The ash resembled coarse, black sand. The kids had fun playing in it. 
It wasn't nearly as much fun when they needed to clean it up the next day!
It was made worse by the fact that it began raining Thursday night and all of the sand got wet. It was a huge mess, and we are hoping there are no more eruptions!
Scene in the nearby town of Villa Canales.
Also in Villa Canales
We picked up two trekkers from Denmark at the first roadblock, and they ended up spending many hours with us in the car. We learned a lot about the Danish nation and sampled some delicious Danish chocolate. They treated us to lunch at a small chicken restaurant called Pollandria, in the town of San Lucas Toliman, shortly after we ran into our second roadblock.
After finally arriving in the town of Quetzaltenango (often referred to as Xela) we stayed at a charming bed and breakfast called Casa Manen. This is the balcony outside our room. It overlooks the town of Xela.
This is our room. It gets chilly overnight in Xela, due to the high elevation, but our room was equipped with a fireplace and an electric heater. It was quite cozy.
We ate supper the first evening at a nice little place called Albamar.
Xela is very unusual. It is certainly not the typical Guatemalan town. The older section of town consists of very narrow, one-way, cobblestone streets going in all directions with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Most of the buildings are old and dingy, and we saw several that had collapsed beyond repair.
We visited the nearby town of Zunil Thursday morning. This is the cathedral on the square.
A native Mayan woman buying meat at a butcher shop in Zunil.
Santa Maria Volcano. We caught a brief glimpse of the mountain when the clouds cleared briefly one afternoon. It was cloudy and rainy the three days we were in Xela.
Thursday afternoon we visited Fuentes Georginas, a natural hot springs. The water was very warm and the weather was cool, so it created a wonderful steamy environment. It was quite relaxing until a bus load of teenagers showed up.
Friday morning we visited the town of San Francisco el Alto to see their famous weekly market. Unfortunately, it was raining and rather miserable, so we didn't stay too long. We thought even the animals looked miserable.
One of the team members donated money to the director of the home, Maureen Casey.
The staff was doing therapy with some of the children while we were there.
Ben helped build a porch roof out over the courtyard. This will be a tremendous blessing during the rainy season. The team also did lots of cleaning and painting inside the home.
The team hosted a cook-out for the children under the newly constructed roof. We cooked hamburgers and hotdogs on the newly installed outdoor wood stove (in the bottom right corner), another ORI project.
Giving thanks.
The children enjoyed their special lunch, hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, soda, and cake.
Me with my little "dolly", Rosita Gabriella.
Charlie and I bought rice, beans, corn flour, noodles, soup mix, and some other items at Price Smart. Denny contributed apples from the market. We and the Freeds assembled 125 food packets in our carport Wednesday afternoon.
This is the main garbage dump for all of Guatemala City. It is huge, covering an area the size of 24 football fields. An estimated 11,000 people live in and around the dump, making their "living" scavenging for anything they can sell for a bit of money. Sadly, 7000 of these scavengers are children. 
First, we unloaded the food in one of the houses. Then we handed out food to each family in this makeshift community, small tin and cardboard shacks built inside the walls of city dump.
Alisha handing out bags of maseca (corn flour). We saw many babies and children in this "community".
There are 120 "lots" in this community. This is one of several "streets". This "town" has sprung up within the last three months. When we visited the same place in the dump last year there were only heaps of garbage in this same location.
We handed out candy to the children (and the adults, too) as we walked around.
This is the inside of one of the "homes". There is, of course, no electricity, running water, or bathroom facilities in any of the houses.
We were very surprised to find little tiendas (stores) within the community. Charlie bought some tortillas from the vendor, an elderly lady who was cooking on a gridle over a wood fire. 
This is the inside of the largest store. We bought cold sodas here. The two little ones were playing on the dirt floor.
Two little girls were happy to show me their pet kitten. As you would expect, most of the children were wearing dirty, tattered clothing. However, we were very surprised to see that some of the children (including these two) were clean and well dressed.
We were very impressed with this well-maintained and well-run home. Sheryl and I got to spend a few minutes in one of the baby rooms. This little guy is named Abraham. His age is unknown.
We also visited the toddler playroom and spent some time with the two-year-olds.
Sheryl, Maria, and I fed the little ones their morning snack. 
Feeding Carlos and Lester pineapple chunks. 
Chatting as I hand out silverware. Potter's House provides a hot lunch for approximately 200 children each school day. This is the only hot meal some of them get each day. We had the privilege of helping to serve the children.
Potter's House has a very nice kitchen and cafeteria. The children trickled in as they arrived from their respective public schools and took their places at the tables. 
Denny and I are helping to cut the children's meat. On this day they were served pork chops, noodles, potatoes, and passion fruit. We got to eat after all of the children were served, and it really was not bad. 
After the children finished eating, they were dismissed to their classrooms. They spend the afternoons being tutored in various subjects. This helps them succeed in school and also keeps them off the streets.
This is the dirt street outside the back entrance to Potter's House. The city dump is just on the other side of the wall.
