So much to catch up on . . .

Gigi saying goodbye to some of the kids.

Saturday, May 26.  It was a whirlwind last day on campus for Gigi.  It was a "saturday workday" with continuing work at House 2 and the apartments preparing for all the coming visitors.  We squeezed in a trip to town for haircuts and got back to campus just in time to teach English class and then got in the van and headed for Guatemala City and the Barcelo Hotel.

Sunday we hung around Guatemala City waiting to welcome the Sosa's who were driving in from El Salvador.  They are such a sweet and precious family.  What an answer to prayer it is with them coming to live on campus.

Monday, May 28, Memorial Day in the States.  We drove 3 hours up to Lake Atitlan.  What a beautiful drive.  It was like driving 200 years back in time.  The native Mayans working the fields in their traditional handwoven clothing.  The drive is pretty much straight up the mountain so it got cooler and cooler as we drove.  We stopped in the village of Panajachel and took a boat across the lake to the village of Santiago where we had lunch and shopped a bit.  We visited a church that dates back to 1547.  Very cool.

Our taxi to the village of Santiago

Where we had lunch.

Tuesday we drove to the Pacific Coast town of Monterrico.  Another drive back in time.  The beaches are black sand and the waves were strong.  I guess what stands out most about Monterrico compared to other beaches is that it was raw and very non-touristy.  In fact, we were the ONLY tourists there.  We had the entire beach all to ourselves.  A local family served our every need.  They brought us umbrellas, lunch, drinks, provided showers, bathrooms, and parking - I think they would have changed our tire or trimmed our hair if we would have asked.  It was a fabulous and private day at the beach.  We spent some time chatting with a local and that is always so interesting.  Guatemalans are nice people with a relaxed feel about them.  The local guy "told" us (it is important to remind you of the language barrier here) we "should" ride the "ferry" back because the drive in was so long - and it was - very long through raw Guatemalan villages with tumulos (speed bumps)  every 100 feet.  He even provided a personal escort for us to this "ferry".  Holy cow!  No way am I putting my entire family on that raft with our 15 passenger van!  But, away we went . . . maybe that local was warning us not to take the ferry . . .

the "ferry"

I can't believe we are going to drive onto this thing . . . 

I have to stop here for now . . . our Internet is provided by a mobile Claro stick and by the end of the month our time is pretty much used up and our connectivity crawls.  I will edit and add photos later.
(Let me just make a note to myself . . .  the constantly being lost in Guat city and the driving on the pedestrian foot bridge by accident, James puking in the van, the uncanny number of men relieving themselves in public all over town, the giant cockroach, Mom leaving, the truck accident, passing the Bell's up the mountain, the apartments, the tour) 

I'll edit later.  Thanks for your prayers, keep them coming.  These last two weeks are going to be very hard for a very many reasons.