Christmas 2008

Christmas was different this year but still special.

The Sunday before Christmas we drove into San Jose to watch a Christmas parade. Maria enjoyed posing with Santa Clause, but Tony was scared of him.

The parade consisted of five floats. This one is the Fundaninos orphanage float. Most of the children were riding on the back and throwing candy into the "crowd". Charlie helped to make the reindeer antlers on the truck.

We carried on a family tradition by making graham cracker "gingerbread" houses. We invited the Freeds to join us. Unfortunately, because of the dampness in our house, all of our houses had collapsed by the next day.

The girls and I baked several batches of Christmas cookies. Here we're making chocolate gingerbread.

Another family tradition - On Christmas Eve we ate Pizza Hut pizza in our living room. This is the first time we've had a fireplace!

We also slept downstairs in front of the fireplace - all except Tony who was put to bed in his crib upstairs. But first we participated in a Guatemalan tradition, fireworks at midnight!

And, of course, Christmas morning we opened our gifts.

Rosa de Amor

On Christmas Eve, we and the Freeds delivered a load of supplies to a very poor orphanage called Rosa de Amor located in Mixco, a suburb of Guatemala City.

Unloading the truck at the front gate.


The children pitched in to help unload boxes of clothing, shoes, and food.

The housemother was overwhelmed to the point of tears when she saw the large amount of donated food. When she opened the refrigerator we noticed that it was nearly bare.

We fitted each of the children with new shoes, much to their delight. The girl in the pink striped shirt received a brand-new pair of pink Barbie shoes. She grinned from ear to ear and gave me a big hug.

The children delighted in the attention and responded with smiles and hugs.

Antigua

On Thursday, Dec. 18 we drove to Antigua to do some Christmas shopping at the market.


Antigua is a beautiful colonial town with cobblestone streets. It became the third capital of Guatemala in 1541 after the two earlier locations were destroyed by earthquakes. Antigua remained the capital until 1773 when it was so severly damaged by an earthquake that the decision was made to relocate to the current capital, Guatemala City.

This is the famous "arch of Santa Catalina" with Agua Volcano in the background. The arch was built in 1607 to enable nuns to walk between the two halves of the convent without being exposed to the outside world.

Two grape vendors taking a break to chat on the telephone. They carry a small scales with them to weigh purchases.

These young men were entertaining customers in the market. The boy on the left is using turtle shells as drums. The boy on the right is playing the marimba, the national instrument of Guatemala.

There are many stalls in the market with hand-woven fabric for sale.

Tony posing with a little native girl at one of the stands.

There is a lovely fountain in the center of the artisian market.

Charlie's Injury

On Monday, Dec. 15 Charlie cut a large gash in his head while working at the ORI warehouse. He was attempting to jump into the forklift and knocked his head on the cage.


Thankfully, Denny Freed, who is a nurse practitioner, was available to stitch him up.

Denny gave Charlie five stitches - outside in our front yard.

It was entertaining and educational for the children. It was our science lesson for the day!

Fundaninos Babies

We visit the Fundaninos orphanage several times a week. I thought I'd post a few more pictures since the babies are just so cute!


Charlie spends a lot of his time working on this nearly completed baby house.

Ben is holding little Lourdes, the daughter of one of the workers.

Tony is playing with Angel. This picture was taken in the cafeteria.

The babies love when the girls take them outside to play.

Maria is holding the youngest baby, three-week-old Andres.

Maria's Birthday

Maria celebrated her seventh birthday on December 4th.


Maria appreciated my attempt at decorating her cake, primitive as it was. Hey, my supplies are limited down here.

We invited the Weavers and Freeds over for the party. Maria is posing with her gifts and her friends Gabby and Maria Weaver (and Tony). A special thank you to all who sent cards or gifts!

Tony showing off his "scary face".

We filled a pinata with candy for the children, but it was almost too cute to break.

ORI Warehouse

Orphan Resources has a large warehouse where all of the containers shipped from PA are unloaded and the supplies stored until they are delivered to the orphanages.


Maria likes to play on the skid loader.

Charlie is organizing supplies.

The girls and I spent an afternoon sorting shoes in readiness for orphanage deliveries.

Fundaninos Bus Trip

On Wednesday, Nov. 26 we went to Museo de los Ninos, a children's museum, with the children from Fundaninos Orphanage.

Alisha, Emily, and Flor riding on the ORI school bus.

Tony loved the little grocery store.

Charlie helped two-year-old Angelita "buy groceries".

We ate lunch on the front lawn.

Charlie did a super job driving the bus, even though he wasn't sure where we were going and the person giving him directions spoke little English.

More Guatemalan Construction

Charlie and I pass all of these houses on our morning walk. Charlie always takes note of the progress being made on each house.

A finished entry - with mahogany door

All tile floors - slate driveway - grooved concrete columns inside

Save that tree!

Notice the grooved concrete columns.

Guatemalan extension cord

Guatemalan Construction

Charlie is fascinated by the construction methods down here and wanted to post some photos for his friends in the construction industry. All of these pictures were taken in our development.


All utilities are under the sidewalk with access panels made of concrete. Notice the water main is 6'' deep.

Removing a stump by hand

Props for concrete roof over the carport

Concrete piers are every 5' vertically and horizontally.

Footers are dug by hand. Notice the batter boards.

Pacaya Volcano

On Tuesday, Nov. 11, the Freeds (some fellow ORI workers) invited us to hike Pacaya volcano with them and their guests. We enjoyed some awesome scenery and caught some glimpses of other nearby volcanoes along the way. There are four volcanoes near Guatemala city: Agua, Fuego, Acatenango, and Pacaya.

The hike was extremely challenging, over lots of volcanic rock and ash. We hired a guide to lead us. Unfortunately, he spoke very little English.

After hiking for two hours, we were rewarded with a close up view of a lava flow! No guard rails - we could get as close as the heat allowed, which was about 15 feet.

The hike down the mountain was easier, but we needed to take care as the volcanic rock was very sharp.

When we finished our hike we ate a late lunch. A hungry pack of stray dogs joined us and begged for scraps. They were especially interested in Ben's food.