From there we took a tour of the city cemetery. Here we could see discrepancy in wealth and attitudes about death. There were huge mausoleums adjacent to a large wall where caskets were deposited one on top of each other. The higher up one was, the less the rent was. These spaces are rented and if the rent is not paid, the remains are deposited into a common grave. Clean up preparations were being made for Day of the Dead on November 1st.

Cemetery showing large mausoleum next to wall with many slots for poorer people

Then into Zone One for a tour of the National Cathedral, lunch and just to see the main city center. After a nice lunch, we visited the Casa Guatemala clinic. That is where the pre-potty trained orphaned children and medically needy older orphans are housed.

Wednesday, October 26

This morning started differently from any other morning. We looked out the door and saw a man with his five or so goats going from door to door to sell goat milk. A neighbor across the street ordered some so the goat owner pulled out a small stool and proceeded to milk the goat into the container provided by the purchaser. Not a sight we see on the streets in the US.

Later Diego from Ruth y Nohemi came to the office along with his wife and two sons. He brought an order of bags. (Monday night workers: be prepared for lots of pricing and inventorying!) Diego also brought samples for us to evaluate and we helped him with changes to make the bags more marketable.

Noon found us downtown again to meet with Luis, a young man who spent the early part of his life at the orphanage. He is now 21 and finishing high school with sponsorship help. What a delightful young man!

Luis and Seth headed off to a movie while we went to visit Rosemary and her three sisters. The three sisters have a neurological disease which causes spastic movement and inability to walk or talk. We discussed some things Sharing the Dream could do that might aid in the care of the sisters, the improvement of their house, and the future plans of Rosemary.

When we got back to the office, Virginia was here. Virginia consults with us and works with some co-ops to help them design new products. We talked about plans for the upcoming year.

Thursday, October 27

Deborah from Mayan Hands caught us in our pajamas this morning because we had been too busy drinking coffee and solving the world's problems to get dressed. We talked more with her about plans to work with Mayan Hands and their NGO association. Deborah drove us downtown to the very large relief map of Guatemala. We finally have a better feel for the location of the places we have traveled this past week and the reasons for all the twisty turns. From there we went to the market. It wasn't fair trade but it was quite an experience. So much stuff we had sensory overload. We bought some purses with both weaving and leather to use as samples for some of the groups. We spent the rest of the day working on business and tying up loose ends.