Wed. Oct 20 we went to my favorite village...El Berranco. In fact this is the village I have chosen to work in with all future groups. It is a very rural village in the midst of farm land. My groups have now sponsored 12 children in the village.
The children have been perfecting dance performances depicting their traditional dancing. They are grateful for any donations so they can purchase more and better costumes and musical instruments. I have seen great improvements over the last yr and a half that I have been visiting them. You can tell they love it.
Thanks to my small group and the awesome sale Amanda found at Walmart for shoes we were able to hand out clothes and shoes to the children. Of course my former teams kids got to get in line first...at least those we could find in all the confusion that ensues at these events. Donna and Kara worked very hard to find shoes for all the children but if you have been a part of this process you know very well ther are never enough.
I guess they needed a queen for the day so they picked me to be temporary queen. I did my best to reign well for that brief period. I thankfully don't have any pictures of me participating in the "monkey dance". They were looking for audience participation and someone had to start it.
During all this Amanda found a wonderful little boy to sponsor. He is now the proud owner of an LSU football jersey as Louisiana is where Amanda is from. We were then able to visit his home and meet his mother. My camera died on that scene so not as many pics as I would have liked.

On Tues. Oct 19 we started out at the used quipil market and then we headed for San Jorge to install two stoves. We all....two teams...four stoves....and a steep hill caused us to have to back down the road with traffic coming at us until we reached a place where Oscar could get it in four wheel drive. We had to walk up the hill a bit then we all jumped in and away we went with a few more gray hairs.
The first stove we installed was close by and THEN there was the second stove which was of course up a steep and rocky hill. It was all we could do to get up the hill without carrying anything. Women, children and a couple of men carried all the heavy parts up that hill. These are amazing people. the whole time the mother of the home was looking out for the three of us.


While we were waiting for the pick up to return for us we met the mayor of San Jorge then returned in time to greet Kara who was not able to come until then.

Monday Oct 18 Donna, Amanda and I along with Susie of Mayan Families as our interpreter hired a launcha across the lake to Santiago Atitlan. We hired a guide to tour the village and to see the Mayan god Maximon. After the tour we had lunch and shopped form the local artists.

And then it was off to San Antonio Palopo on our launcha. This is the site of one of the worst landslides this spring which buried over 20 people. We visited the preschool that Mayan Families opened after the mudslide to give the children a safe place to play and learn.
Mayan families sent a pick up for us but first we unloaded food to be distributed from the preschool. Mayan Families is the only ones to get food to this village when it was isolated after all the mud slides closed the road. They had to take it by launcha.
Another group that has been helpful to the Guatemalan people is www.shelterbox.org. They deliver a home in a box which includes a tent, blankets, cooking supplies and the things needed to set up home. Look them up...they are a great group. They housed 10% of all the people of Haiti.
Finally back to the condo in the back of a pick up with just a little rain.

On Sun Oct.17...my birthday...I headed out to Guatemala City to pick up Donna and Amanda. We returned to Panajachel in time to dress and go to the best birthday party ever. It was my 64th and I was entertained with 2 men singing and playing guitars. My favorite chef, Mathilda, did the cooking. There were beautiful gifts including a traditional Guatemalan apron and a beautiful pearl bracelet made by a designer in Guatemala. A good time was had by all.

Another day another village. Mayanfamilies was heading to San Jorge with the nurses so I decided to go since one of my sponsored students is there. While the nurses went to the preschool the rest of us went to visit a few people in need of assistance. Some very sad stories out there. And very sad conditions.
We then went to see Sulmi, my sponsored student. I had a nice visit with her and her mother who is a very sweet.

For the last I week I have stayed very busy with shopping...bringing lots of wonderful bits of beaded jewelry,Christmas ornaments, scarves and purses back with me. You are going to love them....at least I really hope so since the profits will come back to Guatemala!!!
But besides shopping I have visited Tierra Linda which is one of the first villages I saw when I came to check out Mayan Families. It still touches my heart. There are two of the nicest nurses visiting, Carrie and Kelly, who are measuring and weighing the preschool kids and inspecting them for any problems them for any problems.
We handed out food to the preschool kids and to a few of the elderly women. One of those caught my eye so I suggested that they have her stay and let the nurses check her out. She looked as if she might not be able to take her next step. It turns out she has congestive heart failure and a serious lung issue but was out of her medicine and out of food. So glad they were handing out food and Mayan Families sent her medicine.
As I am writing this we just had an EARTHQUAKE...a bit of a shaking of the house.
Oh well I'm still here.
After the preschool we visited Kellie's sponsored student then off to a woman who gave birth 3 mo. ago and hasn't been able to get out of bed. The nurses checked her and the baby out.She had no milk for the baby. So I volunteered to buy a months worth of formula. This is why the infant feeding program is so important.
By the end of the day I was exhausted but we went out dancing anyway.

Today I return to the land I have come to love...Guatemala. It tugs at my heart when I am not there. But I have to say so does Oregon and that is why I hope to divide my time between my two favorite places when I retire.
There will be three dynamic women joining me next week to experience a taste of Guatemala. It will be my niece Kara's second trip with me. She feels very called to return. My friend, Donna from Oregon, had traveled through Guatemala a few years ago so that leaves Amanda as the first time visitor.
I was in Guatemala last month for two weeks and I couldn't believe how bad the rains have damaged the infrastructure. Mud slides are doing so much damage to the roads and villages. Many lives have been lost as a result. Children are traumatized by it all too. As a result of this www.mayanfamilies.org has opened up it's fourth preschool in San Antonio Palopo where twenty some people were buried in a mud slide in May.
These preschools give the children a safe haven and a time to just play and learn. We hope to visit this village next week and play with the preschoolers. They love it when visitors come. I hope to be able to keep you up to date on our activities next week through this blog.