We are back in Guatemala City so I think I will try and catch up a bit. 

We left at 8:30 for the day.  We took one taxi (Roberto our ever faithful driver who we are trying to teach English) and Leo driving the SUV.  Yesterday when I was in the front seat trying to teach Roberto English we made John and Kaye a bit nervous as he was weaving in and out of traffic and looking at my very small dictionary and using the alphabet on his digital phone. Today Carisa rode in front as she did not have to use all the helps I did. I think Kaye and John felt a lot safer. Kaye wants me to add that considering the circumstances they held up well. Anyhow back to our trip. On the way we saw more plants so we had to stop and do a little plant shopping. Kaye and I both bought plants for the office which was not a good thing as they sat in the back of the SUV all day. They did survive though. Our first stop was a school outside of Antiqua called Zorzoya. It is a school where we have been providing books for a library. A family donated an amount for books so Ruth got a list of books from the teachers and bought them here. The rest of the books are ones that we have brought down. They were very thankful for all the help as before we starting giving them books they had none. We toured all the rooms and library and we visited with quite a few of the children. There is such a lack of space that the older children are now having there classroom in a kitchen. It is upstairs and they are cramped and there is no lighting. We enjoyed watching Kyle interact with the children. He really got some good photos. One of the reasons this school is in such need is that the students have all moved in from somewhere else. They now speak mostly Spanish and are not wearing their indigenous clothes. They do not get donations from groups in the U.S.or from anywhere else because they are not one of the picturesque schools that people like to donate too. (Cute indigenous speaking children in their colorful clothes) They won are hearts and we are glad we are working with them.

Principal with school library

After leaving the school we hiked quite a ways down the hill and visited our friend Virginia. She is from England married to a Guatemalan. She has a daughter Marta who is 5 and is having a baby any day now. Virginia works for Sharing the Dream in Guatemala by doing design work with the groups. We had a nice visit and Virginia shared information about the school and the area. She certainly does look like she is ready to have the baby. It is very difficult to drive a car where she lives so don't have any idea how she is going to get to the clinic.

Sellers with group in Plaza in Antiqua

After leaving Virginias we went to Antiqua. Antiqua is the old capital of Guatemala and very touristy. It is always interesting to go there just for a few hours. We had a very nice lunch at a place with a lovely fountain and a great bookstore. We then spent time wondering around. As John says, shopping, shopping, shopping. (It is not his favorite thing but he is very patient). We spent the last hour sitting in the plaza watching people and being bombarded by street sellers. Marta and Carisa had a great time visiting with the vendors. We even have a photo of Marta with a basket on her head.

Candlelight dinner at office

We came back to the office and had a very nice dinner of French bread and a cesear salad with chicken that we had put together. We had gone to the market and purchased the ingredients. We are enjoying our evening dinners together. We had bought roses we put out and ate by candle light. Everyone is so helpful that it is very pleasant.

I will end this one and start on Friday so I can include more photos.

Diane

Quote for the day: "Certain things transcend all boundaries, a smile, good food, and a willingness to take the time to be present" from Kaye