Diane - 7/21/04

Wednesday, July 21

We had breakfast with Diego at Ruth and Nohemi, finished our work with the crafts and started back to Guatemala City. We were going to stop at the Iximche Ruins on the way. This is a small ruins by the standards of many of the Mayan ruins but quite beautiful and very intriguing. I particularly like these ruins because it is not very touristy and they don't get a lot of visitors. When we stopped here the workers opened the museum for us to look around. After doing this we walked around the ruins for about 1 ½ hours. It was so beautiful and peaceful. The only sounds were the workers cutting grass with their machetes. Ruth wanted to show us where some of the Mayan ceremonies were held so we went to the back of the ruins. When we got there we saw that there was a ceremony going on. We did not want to disturb the ceremony but we were interested to see what was going on so we found a small knoll several hundred feet away where we could sit and observe without being obtrusive. There was a lot of chanting and burning of incense. The ceremony would get louder and then softer. The adults were doing the ceremony and there were several small children who were playing several feet away. There was an older woman leading it and she was joined by about 3 men and 4 women. It was really quite interesting. Of course I didn't take any photos so you will just have to imagine this part.

Group looking down at the Mayan ceremony at the ruins

Kaye at the ruins

After leaving the ruins we stopped at a nice place for lunch and we arrived back at the Sharing the Dream office about 2:00. In the afternoon one of the scholarship students Pablo came to see us. It is always fun to see him. He is in middle school and quite charming. He has a rare medical condition that can be controlled by medication. The problem is the price of the medication is so high that his mother had to choose between the medication and paying for his schooling. We have a sponsor that pays for his schooling so he is very proud of being in school. His mother and his little sister came with him. After visiting with him we just hung around the office. Kyle and Carisa were helping Ruth's nephews next door do an art project, which was quite cute. They couldn't get out the door unlocked so they were handing the project back and forth through a crack in the door. Carisa was doing the interpreting and Kyle was doing the artwork. The art project dealt with drawing bananas. Of course when they were outside the office they were joined by other children on the street who wanted to see what was going on. The rest of us caught up on our laundry and packed for the next day because we were going out to the orphanage at the river.

Pablo and family

Carisa and Kyle with children in doorway

go to July 22 journal entry