A few photos from here and there...

Just some random scenes. 

Today we had lunch at the Llamas Del Fuego restaurant. While we were waiting for our food, a couple kids came up and asked if we wanted a shoeshine ("Lustre?").  Bill actually wanted one, so they got busy, one on each foot.  It's 5 quetzales, about $.62 which they split.  

Some readers remember our friends the Sanitizes (Leonidas, Lourdes, Leo). They are doing GREAT.

For some reason, this struck me funny. I was in the local telephone office (Claro) and when I had a customer service question they couldn't answer, they sent me to this phone on the wall.

Here's another boy who offers shoeshines. There are dozens of them all over. He said he is 8 years old. He is sent out on the street and does this all day, hoping to bring home a few quetzales.  These boys don't attend school.

We had to get some work done on our car, so we went to Quetzaltenango (a/k/a Xela), the second largest city in Guatemala. It's a bit closer to Pana, and is easier to navigate. Here is an interesting ... monument? ... that we pass in town. 

And here is what we call "the bridge to nowhere" in Xela.  It seems to be mostly done... but it's not connected to anything. It's over a very busy "T" intersection with no traffic control (no lights etc), so this would be a big boon... if they ever finished it.

This is Bill riding behind Andy Perez on his way to service. A little unnerving!

There is a river that goes right through Panajachel. I think it is the Rio San Francisco. It used to be a very beautiful river with lovely homes on each side. But during a hurricane a while back. the river overflowed terribly, and homes were washed down the river into the lake, some with people inside. So they have made a bunch of changes to make it safer - but it is definitely uglier.

Plus, it seems there is always a lot of industry going on down in the riverbed. The amount of water you see below is pretty typical, but you can see there is room for more if there is flooding. The workers there - I'm never sure if they're making improvements, or if they are local folks helping themselves to rock and sand for their own building projects. Someone did tell me that the city issues permits to people to let them go get rocks and sand.

This man was crawling into a hole in the street to get some water (fresh water? I hope!). When he filled his bucket, he put the cover back on the street and went into his house.

This is Mark Cooney giving his last talk here in Pana. He and his wife Alison, both from Scotland, were here for a year or year and a half. They are now serving in Roatan, Honduras. We miss them dearly! (Not the greatest photo... sorry, Mark!)

 Our visiting CO and his wife, Shawn and Kristen Verbeek. Delightful.

A dear friend, Morgana, was recently married to a brother from Pana. We were honored to be able to attend their wedding. 

This was just ... alarming! A man working on the (crazy) electrical connections. Do you see how he is supported? By a rope hanging from something on the pole. Eeeeeks!This is in front of the Guajimbos restaurant.

The view from our bedroom window.

And our dear buddy, Jasmine, peacefully snuggling.