Potpourri

A few notes of this 'n that...

We went again to San Pedro, across Lake Atitlan, yesterday.  We had a nice group - maybe 14?  and filled a public boat.  We paid 20Q going there (a negotiated price) and 25Q back (about $3+, their regular price for foreigners).  We found a fair number of people to visit with, and ate at a delicious restaurant called D'Noz.  I had a yummy Thai Curry Chicken.  In the following photo, you can kind of see a profile of a Maya face - the highest point is a nose, hence the restaurant's name. (In the restaurant's website, there is a drawing that helps you 'see' it!).

Boat dock in San Pedro. Do you see the
sleeping Indian in the mountain? 

A week or so ago we went out to dinner with the girls at the Sunset Cafe.  It's our favorite place to sit and look at the lake - all for the price of some tacos! A friend is visiting from El Salvador, Tatiana Gomez, and we're enjoying getting to know her! Rachel is about to leave for Pioneer School in Roatan Honduras.

Rachel, Andy, Tatiana

Bill and I

We've been enjoying a fruit called Dragonfruit, or, pitaya.  It is kind of like kiwi, but with an extraordinary color.  The season is brief - I just heard they are already hard to find, but delicious:

Sometimes I'm amazed at the way wiring works here.  It's a mess!  this was a shot in Solola of wires going everywhere.  No OSHA or building codes here!

This is a picture of our friend Lora teaching a deaf boy (at the back) and his sister, who eagerly jumped in too. Many of the deaf have little education - the expectations of the community and sometimes even the family are quite low.  They eat up attention. Lora is starting with very basic things, and trying to make things fun (coloring, connect the dots) while teaching important skills (sequence of numbers, letters). Check out the girl's traditional dress - it's so cute to see even the littlest girls dressed this way!

This is Andy with her new tabletop ironing board.  She had prayed for one, and said she could only afford 100Q (about $12).  She put the word out - and someone came to her and said they found one for 100Q! She views it as a gift from Jehovah!

This was in the morning at San Pedro. We went with the Whites and their baby Judah.  He attracts a crowd - and even more so here, where they were mobbed by curious and friendly locals wanting to see a beautiful little black baby!

While we were waiting for a woman to become available for a Bible study, we were in a cafe and ran into a woman shown below.  She approached me and said, "Are you so-and-so' (the name of a friend from years ago).  I wasn't, but we started visiting.  SHe's an artist, and lives down here and does beautiful water-colors.  I ended up buying one!  For $300Q, about $38, for a print of one that is in a gallery in Antigua.

On the way home, about 2:30, the light hit the mountains so beautifully.   Not sure if this photo can possibly carry the effect, though.  The ride between Pana and San Pedro docks is a full 30 minutes!  But it was a nice peaceful refreshing ride. We met a man from Manchester, England and chatted a while.

I've finally arrived at a weekly schedule that I think is working well.  I go in the ministry Monday (here in Pana), Wednesday (to a remote location with friends - lately San Pedro) and Friday (to Solola with Lora to help deaf kids), and Saturday morning.  Tuesday I'm at home with Gloria, who cleans and cooks for us, and studying for the meeting in the evening.  Thursday (today) is a home day - and I'm loving some time just relaxing, writing the blog (!), and catching up on this and that.

Gloria with crabs - still wiggling! - at pila at old apt

Bye for now!