San Juan Festival

Charlie, Nick, Alisha, and I traveled to the town of San Juan Sacatepequez on Thursday, June 24, to observe a festival in honor of their patron saint, John the Baptist. There were costumed dancers on the town square. This young fellow was happy to pose for a photo in exchange for Q1. He and his two friends seemed to enjoy the attention.



The masked dancers were wearing elaborate and beautiful costumes with feathered headdresses.



The men were dancing to the music of the marimba, Guatemala's national instrument.



We walked inside the Catholic church, which was decorated with fresh flowers and many candles.



At noon, there was a procession. Unfortunately, we just caught the tail end of it. We arrived just in time to see this float carried by on the shoulders of many men. I assume it is their patron, Saint John.


This lady is wearing the native costume of the town of San Juan. Nearly every women and girl we saw was wearing native Mayan dress, one of the reasons I find this town so fascinating.



The 'food court'. We saw lots of interesting foods for sale, including iguana meat. Charlie bought some deep fried pacaya. This unusual plant grows on the slopes of the nearby Volcan Pacaya, thus giving the mountain its name.



We saw several vendors selling live chickens.



Several blocks from the square there was a small fair with children's rides. We were amused by the merry-go-round. Some wooden horses were missing, so they simply strapped plastic riding toys in their place.



Charlie bought french fries from this food stand for Q3 ($0.35). They actually were not bad.

Happy Birthday!

Nicholas turned 21 on June 18th. As he was flying home from the States that date, we celebrated his birthday a few days later.

Tony celebrated his fourth birthday on June 23.


What fun! Lots of presents!


A new ball and glove from Grandma!

La Senda

Last week, June 14 - 19, ORI hosted a work team from North Carolina, a youth group from Biltmore Baptist Church. This hard-working bunch spent their week constructing a soccer court at La Senda orphanage.

Charlie (in floppy sun hat) running the cement mixer while an enthusiastic young fellow waits his turn to carry the wheelbarrow.

Ben worked really hard and had lots of blisters and sore muscles when the week was over.

First, the group laid nearly 6000 pavers, and then they poured a concrete border.

Sweeping the finished court. This is such a big improvement over the dust and mud the children previously had to play on.

After the work was completed on the last day the group did some crafts with the children. As always, Tony was a willing participant.

Huge Sinkhole

Most of you have probably heard about the huge sinkhole that opened up in Guatemala City following Tropical Storm Agatha. I've posted this, not because these photos are the greatest, but because this sinkhole made international news. Of course, we had to go check it out. We visited this past Sunday afternoon, about two weeks after the event occurred.



The police, of course, had the road closed...and were standing guard.

There was a short tin wall surrounding the giant hole. We walked up and peered over.

This is what we could see from behind the barrier. The hole is 66 feet wide and 100 feet deep. It completely swallowed a three-story building. It was a clothing factory. The earth caved in an hour after closing time. Earlier that day many children had been in the building picking up school uniforms. Only the security guard was killed. As we were standing here a man approached who spoke English. He said he is friends with the owner of the factory. The owner lives on this street, a couple houses from the hole, but is too afraid to return to his home.

Hot Hot Lava

Yesterday we visited Volcan Pacaya. Since the eruption on May 27, lava has been flowing near the small town of Los Pocitos. Always enterprising, the Guatemalans have started charging Q 50 ($ 6.50) for curious folks to walk through a field to see the lava flows. We thought it was funny; they even have food stands set up in the field.


This is a fresh lava flow, still glowing red in places. A guide told us it began flowing onto the field 11 days ago, destroying two houses. There are still cows and horses grazing in the field.

The lava is moving at a speed of one foot per minute.

It was really hot! We posed for pictures, but we couldn't stand close to the lava for very long.

Charlie and Ben climbed up on top to get a better view, obviously at a cooler spot.

Ben could only stand this close to the lave for the few seconds it took to snap a photo. Too hot!

San Pablo la Laguna

We delivered the truckload of food to a pastor's home in San Pablo la Laguna, a small town on the northern shore of Lake Atitlan.


Many willing helpers unloaded the food. The pastor knew of 125 families in the vicinity that were affected by the mud slides.

Street in San Pablo. There were tuk tuks (three wheeled taxis) everywhere. Unlike the other towns we've visited on the shores of Lake Atitlan, San Pablo does not appear to receive many tourists.

Charlie and I took a short tuk tuk ride down to the lake.

After leaving San Pablo, we dropped off more food at a nearby town called Santa Clara la Laguna. I was pleased to discover a nearby market. I took a few pictures while the guys unloaded the food. I wish I'd had more time; I love the local markets.

This is one of the few areas of the country where the men wear skirts as their native dress.

Mud Slides

On Tuesday, June 8, another ministry asked to borrow ORI's box truck to deliver food to victims of mud slides caused by Tropical Storm Agatha. Charlie volunteered to drive, and I tagged along to keep him company for the day. As we were traveling north on CA-1 we saw numerous mud slides, still partially blocking the road a week and a half after the storm. There were many places where only two lanes of this four lane highway were open.

Congratulations Ben!

Congratulations to Ben for completing his senior year of high school! While he won't receive his "official" diploma until after we return home, we wanted to celebrate this important
milestone in his life.


We had a party with the other ORI families last Sunday, May 30, and I presented Ben with a diploma...of sorts. I feel as though this is as much a celebration for me as for him - after being his teacher for 12 years!

I ordered a cake from Price Smart (the local equivalent of Costco).

Soccer, of course! Ben's favorite subject!

This has nothing to do with Ben, but I've included it anyway. Tony was having fun playing "dress-up" at a friend's house - his favorite character, Spiderman.