure in the tropical rainforest and highlands of Guatemala during June, 2003. The boys and parents camped out in Tikal National Park, where they climbed 300-foot Maya temples constructed a thousand years ago and saw spider monkeys, howler monkeys, snakes, coatimundis, toucans, and more parrots than you can count in a day. In the nearby town of Flores, Petén, the Scouts hosted a dinner celebration with Guatemalan Scouts from the town of San Andres and presented them with 19 tents to replace the plastic sheets and twine the Guatemalan Scouts had been using on their campouts. The Scouts from both countries were pleased to see that Scouting’s values and goals translate across languages and across international boundaries.

The Troop 1519 travelers spent the last two days of their adventure in Antigua, a centuries-old town with cobblestone streets and colonial Spanish architecture in the Guatemalan highlands. Antigua was abandoned after an earthquake in 1793, leaving the city as a well-preserved example of 18th century Central America. There, the boys watched an erupting volcano at night and perfected their Spanish during the day, buying hackysacks and wooden masks in the town’s open markets. The boys and parents returned home on July 1 with rolls of film to develop and a troop of new Scout friends in Guatemala.

Submitted December 18, 2003
Jim D. Nations
Assistant Scoutmaster