"How long is this drive?" asks Meridith Schisler.

After feasting on a breakfast of bacon and eggs and saying "adios" to the extremely hospitable Hotel Regis staff, we are nomads once again on the road --

The volcanoes we’ve grown familiar with start to fade in the distance and we settle into a comfortable drive through lush green terrain. Arriving in Chichicastenango, we find our van stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

"Are they beauty queens?" asks Jerrell Jordan, son of Mia Redd and honorary AYCC member. He’s referring to the source of our traffic jam: a string of women situated on makeshift floats attached to pick-up trucks. The women vary in age but each is wearing a long dress with a Miss America-style banner draped across it, bearing words in Spanish none of us seem to recognize.

There is an "around the world" themed float. Another seems to be an "under the sea" float. And three or four have no apparent theme, but hold sashed women and beautifully costumed little girls. We have no choice but to sit and watch the festivities roll by -- a Guatemalan parade has kicked off our day.

When our driver is able to break free from the procession, we make our way to the local CARE office. There, the mood shifts considerably. Taking the podium in our meeting room, CARE Guatemala staff members Edgar Lavin and Dr. Junio Robles speak of the trouble the region has seen in years gone by; trouble that has caused many of the problems CARE now is working to overcome.

"It’s very difficult to talk about what happened here in the 1980s," says Lavin, through an interpreter. "Especially because of all of the negative memories of war."

Now, in times of peace, Lavin says, the people of Chichicastenango remain mentally affected by Guatemala’s civil war. Reintroducing the arts of patience and compromise is a slow process, Lavin shares with a sigh.

The two men are working with local community leaders to introduce nutrition and education programs, arguing that these programs are the real path to long-term growth and progress. "It’s a big challenge," shares Robles. But their work will carry

The lecture strikes a somber code with the AYCC students. "Hearing them speak made such an impression," says 17-year-old Marina Gurvich. "Firsthand accounts are always so much more authentic and genuine than anything you read about in a book."

Following the lecture, CARE Guatemala staffer Eileen Rivera leads the way on foot from the CARE office to the local marketplace. The open-air market is a dream come true for those who were too tired to shop last night. No one walks away empty-handed.

After shopping and a lazy lunch, it’s back into the vans -- this time for a two-hour journey. The radio station turns to mushy static as we weave our way through the mountainous passages, managing, somehow, to avoid collision with semi-trucks, buses and livestock. It is a day of reflection for many of the AYCC members. Conversations come and go. There is talk about recent proms, college plans, hopes and dreams. Snacks are shared, but sleepy yawns and stretches persist. At last we reach Quetzaltenango.

After a trip to a local glass factory, which boasts irresistible prices on vases, wine stoppers, figurines and candleholders, it’s off to the Hotel Modelo and on to a local pizzeria. Then, back to the hotel for a debrief around the hotel fireplace by Mama Mia.

"How’s the trip been so far?" she asks the group, reenergize by their pizza feast.

"I can’t believe tomorrow’s our last day!" exclaims Dara. "I don’t want to drive on the interstates and see buildings in Atlanta. I want to drive on dirt roads and see huts!"

Her comments draw a round of laughter from the group as well as a round of nods. The AYCC members concur: their lives have been changed by a few days in Guatemala.

"A lot of kids think these problems have been exaggerated; that no one really starves to death," says Rosie Wilde. "But they’re wrong. Poverty in the U.S. is completely different from poverty here. It’s hard to make people understand that some people have so little," shares Meredith.

How will the trip cause the youths to behave differently, when they return to the States? Following Mia’s debriefing, Marina Gurvich and Anneke Strachan share their thoughts on the matter: "Before I was more passive about

As a freshman at the University of Virginia, Anneke plans to remain actively involved in international programs, as well. "Now, after all of this, I’m even more interested in the Peace Corps," she shares. "It’s something I think I will look into and something I think I would enjoy."

The trip, she says, has been life-altering. Not in the sense that it’s her first time out of the country. Indeed, she has lived in Australia, Japan and Britain. It’s that she has learned from a developing country so unlike her own. "It has flown by," says Anneke of her Guatemalan adventure, as the night draws to a close. "I think, when I get back, I’m going to start to digest. I haven’t had time to drink it all in. But when I get back, I will."

With a wakeup call of 5 a.m. looming, now is clearly not the time for Anneke, or for any of us, to drink in thoughts. Now’s the time to catch a few winks.

This journal entry was written by Mary Pflum. She is a free-lance writer accompanying the AYCC in Guatemala.