Long Way Home’s first project, Parque Chimiyá, was built as a service to the community of Comalapa, Guatemala.  Located 1 mile from the town center in the village of Chimiyá, the park is the first of its kind in the area, a beautiful and safe place where children, families and any member of the community can come for educational, recreational and sports activities any day of the year.

Features

Soccer Field.  The biggest draw at Parque Chimiyá is the regulation-size grass soccer field.  Many communities in Guatemala have small, poorly maintained soccer fields that are mostly mud in the rainy season and mostly dust in the dry season.  Since soccer is the national sport of Guatemala, children and adults alike are excited to come use our field, and groups have come from as far as X miles away to play on it.

Basketball Court.  Basketball is the most popular sport for women in Guatemala, so the addition of a basketball court to the park was essential in getting local girls to participate more in our sports programs.  The court was designed so that it can also be used for volleyball and papifut, a sport similar to soccer that is very popular in Guatemala.

Playground.  A park just wouldn’t be a park without swings and slides.  Located in a shady, wooded area of the park, the playground at Parque Chimiyá attracts many families and school groups.  Most elementary schools in Guatemala have nothing but a cement courtyard within their grounds where they take their recess, so class visits to our park for recess or field day are a real treat.

Gardens.  The organic fruit, vegetable and botanical gardens aim to provide the people of Comalapa not only with an aesthetic treat, but also with an educational opportunity.  Long Way Home staff and volunteers use the gardens to demonstrate organic gardening practices and to teach visitors to the park about plant propagation, composting, and other relevant gardening topics.

Plant Nursery.  Ten thousand trees are grown in our plant nursery each year as part of Long Way Home’s reforestation project.  While this project takes up a large part of the nursery, one quarter of the nursery’s space is used to grow medicinal and ornamental plants and herbs to sell as income generation for other park projects.

Community Kitchen and Picnic Area.  With its tranquil surroundings, people often come to Parque Chimiyá just to enjoy a pleasant meal outdoors.  Our picnic area provides this opportunity while the community kitchen gives larger groups (family reunions, church groups, etc.) a place to prepare and enjoy meals together in an attractive natural setting.

Nature Trail.  A walk in the woods cannot be taken for granted in a country that has been ravaged by deforestation.  Our educational nature trail runs through an old growth forest preserve where visitors to the park can enjoy a variety of natural plant growth, the singing of birds, and a stream flowing from a waterfall.  The interpretive signs make the trail a “living classroom.”

Classroom.  The open-air pavilion at the entrance of the nature trail provides a venue for a variety of community gatherings.  It has seen a broad range of uses: as a stage for musical and theatrical performances, a classroom for environmental education presentations, a meeting room, and as a shelter for a church youth group’s overnight campout.

Housing.  Parque Chimiyá has a house and two cabanas that Long Way Home staff, interns and volunteers use for lodging.  The volunteer house at the park’s entrance has a porch with hammocks and a fireplace, a kitchen, three bedrooms that can sleep up to eight people, and its own small garden.  Two adobe cabanas sit at the top of a hill, where staff members wake up to a scenic mountain view each morning.

Water and Electricity.  The presence of a spring on the Parque Chimiyá terrain has made a great difference in the success of the park.  Having electric posts installed at the site of the spring not only brought the luxury of electricity to the park, but also made it possible for the entire park to have running water (including the gardens, community kitchen and volunteer housing).  Our neighbors also benefit from the use of our water and electricity.