A Different Kind of Chicken

Hold on and I will get to the "Chicken"

We started our morning after 7 am and not because of the 10 kids who live in this building with us. Somehow they manage to keep them quiet in the wee hours on the weekends. We putzed around here for a portion of the early morning because we wanted to be in Antigua for lunch. Don's scheduled activity (Joyce he still has that list running ), was to watch a Mayan football game in the afternoon. 

After we had our lunch we again scoured the mercado for the tableware that we are currently using but does not belong to us. There is nothing much about the tableware that makes it special except that the 'steak' knives will slice through broccoli and cauliflower like they were butter. I want a set to take with us to Xela but so far we have not found them. We poked our heads into several vendor tienda's (little shops) and just enjoyed the browsing and the people.

Don had the bright idea to walk to Jocotenango at the edge of Antigua where the coffee finca is located and that we have visited. Of course I was not in the greatest of moods by this time because I am still getting over the altitude sickness so I stomped for a long time behind Don fuming. We got a bus for the last leg of the trip which wasn't far but was hard for me to climb uphill and still breath.

The game field was a bit small to my thinking for any kind of ball game. However, the game was introduced as more of a religious ceremony and that the conquering Spainards thought it was connected to witchcraft and would not allow the game to be played. The traditions and rules of the game have been passed down generation to generation by word of mouth. Three young men were dressed in traditional garb and they played a portion of the game which could have lasted as long as three days in times past. Using only knees, tummy, elbows, forearms they had to get the ball through a ring on a wooden background. (Picture the ring like a nose ring--that is how it stood out from the wall). It was a lot harder to do than one might have thought. There is some research left to do to prove or disprove that the loosers of the game were sacrificed. There is not enough information to confirm so they prefer to leave that part open ended. At any rate we enjoyed the game then we grabbed a chicken bus and returned to Antigua for dinner at McDonald's (my tummy won't tolerate native food right now).

Now for the CHICKEN:  I refused the first bus headed our way as it was already too full. The second had lots of room and we boarded and found seats at the front of the bus. This line of buses will only deliver us to the head of the cemetery as it turns there to go on to Duena's a piece down the road. I was happy about the front row seats. I was the third backside in the first seat next to an older couple. Of course when you are riding shotgun you must stand, wriggle, and aide any more boarding passengers get past you to stack up in the rear of the bus. One family got on the bus with a pinata----in the form of a chicken, maybe----all that was visible were a pair of orange legs and a white body. I made some comment about a different kind of chicken and that older lady laughed. A short way down the road the 'chicken' came loose from it's mooring next to the driver so I stood and re-hooked it. I had to tend to the safety of this chicken. Believe it or not but the young family got off of the bus with their chicken still in one piece! We were the last two people on the bus and we were lucky that this driver knew his highway and that he could both turn around to head back to Antigua and drop us off at our stop at the same time. We thanked him and his ayudante and exited at our stop.

On the short walk home we began to feel a few raindrops on our heads. Don said we needed to pick up the pace so I suggested he whistle us up some marching music. So he did and using his walking stick as a drum major would we picked up the pace. Shortly, coming up there road toward us was a panel van with hugh speakers on the top playing some music so I did a little bit of the dance Gianna and Cos do on the side of the road and a pick up passing gave us a bit of encouragement as they passed and the panel van played another tune as they went by. The Guatemalan people do know when to have fun.

I Am Alive and Okay-- I think

Hello I am still kicking just not has hard as the first three weeks here in Antigua. When we were here before on our first visit I came down with Altitude Sickness. I can tell you I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. I stayed in on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week hoping to get over this and on Thursday thought I was doing better and I was but I am not over it yet. I have had a problem all my life with motion sickness and I don't have to be on a boat to have a problem. I know from experience that this queasy motion induced yuckieness can last for what seems like forever. I have on my wrist bands as I write and someday I may take them off! I do have medication but I want to hang on to it till we head for Xela which is higher up than we are here. I did take a couple of them along with tylenol. I will live.

I walked behind Don with my eyes to the ground. I warned him that if he fell into a rather large gopher whole that he needed to be ready for me to land on top. I was not watching the things around me just his big feet.

Chicken Bus Stories for this week

Thursday we got on a bus that was already nearly at capacity in that all of the seats had 3 seats (people) in them. The ayudante kept taking on passengers and we kept moving to the back of the bus. I can tell you that there is a magic hole at the back of these chicken buses. We just keep moving back and nobody falls out! But I digress.... On this day a miracle happened.....a you Guatelmalan male got up from his seat and allowed me to hang on to the special THIRD spot on a seat at the back of the bus. I bet you can't guess how we exited this bus. Yep, right out the back door! This ayudante actually assisted me to reach the ground.


Second Story happened today. We have been trying to wait for a chicken bus that is not already to full for fun or comfort but we failed again. We got on one that was not too bad as we started out the both the driver and ayudante were after as many paying customers as they could stuff into a bus! It went beyond common sense which is something the many Guatemalan's seem to be missing. Instead of making it possible to enter and exit a bus that pack it beyond capacity. There is no regularity group or faction that monitors the safety of these buses. At any rate this bus was too full for anyone to get off. Don and I were stuck and ended up riding the bus all the way into Alotenango where folks got off like they were leaving the Titanic! The bus got to the end of town (which turns out to be a long strip straight down the highway and not much else) where the bus turned around and headed back to Antigua with us still on board. We moved up to the front seat and driver turned around and looked at us with such a funny look. I told him we wanted to get off at the 'end of the cemetary at the end of Ciudad Viaja. He said we missed it-- his face said "I just drove past there". I told him that we were not able to got up or out of the bus at that stop. In their favor they did not charge us again for the ride back to our stop and he let us off at the end of the drive up to the apartment.

Correction - Thunder not Fuego

Correction

I've just learned that the "belch" we heard on Sunday evening was not Volcan Fuego. Instead, it was the Space Shuttle Endeavor breaking the sound barrier as it prepared to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Evidently bad weather in the U.S. caused it to take the more southerly route over El Salvador.

Back to Socorro School

Monday Feb 22
This is Monday's Blog

Back to Socorro School

We took our time this morning getting out the door. It was nice not to have to catch a 7am bus. Don is working on the computer in the library which is so heavily infest with spy ware and viruses that it is always 100% occupied (or working). It takes forever to be able to get anything done because the computer has to shift and wiggle and make room for anything new to operate. So far the and anti-virus program has not been successfully run on the computer. It is a hurry up and wait approach to de-bugging a computer.

We are going to take in the ruins at San Francisco today that is if I don’t box Don on the head for reading about his rhinoceros out loud. While we wait for the computer we work on our blog or study our Spanish.
I am working off-line on the baby computer on my blog. Don carried baby in because we may need to use it to do research.

Well Don has found a Mal Ware program that will run but we will need to start it as soon as the school opens tomorrow because the library computer is so messed up that it can hardly function and any program has to be jostled around to work at all. There has been some progress made but there is a long way to go before they have a computer and not a door stop!

As we left today we were exiting at the same time as one of the nuns from the school She invited us to see inside the gardens and the chappell of the convent. It was an oasis in the midst of a crowded city. There are only 4 nuns left of this order here in Guatemala. We still have a language barrier so we cannot ask as many questions as we would like. Our Spanish is improving but we have a lot more to learn. We ate dinner out because it was almost 5 by the time we set out for a bus.

Can I just tell you how  very tired I am of getting on a bus that is well beyond full? In the one sit I was hunched on there were 6 (3 adults 3 sleeping children) of us and 3 in the seat across the isle. We climb over people like they were part of a jungle gym. I am going to start pushing Don to wait for the second bus we see headed our way. Maybe we can find one that has fewer people on it as well as fewer people to pick up along the way.

For those of you in snow country ---- Don't you wish you were here? There is NO snow and beautiful weather with the occasional volcano belching. Life is good.

Volcano Thunder!

Written on Monday but this is Sunday's Adventure

Monday  Feb. 22, 2010

Volcano Thunder!

Feeling refreshed this morning I am ready to tell you all about our Sunday. By the time I returned to the apartment last night I was not in the mood to tell my tale. Today however, is a new day.

One thing I have to write about happened about 10 pm last night. If you have been looking at Don’s blog then you have seen the pictures of the Volcano Fuego smoking. Fuego is a active volcano and last night we heard a rumble like there was a factory going up in smoke but was actually Fuego. Our neighbor told us that when Fuego overflows it sounds like thunder. She also said it was the loudest incident she has heard from the volcano. There was another rumble about 1:15am which Don slept through but it was very minor.

Now before anyone gets concerned --- While we can see Fuego in the distance it is not as close as it looks and we are UPHILL from the volcano. That may not be much help if lava really starts spewing toward Antigua but from what we can tell it did not impact the local folks since we could find no mention  of Fuego on the early morning news.

Okay now back to Sunday. We slept in late and lounged around thinking we would try to get to church at 10 am but as usual when you do that we left it a little late to start. So change of plans,  check out the Cathedral in Ciudad Vieja which is the little village we live outside of and is said to be very poor. We walked. Why not - it just down the road. Well it is a very long road to this white church on the hill. As we walked we did see a small and very poor village. The people were friendly and greeted us with Buenos Dias when we greeted them. We found the church and were just in time for the 11 am Mass.

The church is beautiful on the inside. It has long rows of wooden pews and plastic chairs available for use as needed. We sat closer to the front so we can see and understand as much as possible. The altar was beautifully decorated for the first Sunday in Lent. With the improvement of our Spanish we are understanding more each time. The language of the church is different than the language you use outside of the church, there are unique words we have to learn. The priest was still wet behind the ears, in other words, a really young priest, but he had a presence and personality. He spoke clearly and engaged the people following the gospel reading.  The people in the church were welcoming and we think we shall make the trip to this church each Sunday from now on.

After church we did not return to the apartment to rest and relax because that would just be silly. We headed off to find a bus to Antigua to hunt down the Mariposa garden. We found our  bus and rode into town and got off in the general area that we saw the signage for the Mariposa garden. You might be guessing that we had yet another long walk and you would be right. We followed the signs and actually found the garden. Our improve Spanish made it possible to understand the Guide’s explanation of the stages of life for the butterfly. He had samples of two species in various stages. We understood that life is very short for the butterfly but that it lays a ton of eggs to allow the species to survive.  After the presentation we entered the garden to view and try to photograph the butterflies which was extremely difficult. We spent well over an hour walking around in the enclosure of  butterfly garden but we did not see a Monarch.

When we were ready to return to Antigua we waited on the street with other travelers for a bus to come our way. There is always a bus nearby if you wait.  Don had planned for us not to cook anything at the apartment but we returned to early for dinner. Let’s take a hike!  We walked to the Spanish courtyard were we put in a little time reading Spanish and enjoying the day. We could hear music but on a weekend in Antigua that is not out of the ordinary. As we left to hunt down dinner the “guard” at the door mentioned that there was a parade happening. We never caught up with the parade. We saw the crowds on the streets but did not see anything other than young folks in purple robes. After we ate we went to catch our bus and that’s when we saw the band and a part of the parade but we were behind it and the street was packed with people. It turns out that it was the first parade marking the beginning of Lent. We caught our bus and were dropped off in Ciudad Vieja to walk home. Not sure why we were let out there but the bus turned itself around and headed the other way. My guess is that there was money to be made as a result of the parade.

Once home we took our showers and Don tried to do his blog but our Internet connection was flaky. I just crashed---done for the day.

Learning Spanish May Actually Be Possible

Spanish---Not quite a break through day but close enough to be encouraging. I would have preferred staying in today as the constant traveling into and out of Antigua begins to wear you down after a time. However, Don wanted to go in and play the tourist game. He had found that we could take a tourist van out to a Finca (plantation) just outside of Antigua which had a couple of museums as well as a coffee plantation. We located the tour van after our late start leaving the apartment (he did allow for a later take off time as it is Saturday). Our tour group was made up of two Americans, one lady, Jane, from the UK and the rest were stand-off-ish Germans.

At any rate we arrived and were soon met by our guide, a very capable young lady. She spoke Spanish as though she was speaking to a bunch of  -----wait for it---------tourists! She was clear and concise and lo and behold both Don and I could understand her Spanish. By that I mean that as she spoke we understood and did not have to do translations in our head before figuring out what was being said! (You loose a lot of the conversation when translations have to be done!) It was so much fun! I was happy that I was not too big of a grump getting started today. We still cannot understand normal conversation (or speed Spanish) because our ears hear too slow and our brain has to translate and we have a lack of vocabulary but we are working on it.

The lady from the UK, Jane, was just passing through Guatemala and it was fun to show her a little of the places and things we have done and seen. Tomorrow she is off on a sleep over Volcano sight seeing trip. She did not know the Mercado was out there and she was as amazed as I still am of the things women (and some men) carry on their heads. Don and I bought fresh vegetables and some fruit. After the tour we shared an appetizer and drank our complimentary glass of wine (given by the tour group) and had a good lunch from it. We had planned to take her to our Comedor (Guatemalan family style restaurant in the Mercado) but found we were no longer hungry. We topped of the meal with an ice cream cone at Pollo Compero. We dashed across the street to the Bodegona and let Don go in to buy the one DVD he needed then we helped her to catch a took-took and we went to catch our bus back to the apartment. We had soup for dinner because we were not starving and that was light enough to end the day. Now there is nothing to watch on TV and not really enough light to read so I am going to call it a day and wish you all a good night.

The Most Successful Project To Date

This morning we struggled up through the fog of sleep and got our act together so that we could meet John from Child Aid for a trip to another school 2 hours away near Lake Atitlan. John drove us in his Honda SUV up the mountain. They had a computer lab that has not been used in the past year or more, mainly due to viruses and things that were preventing the computers from proper operations. Bless their little pea-picking-hearts but this group was wise enough to cover their computers and monitors to help keep them dust free. They were the best computers we have looked at thus far. In short order we had run a System Care program to clean and defrag and optimize each computer followed by running a virus scanner all around. One computer had over 400 viruses! We have no idea how the viruses were gathered since they are not connected to the Internet. Don also loaded a typing tutor program on each computer which will give them a tool to teach keyboarding.

Each school we have been to have no idea why they want a computer lab. They have no teacher or curriculum for teaching computer skills that would enhance their program.  The teachers in general have no idea what a lesson plan is or how it would help guide their teaching. Guatemalan schools are like a step back 30 or 40 years in time. Some teachers know that education is very important but the general population does not and could not care less about education.  At any rate, we left this library ready and able to be used by whomever will be teaching computer skills. This school actually looked and sounded like education was taking place. The classrooms were in control (after the teachers were done with their early morning meeting and entered the classrooms).

John had said that the school would provide us with lunch today so we were really surprised at the meal that was served. The school is done by mid-day so the 'school lunch' we had in our minds turned out to be something different. It seems that one woman has a small 'comida' a.k.a. restaurant across the street. Our meal was served to us in the connecting library. It consisted of a bowl of a clear vegetable soup, the always present corn tortillas, fresh and hot, followed by roasted or baked chicken, mixed vegetables done to perfection, and rice, with a bottle of water or if you were brave instant coffee. It was the best 'payment' we have yet received for the work that we do on these computers.

When we were done with the computers there was the two hour trip back to Antigua. It was much more comfortable in Johns car but on the trip down he began to whip around the S-curves and up and down valleys which soon gave my anti-nausea bracelets a run for their money. Don asked how I was doing and I mentioned the growing difficulty and John smoothed out his driving and sea-sickness was averted. We stopped at a shopping mall in Chimal to return a backpack then made our way to Antigua for dinner and the trip to the Bodegona. We have learned that if we eat before we attempt the trip home we do better. The extremely overstuffed buses make the trip home very hard. They pack 3 to a seat and then cramme as many into the isles as possible. Exiting the bus at your desired stop is a trial and a nightmare. I am done by the time we get back to the apartment. We try to be headed home by 3 pm so that the buses are not as full and on those days we cook up a large pot of soup or stew.

The Bodegano a.k.a. The Grocery Store

The Bodegano

Yesterday I took some pictures of the Mercado where we generally shop for fresh produce. I did not mention that we can eat anything we can peal and cook well. We also have a vegetable wash called Sanivida which is a Clorox solution where we let most of the things we buy soak for about 5 minutes. I also use the solution as a final rinse on the dishes which I then let air dry. It must be working as we have had no food/tummy issues so far.

 Today I present you with a small tour of the
 local grocery store.

The Front of the Bodegona

There are no neon signs to indicate the location of businesses on the street. You have to walk on the opposite side of the street to read the signs over the doors easily. Walking on the same side of the street is just slightly more difficult to find places.

Now the things that we need like paper towels, toilet paper, Ziploc bags are best bought at the Bodegano. We could actually buy most of the things we need in the Mercado but if we have to go to Bodegano we might as well buy them there. This is a store off of the main drag that is painted a baby blue.

 Upon entering the store you must lock your backpacks in lockers provided  there for the purpose.

Don opening a locker in the Bodegona

all backpacks and bags must go in there and

there is a guard at the doors. 

We can select our shopping basket/carts and join the crowds looking for food and stuff (stuff is such a good word- covers a lot of territory). There is no and I mean NO rhyme or reason for the placement of articles in this store. Things that we think would be in the same area as our stores just doesn’t happen. Paper products can be located at a number of spots  inside the building.

The eggs below are sitting on a shelf inside the Mercado and eggs bought inside the grocery store "the Bodegona" sit similarly on shelves in a small alcove in the store.

Eggs in the Mercado

 Last week we had to ask where they were hiding the eggs. We could find yogurt, cheeses, etc. in refrigerated sections but no eggs. Turns our the eggs sit on a shelf in a little side corner and are not refrigerated here. There are eggs available in the Mercado, also not refrigerated. The front half on the lower level of the Bodegona has grocery items. And one side of the building is a pharmacy where you can get rubbing alcohol, band aids, hair care products, etc. - this area has some similarities to Walgreens but no prescription drugs.   The back half, which exits on the next block, has dry goods, socks, underwear, towels, kitchen ware, stoves as well as an ATM machine. If we exit on this back side we can walk maybe half a block and find McDonald’s.

Upstairs you can find paper, pencils, notebooks, some Hallmark type cards, arts and craft items along with computer disks/CD‘s, electronics, and in other words just a bit of everything.

When your check out is complete you move to a table provided to load your items into the bag or box of your choice. They will ask if you want to purchase a ‘bolsa’ (bag) or you can use some of the empty boxes you can find. We use our handy-dandy bags that we carry in backpack at all times.  I much prefer the bags we brought because they do not stretch  and tear and actually hold more thus cutting down on the number of items we have to lug home on the chicken bus.

Below is a bird's eye view of the Bodegona from the top of the stairs. From here it looks like a grocery store. But the actual fact is that finding the things you want is like a scavenger hunt. You look for clues and ask questions and eventually you strike gold.

Bird's Eye View of Bodegona

This photo is as close as I have seen representing a Hallmark type of shopping. This is the largest collection of cards that I have yet to run across. It is located upstairs in the Bodegona.

Largest Selection of Cards I have found

There is another much smaller store call Dispensa Familiar which is a subsidiary of Wal Mart. They do not have a large selection of items but do carry meat that others here have said is 'gringo' approved. It sometimes takes DAYS to check out of here.

Robyn's Story as Told By Robyn

I just wanted to share my joy in that I have gotten engaged as of Sat Feb 13!  His name is Nathan Rife and he is a research chemist with MI Swaco which is an oil services company.

We have been talking about getting married for a little while and started shopping for rings.  I finally found one I liked and since my tastes didn't stay the same from store to store, Nathan bought the one I liked to stop the madness.  I knew he had the ring, but he kept telling me he got to choose when he proposed to me and that it WAS NOT going to be on Valentines, his birthday (Feb 27), my birthday or any other day that already had a meaning.

So.....He proposed during our Valentines day dinner which he shopped for and cooked for me.  We enjoyed a quiet night in and enjoyed a candle lit dinner.  We were just sitting back and having a conversation when he started talking about being my best friend and how I made him laugh as he reached behind him for a drink coozie.  I assumed that he was going to show me some smart ass quote that was printed on the coozie, but I was wrong as he pulled out the ring box.  He got down on 1 knee and asked me to marry him.  He said that today was the only time that I WASN'T expecting it and therefore the ONLY day that he could actually surprise me.  He did.  As with any woman being asked for her hand in marriage I started crying and laughing at the same time.  Even knowing he had the ring it was still a shock.

We are currently looking at dates in August as Fort Bend ISD is strict on truancy and Max will be entering first grade, and Nathans mom is a teacher in Keller, TX.  I will let you know more information as I get it myself.  Dates and locations are still to be determined.

Love you all.

Robyn

The Mercado (Market Place)

We spent part of the day at Socorro school and Don became frustrated after we had the computers booted. It seems that this donation of computers comes with a freezer type program that locks the programs on the computers and does not allow anything new like a virus checker for instance to be loaded and saved. When he reached his frustration level we left and then had to find things to do for nearly four hours while we waited for the laundry to be ready for pick up. We took at 'took-took' taxi back to the mercado and I pulled out my camera.

Street Vendors

The Mercado covers several city blocks. Most of it is covered, more or less, if it rains many of the vendors cover their items for sale with plastic and business goes on as usual. This section (above) is a long line of vendors on what was once a street (I'm guessing here) You can find nearly anything you could want out here as well as inside. Here we have paper towels and hats and a vendor with sunglasses followed by a stall with a large assortment of bags and purses.

The photo below is several stacks of jeans and above shirts. The young man is the vendor who inserted himself into the shot. Sometimes these guys want you to pay them to take their pictures but I was not taking a shot at him but the jeans. I am not sure how you would actually select a pair of these and if you would ever find your size.

Jeans and Shirts

The Guatemalans love their  sweet stuff from candy which you see below and they also love sweet breads. You can find shops all over that will sell you sweet breads. There is also a growing market of American foods like McDonald's, Burger King, Pollo Compero, and list continues to grow as are the Guatemalans. They also have a growing problem with diabetes as their staple diet is corn tortillas, rice and black beans.

Sweets and Candies

For me there is still a bit of a problem when it comes to buying meat here. They do not have the same standards for meat that the US has and I cannot buy meat at a stall like the one below. This is way inside the mercado and the area around this stall has other types of meat from white sausage, raw slabs of liver, and chickens that just sit out here for who knows how long. Can't do it!

Beef Vendor

I have discovered why we are nearly always served strange "chicken parts" in some locations okay for gringos to eat -- they hack them apart with a very large meat cleaver! When we were here the first time I had a hard time identifying the parts of the chicken we were actually eating. Now I know the rest of the chicken story.

   Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and Vegetables on market day are there for you to choose from.  In our case we are limited by how much we want to carry home on a bus. Once again we loaded up on a bus today with our laundry and our veggies and were pushed all the way to the back of the bus. I had to laugh once as the driver kept picking up people and they kept making their way to the back because at some point the back just had to fill up. When the back filled up the ayudante appeared at the back door (via the top of the bus) and help us to disembark by the back door.

Don Returning with the Laundry

I am waiting near the bus stop to return to the apartment with our selection of vegetables while Don picked up the laundry. He is carrying a back pack and I have a large purse/bag and a small sling backpack with my long sleeve shirt in it and the shopping bag with veggies. Can you understand how much they love us on these chicken buses?  Of course there are many others who carry stuff and sometimes it ends up at the very front on the bus or on top. We tend to hang on to the stuff that is ours, not being willing to share so much with others.

Today I will leave you with a photo I took for Nick. We arrived at the 'bus barn' (for want of a better description) and these young men were unloading the top of their bus. They tie down everything they put up there and can get it down in record time. If they put luggage up there they cover it with canvas. These chicken buses are really amazing, mostly uncomfortable, but amazing just the same. It is affordable enough that nearly anyone can pay for passage to different parts of the city or even the country. 

Happy Valentine's Day and Congratulations Robyn

Happy Valentine's Day! We had a wonderful day today. It was a beautiful day with blue skies, cool temps and No white stuff to kick around. While our day was great it probably didn't measure up to Robyn's day but that is her story to tell.

We made our way to church by bus and then by tuk-tuk try to have an easier day and allow my right foot to get some relief from walking. It is doing much better but I doubt that it is completely well. With the help of the printed pamphlet the church puts out and our Sunday Missal Susan sent to us we are able to more easily follow Mass and understand the readings (reading both English then Spanish).

After church we walked to our favorite sitting space to enjoy the day and make a few phone calls while we waited for our 1 pm reservation at the 'Steak House'. During our walk-abouts in the week we picked up some info on things that were happening in Antigua. One such event was a Marimba Band playing at the steak house. I have to say that this steak, while expensive, was the best we have had in a long time. We had a table in the courtyard with umbrella just in front of the band. The food was excellent and the music most enjoyable. Since Don really loves marimba music we bought our second CD so far. All of the women in the restaurant received a single red rose for the occasion.  When we left the Steak House we saw other women carrying roses so this is something they do for the celebration of the day. In the Bodegona (store) I did see your typical table/booth with young girls putting together sweetheart mugs with hearts and flowers and teddy bears. There were cards available but not like you see displayed at Hallmark and lots of red balloons and some heart shaped ones also. We did catch a couple of young lovers now and then doing what young lovers do and not caring that everyone in the world was watching.

Tonight we plan to finish blogging and watch a little TV to rest up for our battle with some of the dirtiest computers we have seen in a while. One day during the week we will travel to Melotto and finish up there.
Everyone have a good week.  Catch you later.

The Back Door

Today was mostly unremarkable. By now you know the drill of getting into Antigua so I won't tell you about this one with this one exception. We met our next door neighbor this morning. Her name is Jackie from Calgary and the three of us were picked up together. We entered the chicken bus and found 3 across from front to back. The ayudante wanted us to move to the back of the bus so he could fill the isle. We ended at the back door so when we arrived in Antigua we exited the bus by the BACK door. There is a step at the back but it is still a bit of distance to the ground. This was another first for us.

We walked the length of the city to the school in Antigua. They had a key so we started off by turning on everything sitting on a desk. Don ran antivirus on them and did some clean up and defragging. There are at least nine working computers and on flaky one. We could use a bunch of working mice. Both the computers and the mice are well past the dirty stage. I am not sure how they can get them so dirty. Next week I will do some physical clean up on these things as well as help Don with some of what he plans to do to organize these computers for kids.

We took a break at noon to find some lunch (next time we pack our own--better and cheaper) We found an Italian restaurant and had a salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and a variety of lettuce. We were the only people in the place and they charged a 10% tip onto the meal. It was okay but we probably won't go back. We could people watch while we ate and you could tell it was valentines day because of the parade of red balloons and bags with hearts in the hands of the young people going home after school.

After lunch we went back to finish up this portion of the work needed on these computers to make them usable as a school computer lab. We sat up in the computer room all day and know one poked a head in the whole time. The young ones had a valentines day party and left at mid-day. The older girls stay in the dormitory on the upper floor. They are why I am surprised no one looked in on us because we are the foreigners in a girls school. We stayed really close to the lab. These girls were also curious about the lab and managed to walk by often to look in at the door or window. We left at 4 pm and walked back to the main street for Antigua for a quick dinner and a quick trip to the store for some forgotten items and bananas.

My feet hurt and I am tired. I was right about getting more exercise  here but my feet are protesting the concrete. We have more sunshine and cool temps tomorrow. My day is done and so am I.

The Story Today is THE CHICKEN BUS!

Hold on to your hats, bags, backpacks, groceries AND the seat in front of you for dear life! That just about describes our day today. It was another 5 am wake up cuckoo from that smart aleck travel clock to make the 7 am bus to Melotto school for what was to be the last time. The first leg of the trip was uneventful but the second leg started off a little rough because the pullman bus was replaced by--------you guessed it -- by a CHICKEN BUS! The last two trips on the pullman the driver was having a time getting the bus to shift gears. Today the driver of the replacement bus said the pullman was down for transmission repair. The chicken bus was not a new one by any means. Its seats had long since lost any padding it may have had new. So the hour trip to the school was done by getting bounced and jounced and shook side to side for one hour. There was another anglo on the bus who kept complaining that his ticket said this buss was supposed to be a pullman. When we stopped for gas part way the man moved up to talk to us about his woes. Don and I informed him that we had been riding on the pullman and knew for sure that no one was giving him false information. He was finally satisfied to go back and take his beating along with the rest of us.

We arrived at the school in one piece. We had the caretaker open the door to the computer room and that's when we discovered we had no electricity. Today was a wasted day as far as getting finished with the school today. Kristen was there today to teach and model teaching of reading to teachers and the kids. So while we waited for lights to return to the school Don and I sat outside in a perfect spring day and studied Spanish. It was soon discovered that the electricity would be a while coming back on because road construction had cut the lines. The only thing to do was head back for Antigua,  by Chicken Bus. This also means that we have to do this trip at least one more time but not tomorrow. They found the key to the computer room at the school here in Antigua so we will go check out the problem tomorrow.


The ride back by non pullman bus involves taking a short trip on one chicken bus and changing to another on the Pan American highway. When we entered the bus for the short leg we discovered that the whole back half of the bus was filled with fresh carrots and other vegetables. The seats had been removed to acomodate all of the vegetables.Kristen took a picture of this and Don is in it so check his blog to see it. I stayed with the old format for blogging and have yet to figure out how to add pictures. Our new driver on the second bus must have been a frustrated race car driver because he lit out of Chimal like someone had shot him out of a rocket. We really were beaten up on the trip back. He did not slow down for much and zipped around other buses, cars, trucks, up hill or on curves or worst down hill. He slammed on the brakes to go over the tumelos (slow yourself down HUMPS in the road at critical points--and these have taken out oil pans in vehicles) and then he would rocket up to the next one. People getting up and making their way to the front to get off the bus were almost taking suicide walks! In my humble opinion this kind of driving has no place on a private transportation vehicle. Don and I felt like we had been beaten with a short stick by the time we got home by way of the store for veggies to put in our soup.

Laundry Day Again Plus the Daily Chicken Bus Story

We have pushed our wardrobe to the limit so we loaded everything up and toted it into Antigua to the laundry mat. We drop them off and later in the day go back and retrieve our clean and folded laundry. Sarah and Mark would let us use the washer/dryer facilities here but our very early morning hikes for a bus put a crimp in that plan. By the time we have returned home the last thing we want to do is start the laundry in someone else's home. I will have to implement a trick learned when the girls were in Girl Scouts and tie a rope handle onto the laundry bag. It is tough to handle as it is now, that is just a laundry sack. At any rate the job has been completed and we are good to go for the week.

Our trip today started at 9 am so we were able to sleep in a couple of extra hours. There is a public school that has some kind of computer issue Child Aid wanted Don to check out. We met Kristen and walked to the school only to discover that no one has seen or heard from the supposed computer person at the school and that no one has a key to the master lock on the door. That's when we switched to plan B. We grabbed a tuk-tuk and bounced around on the cobble stone all the way back to Kristen's apartment. She wanted Don to check her computer which was running as slow as molasses. The biggest problem so far discovered is the she had Skype running all the time which was hogging computer resources. Don ran a clean up on things that were running but not always needed and when we left the computer was doing much better.

We stopped at the store for some crackers and lunch fixin's for this week. It is easier when we go to Melotto that we eat a nice leisurely lunch at the school instead of hiking out to find lunch. There is not much on the Pan American highway and the traffic is horrific. Thursday should be our last day with Melotto school. They have such great needs that it is difficult to walk away from them. They need enough text books for all of the kids to have a set,  the normal collection of school supplies would be great, play ground balls, etc. etc. the list is endless. They need to be adopted and have a group who could offer support and scholarships. They need to develop critical thinking skills as small children so that they can change how Guatemala grows and develops as a country.

Chicken Bus Story For Today.

Today the story is not very spectacular in any real sense. We got on a bus first thing this morning and Don and I were the ONLY passengers!! It was so weird. We started out toward Antigua and picked people up all along the way. We stopped at a service station for the ayudante to take a break and while waiting for him another bus pulled in front of ours. I bet you know what happens next!! The bus that passed us scooped up all the passengers. Our driver was nearly livid before the bus in front filled up and we picked up several more people. We got off at our stop and the driver continued on down the street to collect enough people to make the trip to Guatemala City cost effective. We wondered later in the day if our driver ever got over the bad start to his day.

We had some time on our own this afternoon so we hiked all over the place again. Next time we do this hike the city thing I plan to bring a map and write down landmarks to places we want to return to. We have lost a book store that does book exchanges. We saw it once today on the way to the public school but we did not find it again this afternoon. We sat for a little more than an hour reading Spanish in a library that is maintained by the Spanish government. They have a nice inner courtyard which is well maintained and furnished with chairs and tables and study desks. It was very pleasant out there and fairly quiet. We read till the stillness and comfort of the place began to lull us to sleep. Then we walked! We walked at least two hours---again.

We checked on our laundry at 4 pm and it was not done yet. It seems someone did not show up for work today at the laundry and the one person there found herself falling behind. We went back at 5:30 pm and retrieved our laundry, went to the store and market, caught the bus and returned to our nifty apartment. I have to admit that while the apartment is little it is pleasantly quiet at night and we only hear fire works in the morning. Guatemalans light fireworks for all sorts of feast days or any other special days or occasions. They just love the big bangs I guess.

One More Chicken Bus Story

One more chicken bus story may not be possible because each time we ride or attempt to ride something unusual or funny occurs. Today's story took place at day break. Yes we were walking into Ciudad Vieja (the Old City) which increases our chances of getting on a bus not bursting at the seams. As we walked a fully loaded bus passed us and where the road splits made noises that it was about to stop. Shortly before it came to that point a young man was ON TOP of the bus preparing to unload his bicycle while the bus was tearing down the street. He climbed down the ladder at the back of the bus with his bike in one hand, set it on the ground and it would have been hard to tell which vehicle moved first, the bus or the bike. The young man was off as fast as he could have done starting from the ground, without the gymnastics! Why do most of these daring young men not get mashed and mangled??


We spent our morning at the school cleaning computers -- inside and out. Don cleaned off stuff that is useless and not available on these computers at school. For example, they will not be capable of Internet as the school only has one connection and that is in the office. I found a small bucket and a cloth and cleaned the outside of both the monitors and the keyboards. When we finish the little lab will look okay. I am not sure where the computers will actually end up because it depends on their greatest needs.

Tomorrow we will meet with Kristin at 9 am to check out a public school computer lab. I think Kristin said they wanted help cleaning viruses from their computers. They actually have a lab tech (don't know anything about the computer person yet) so we will have to be sure to keep him in the loop so he doesn't feel that his job is in jeopardy. We are having a good time helping these school children.

Today we had a room full of little ones who come in to say "hola" and then dash back outside. The older ones 2nd or 3rd grade like to use the Paint program on the computers. They are so cute huddled around the one or two computers that we leave up around recess time. One girl wanted to connect to the Internet which these computers will not be doing.

Kristin and her boss were at a meeting this morning at their warehouse/office and came by the school just before the end of the day. They gave us a ride back to Antigua which is much faster than doing the trip by bus. Since we were in town early we decided to do a bit of the 'tourist thing'. We went looking for a T-shirt and found just the one.  Can you guess what is on the front?  Come on give it a guess!

It has a Chicken Bus on the front and says 'Guatemala es una grand aventura'! That is the title of our blogs!

After we had the shirts we took off walking because you know we don't get enough walking in everyday. The day was so beautiful! We had clear blue skies with a tiny breeze and a perfect SPRING day. I know that spring is not the type of weather Burlington is getting. I can tell you that I do not miss moving snow! It was a great day to be outside.

As most of you know we love books. Today we stopped into a couple of used book tiendas (stores). They put a whole new meaning to used books. These have truly been well used and I think they must make the rounds to all the bookstores in the area. There are books in a variety of languages because Antigua is the biggest tourist attraction close to the airport. When we had reached exhaustion (or should I be honest?  When I reached exhaustion) we caught a bus home. This time we sat 8 across the very first seats. Granted two or three were small children. The woman next to me had her perhaps 18 month old child bundled up in a typical Guatemalan baby carrier. The child never stirred during that entire ride! Don and the women hanging on the edge of the other seat across the aisle,on the other hand was up and down like a jack-in-the-boxes. These days we are satisfied if we can get the buses to drop us anywhere  in the vicinity of the cemetery. Once home we heated up the soup we made last night and are now ready to relax for the evening.

  Today marked the end of the first week of our Great Adventure in Guatemala.

Pink Paraguas (umbrella)

Today started very overcast and chilly and very early again. We felt comfortable with our long sleeve shirts as we left at 6 am to make the bus to the Melotto school. When we were done with our work at the school we did our necessary shopping and thought it wise to purchase an umbrella. In the best Spanish we could we asked for a 'paraguas' (an umbrella) pronouncing it American style. The lady we were speaking to laughed and gave us the correct pronunciation and directions in the mercado in which to purchase one. We wanted small ones that would fit in our bags. At the 'stand/shop' a grandmother and granddaughter were working together. The young one knew where one black umbrella was but couldn't find another. The old women knew every inch of her squirrelly little shop and produced a pink floral one for me. She was very pleased with herself.  It was a wise purchase because it began to rain as we walked from the cemetery to our apartment.

 I know it seems that I am fascinated with the chicken buses but you would really have to experience these to get the real humor of the things. We have been leaving the apartment by 6 am to get to Antigua to catch what I call an 'express' bus. We get up so early because the buses are beyond loaded to the gill slits. This morning one passed us by with people standing next to the driver and down the steps. The ayudante was holding on to the outside of the bus like a spider monkey! He had one hand in a window, one in the door and was clinging to side as the bus tore past us! It is a 25 minute ride into Antigua from here! Some of the people get off along the way but the bus stays pretty full all the way.

We have one more day to put into the Melotto school to finish doing what we can with the junk computers they were left with. We think they will be able to use Word on 4 computers. Two of the computers have very little brains and are the kind that can boot off of a floppy disc! Not much you can do with those. We did this trip on our own even when the 'express' bus said they would not pick us up at the Child Aid warehouse. We said we did not want to go there today but the bus and ayudante just pulled away and continued their trip. So we made a sign that said 'La Antigua' and stood at the bus stop hoping they would pick us up and bring us back (and they did). The alternative bus collection would have been more difficult.

The children at the school are fascinated with us and the computers. We had a group of boys in today during their recess. I opened up a Word document and let them type their names. They got most of their class done and were very pleased with themselves. Next I showed them the Paint program which they thought was fun.
These children have hungry little minds and there is so little being taught to them. They are bright and clever and fun and their little class rooms are so empty it tears your heart up. There are no fancy posters, art centers, book shelves and No books. They can check out ONE book from the school library. The Child Aid staff are doing teacher training with books-- modeling how to interact with a book and a child. How to develop lesson plans. The light bulb sometimes goes off and a teacher will exclaim that she could do such a thing in her history class!

Kristin wants us to finish up with Melotto because she has another school she wants us to work at this week. We will meet her at 9 am on Wednesday to check out the situation there and make plans once we know what we have to work with. We have a couple of batteries to install in the oldest computers at Melotto to help them hold on to their brains. They will boot better after tomorrow.

I bought a fancy Mexican mop today. It is a stick that you attach a towel to the end of it and call it a mop. We keep spilling water on the floor and I wanted to be able to mop up from a standing position. This thing my go home with me disguised as a crutch! Don and I are still discussing this . It would make an excellent conversation starter!!!

Day is done and so am I. Catch you all tomorrow.  Good night

Sunday

I am pleased to say that I tolerated the walking today much better than yesterday. We have to keep moving because walking is the only way to get around town. The packed chicken buses really wears thin after a while. Sometimes it is cute when you share the same space as a small child with mom in tow. They are so cute and like to be friendly. We have to be careful interacting with children but if we are crammed cheek to cheek in a confined space there is not much danger of the child disappearing.

We attended Sunday Mass today after walking our 7 blocks which takes about 20 minutes (cobble stone takes some care to walk on as do broken sidewalks) -- great for a diabetic -- and we understood more than we have in the past. The church printed a one page missalet which made a big difference. I could actually follow the Spanish readings and since I had read them in English first I new what was being read. The homily is still a mystery. Our ears listen to slow and the brain translates to slow. We shall get there!

In the mercado today I was hunting a simple bag/purse so I can make it through the extremely crowded buses more easily. It is safer to have your things in front of you and from there easier to lift them over the top of seated people. On my back it is too hard to get through. I found a little bag and will use it till it falls apart then buy another if I have to. We will bring our lunch tomorrow when we go back to the school.

I am falling down tired so if you want all the details of the day then go to Don's blog. I am going to bed early because the alarm clock is set for 5 am (really too early for anybody to be getting up). We have to make the 7 am bus which is a direct shot and NOT a chicken bus -- only room for 2 in the seats on this bus.

I may have a bridge to sell you - A Rest Day Indeed

I may have a bridge to sell you if you read Don's blog and believed the fairy tale he told you about today being a rest day. We did sleep in later than the previous to days so that part was restful. However, after we hit the road we spent a solid two hours walking on broken sidewalks and cobble stone streets, dodging cars, tuk-tuk's- and chicken buses and people. We did indeed walk the 7 blocks to the church we will attend tomorrow but my ankle (the right one) still has issues about certain moves and dips in the street. My feet were hurting by the time I managed to manuver Don into finding lunch. He did skip the museum parts today in most of the places we went to because of my ankle. He made a big effort not to over do the walking so that I can walk some more next week. Did I mention at any time that we will be getting more exercise here? Well we are indeed getting more than our fair share of exercise.

Today while we were out we saw lots of tourist running around in the city. Many had tour guides, I think we saw at least 3 different sets at one point. The park was crawling with toursit who were being stalked by native Guatemalan's with stuff to sell. Some of them have a hard time taking NO for an answer. We did not want anything to carry around today but at some point I will buy something for the color and feel of the country.

After our return to the apartment we did just lounge around, watched TV and Don did some more research for the school for next week. I was so tired that I took a short nap and felt better for it. We landed in Antigua and have been running full tilt since.  After church tomorrow I hope to get back early but each trip into the city seems to take up 3/4 of the day.

 Hope you all have a restful weekend. Slow down. The people here know just how to slow down to the speed of life. I hope we can learn to do that. We try to accomplish to much in any one day,

Working in Guatemala

Kristin took a photo of Don and I after we finished with the computer in the Child Aid warehouse/office. When I figure out how to insert the photo you will be able to admire the hats for they are indeed a fashion statement. Well they are light, cool, provide UV protection and they roll up to slip into a backpack so that makes them perfect for gringos walking under a brighter sun than we are used to. We can't hide that we are from the US and so we make no attempt to do so. We are giants here and one day as we left a bus Kristin said that a comment was made on how tall we are. That is a comment that has never been made about me but I'll take this one.


Kristin cleared up why the women sit in the front of the bus no matter who they have to sit on to do so. It seems that the thieves ride in the back of the bus and the women stay if the front. We sit with our backpack if we have them (and hip pack) in our laps as we travel. Our valuables are in secret pockets and we do not carry much with us, even the passport we carry is a copy.

Made the bus this morning!

We were up at 5 this morning and standing at the bus stop by 6 and there was just enough room for 2 more people to get on so by the time we got to Antigua we had picked up 8 or 10 more people. [This leg of the trip takes 20-25 minutes.] I never really understood when teachers talked about 'critical thinking skills' and the art of teaching those skills. I believe I am seeing what the lack of those skills is all about. It never seems to cross anyone's mind that perhaps the bus if way more than completely full! Common sense just never clicks in with these drivers. I wonder if they have counted how many humans they can stuff into one school bus- I mean 6 seated in each row and nearly a double row standing and the ticket guy crawling all over everyone to get from one end of the bus to the other. Exiting from such a packed bus is more than a trick. Don has one leg that is a glorious black and blue since he is bigger than me (and everyone else on the bus). I have blue spots here and there on both legs because there is no room to move. You knock people on the head with your bags and stomp on feet and squeeze your way to the door. So far I have been lucky because the ayudante always helps me down from the bus.

While waiting for the luxury bus I got in my morning walk up and down the center median this morning. We were about 40 minutes early. It was chilly enough that you could see your breath but we were comfortable with long sleeve denim shirts.

The more direct luxury bus (there is only room for two people and there is an arm rest on the isle) leaves promptly a 7 am for Panajachel and just graciously lets the folks working for Child Aid off at the school on their way past.  [ This leg of the trip is 1 hour]. Kristin had work/meetings to get through this morning and Don and I went to the rooms with the computers. The program he download for 4 hours yesterday only partially worked on a couple of computers. We could end up with one computer for younger kids and one for older kids and the rest is just junk.

We were a novelty to the kids at the school and they soon found all kinds of ways to make it necessary to visit us and the computers. We are near the pre-school kids and they were having some much fun running in and out that it became necessary to tell them to stay outside. Then they began to sneak up on the doors and peak in and giggle as they ran away.  We can hear them singing little songs like  Raindrops

"If all of the raindrops were lemon drops, and gum drops,
Oh what a world that would be.
Standing outside, with our mouths open wide,
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. ....."

http://w3.gorge.net/cannon/songs.html     [If you want to know the rest of the song--- last one of first page]

The children run and play and sing like normal children but many of these children live in homes with dirt floors and wood burning stoves. Many are from broken homes and live hard lives but they seem to enjoy their time at school. They have few rules that are enforced in school and think nothing of coming in where we are working. They live by the 'open door' policy -- if a door is open in Guatemala you are welcome inside.


The luxury bus was due back through at 1pm and Kristin had arranged for them to pick us up at the school and drop us off down the road a piece where Child Aid has a warehouse/office. The pick up went fine till we hit a traffic jam. You should see the wild and crazy driving on this highway! It was so bad that the bus lost a lot of time so they dropped us of about 4km from Child Aid. At least they remembered we were on the bus and stopped to let us off. We had to back track to the intersecting for bus exchanges and try our luck at getting a bus. It was soon apparent that a bus was not turning that way (they had gotten the message that the road further down was closed for resurfacing- not all got the message). Don hailed a Tuk-tuk which is a 3 wheeled motorcycle type taxi. Down the road a piece a young man on a motor bike hit a dog and spilled all over the road. The dog I believe was badly hurt and took off hobbling through the field and the young man scooted on his butt to get out of the road. We stopped to render aide but the young man was lucky in that he had no cuts and was able to get up and gather is bike off of the street. He was wearing a helmet. I think the bike is pretty banged up.

At Child Aid Don was able to cobble together a pretty decent computer for them. He had to do more "robbing Peter to fix Paul" parts exchange but finally had a stable video card in the computer. We left at 3 for home on the one chicken bus that did not get the message about the road  Or if he did he did not have a choice but had to travel to the city just above the road work to get people home. We picked up new riders as we turned around and drove all the way back to the exchange intersection to take the longer route to Antigua. Let me tell you that now at the end of this day I am just simply beat. I will flatten any alarm that goes off tomorrow morning.

About the new photo

The Santa Catalina Arch is one of the distinguishable landmarks in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala, located on 5th Avenue North. Built in the 17th century, it originally connected the Santa Catalina convent to a school, allowing the cloistered nuns to pass from one building to the other without going out on the street. A clock on top was added in the era of the Central American Federation, in the 1830s.

Chicken bus ride rivals Space Mountain!

Today was another long and interesting day. We had plans to meet Kristin at 8 am this morning but had just a bit of lag time getting out of the door. As we stood at the end of the drive to our domicile a battered range rover pulled up and the lady driving asked if we were going to Antigua and did we want a ride. Yes we said, we are going to Antigua but we failed to tell her that we were meeting someone AND she failed to say that we had to stop at the Collegio (school) to drop of her 5 year for the FIRST day of school. The FIRST day meant that mom had to escort her INTO the building. We were going to be late. The mom returned to the car and took us on down the road but dropped us at a bus stop with some miles yet to go before we would arrive in Antigua so she could get to work. We had an active cell phone but we had no idea how to use it with the new TIGO sim card and could not call Kristin. Five more minutes and we would have spent the day in Antigua by ourselves (tomorrow if we are late we will indeed be left behind for a day of rest).

First bus of the day picked us up at the bus stop, a goodly distance from Antigua, and we arrived at our meeting place just seconds before Kristin gave up on us. We then went with her to the 'bus station' to catch one of the two buses needed to get us to the small private school we were planning to visit. This first bus dropped us on the other side of the Pan American Highway where we changed  buses for the remainder of the trip. I have to wonder why all of the rather large women getting on the bus seat themselves as a 3rd person on a seat designed for two at the front of the bus and clogging up the aisle so that everyone getting on or off of the bus has to climb all over them to squeeze past them. It is amazing to watch and a trick to get around them especially after grocery shopping.

At the school we met with the new principal to find out what she wanted to accomplish with functioning computers. Then we went hunting for dinosaurs! It seems the previous (and ousted) principal took the original donated computers and left some rather 'rough' computers in their place. There are two computers running Windows 98 and three with Windows XP. Don is doing some research to find tools and perhaps programs that will accomplish some of the principals goals. Tomorrow we go back really truly early to try again. I will be doing some data entry of students who need library cards while Don does what he can with the mix-n-match computers.

We got back to Antigua on a chicken bus who's driver must have been competing for fairs or he had a date! We tore down the streets like we were riding on Space Mountain. He only slowed down for passengers on and off. The curves, wholes, and bumps were fair game! We were shook, rattled and rolled back to Antigua!

After arriving back at the 'bus station' while looking for the bus that would takes us past the cemetery I took pictures on some of the chicken buses. Nick wants to see one and today there was one taking two bicycles off of the roof. I hope I was not to far away when I took that picture. The buses are painted in bright colors and fancy designs. Some have names on the outside like "Esmeralda" and they go on a specific route. We have a preference for the blue and white buses because the drivers are a tad more sedate in their driving!

We decided that we would bring lunches tomorrow since I have an ankle not happy about the cobble stones and it is NOT the one I broke. If we stay in one place for most of the day the silly ankle will have some time to recover. To bring a lunch meant another trip to the store for such fare.

Today we were successful in getting off of the bus across the street from the apartment at the END of the cemetery. Once back in the apartment we prepared a soup for perhaps breakfast and most certainly for dinner tomorrow night. We plan to have our act together before bed time so we can roll out of bed in the morning with a minimum of confusion to catch the first bus of the day.

We carry too much stuff with us and will try to pare down what is essential to have with us all day. We carry bottled water because it is safer but water is heavy. We carry Kleenex because toilet tissue is not necessarily available in all rest rooms. It is necessary to carry snack foods, a Spanish dictionary (paper is also heavy), pen and paper to make notes and right down directions, a hat and perhaps a long sleeve shirt if it is chilly. As you can see before long we are carrying a lot of stuff!  Just what do we leave behind?

That's it I am done for today.

Shopping-- Round Two

Round Two at the 'bodega' a.k.a. our version of Wal Mart. We left the apartment early today to purchase the things we forgot to get yesterday. This time we had a list, a dictionary and a plan so things worked out a lot better. It still took us ALL morning to get the job done. We needed a skillet, tea pot, and a soup pot. We came home with 2 of the 3 since we did not go back and pick up the bigger pot for our veggie soup. So we will have just enough soup for two this evening because I am not going back out today. We learned that perhaps Mondays at the first of the month and perhaps around the 15th of the month is not a good time to try to shop--payday. Our most important need was a pump for our very large bottle of water. Yesterday we could not find it but today it nearly jumped off of the shelf.  We have to do everything with bottled water including brushing our teeth.

We shopped for our vegetables in the farmers market where we found onions, tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli, etc. as well as some tangerines. We can eat anything we can peel or cook or disinfect (wash). I did not see celery but I suppose there is some if I look hard enough. I was not brave enough to purchase meat. I would like to talk to someone (an ex-pat) for information about meats before buying them.  We found a smaller market that is much better organized that we will visit for a good part of what is needed as soon as we have our 'kitchen' functional.

As today is suppose to be a day of rest I am going to get that started because there is no cook here -- just me. I do however, have a dish dyer in resident and perhaps a trainee in veggie washing and slicing. More about how that works out later.

Answers to some questions about our trip.

 So you went shopping today.  What kinds of vegetables etc. did you find?  Are they really fresh?  How about fruit? 

>>>>> There are three days per week that farmers come in with fresh produce. Today I did not see any celery but we bought onion, tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli, cucumbers, avocado, and tangerines. We can eat anything we can peel or  cook. We are limited only in what we can carry and take home by "chicken bus a.k.a. a re-done school bus>>>cost 0.36 each one way. The prices for veggies are low so we do not haggle.

 

...you mentioned volcanoes.  Can you see any part of these in the distance?  Have you, and I truly hope not, felt any earthquakes?  ?  How has your weather been -- dry, wet, or some of both? 

>>>>> From our window we can see the active volcano Fuego (Fire).  It smokes but no one has said anything about lava flows from it. We have had beautiful weather, this is not the rainy season and we have felt no earthquakes.
 

 

How big is your apartment? 

 >>> It is a tiny studio. We have a private bath, bedroom, and mini-kitchen with a two burner stove top.
 

Are your girls ready to come and visit yet? 

>>>>>So far none of the girls feel brave enough to fly out here. My grandson Nick would come out in a heart beat but he is 5.

With all the walking have you been getting leg cramps at night? 

>>>>so far no cramps but the legs are tired. We are sleeping well to say the least.

The Best Things in Life are not Things.

Sunday was a tough day. We were up early to get the house closed up and the suitcases loaded so that we could be at church in time for choir practice. Vicki, our director, pulled out all the stops on the music she selected for the choir. Each of the pieces were selected for the messages they had and because we have sung them in the very recent past. It seems that Vicki could give you a detailed account of the stain glass windows that were behind me because her selection of music and the choirs beautiful singing made me cry during most of the two hours were were together and she could not look at me and not join me in my tears. Sometimes when you sing with a group things just click and the result is beautiful music and that is what happened on our last Sunday with the choir until May. The organ had been repaired and we were all ready to sing. St Augustine is said to have said that when we sing we pray twice. Our choir sang their hearts out and I cannot begin to tell you what the morning meant to Don and I. We all gathered together for lunch after Mass and that was a great way to start our adventure.


The previous Sunday Vicki's husband Earl took a photo of the choir after Mass and on our last Sunday they presented a framed and beautifully matted copy of that photo with this caption below it  "The Best Things in Life Are Not Things".  The best things in life are the friends and family who gather around you to support you when times are good and when they are not so good.  Thank your choir for your loving gift of music. We will carry you close to us as we wear the crosses you also gave to us. Keep us in your prayers and your music.

The Best Things in Life Are Not Things! 

An Unending Spring Day

Our day started really early today as we left Chicago by way of TACA airlines for Guatemala City.  We had no troubles on our way here. You have to know Don to understand the planning that goes into our Adventures! It always amazes me that things do come together more or less as he planned it. We were met at the airport by a young man in an valient vintage mercedes. As it worked out we were on our way to the apartment during early morning rush hour. It is not the rush hour you endure in California because cobblestone prohibits such speed! You will get a great massage on your trip and if you are lucky you will not bite your tongue as you whip around the city.

The apartment is a small studio apartment complete with a private bath, mini-kitchen, bedroom with cable TV and free Internet service. What more could you ask for at $7.50 per day?? It is clean and comfortable enough. Our apartment is on the second floor and the family below has only 10 children.

Our landlord met us and showed us around and then offered to drive us to town to buy food and other stuff we felt was needed. That turned out to be a mistake because we left here unprepared to do that shopping. We didn't have a list, grocery bags or our 'sea legs'. He dropped us off in Antigua (we are about 20-25 minutes outside of Antigua). We found the market, did some shopping but we were really too tired to be coherent and soon just wanted to get back to rest. Where did we finally find those eggs??  Then we were on our own to find the right bus to get back and our Spanish needs polishing so -- long story short we did manage to get MOSTLY back to the apartment but the bus we took left us out about 1 1/2 to 2 miles from the place. So we walked!  I told you all that we would be getting more exercise! We were nearly out on our feet so we got in a short nap because we had plans to meet with Kristin for dinner -- in Antigua.

Kristin will be nice to work with and we begin our first task for Child Aid on Wednesday. It will take us an hour by chicken bus to get there. First we will need to see what kind of computers they have and then come back to Antigua to collect tools and such to get most or maybe all of them working. The restaurant we wanted to re-visit no longer exists. Kristin had two other choices so we selected the non-Italian one (not that the meal we ate had fewer carbs than spaghetti!) but we did enjoy the evening. We took a taxi home since it was dark and buses stop running at 8pm (they start at 3am!! but NOT us). We will meet Kristin at 8 am on Wednesday. The day is finally done and so am I.