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.
