Melocotón & Cacao
Amber purchased this “melocotón” for 8 Quetzales. A melocotón is a peach. This is clearly not a peach. I purchased these cacao beans for 6 Quetzales. This is what chocolate comes from. The process: roast, peel, grind. Very delish.
ZR
Ah! the smell of alcohol
Les had to remind me to write this in my blog. Two weeks ago, enroute to the capital (a three hour drive), our vans were pulled over by some roadside policemen. Usually there are about three places on this journey where cops do registration and license checks of selected vehicles. It is interesting to note … [Read more…]
Talkin about HOT spaghetti
MMM-MMM! I spent all morning working on the new Impact Ministries website. The shortterm team that is here now is travelling to Fray Bartolome de las Casas and I got left behind. This is good as I can work on the website and the child sponsorship database while they’re gone. When Amber mentioned to me … [Read more…]
Day of the Dead
On November 1, the Catholic world celebrates the Day of the Dead. This follows All Hallows Eve (Hallowe’en) and precedes All Saints’ Day. Here in Guatemala, devout believers meet in cemetaries to spend time with dead relatives by bringing food to share with the hungry dead. The food is usually eaten by roaming dogs, or … [Read more…]
méli-mélo
Daniel and Flor (meaning flower) were married Saturday night with a couple hundred people as witnesses. People are married in a civil ceremony as well as a religious one. According to Les and Rita who conducted the religious ceremony we attended, the two of them were very nervous. I was asked by Erick, Daniel’s father, … [Read more…]
Blue Steel
Blue Steel. I think it works. I think it really works.
Happy Birthday Les!
He turns 50 today. Rita threw a surprise party for him last night. As I was riding back with him (Johnny and Erick were in the other van), we were told to try and delay him in Guatemala City after dropping off the team at the airport. I had to make some purchases in the … [Read more…]
New Brunswick men came and went
I have 15 new friends in New Brunswick. They came to do some work on the school in Chicoy. This work ended up being diging out the final holes for the foundation to the second building (for the bathrooms) and then building the rock and mortar foundation for the future concrete block 2-story structure. The … [Read more…]
there and back again in 23 hrs
2:50 AM is our rendez-vous time outside my house. I meet up with Walter my neighbour, Oscar (a fellow teacher) and Eddie, Heber, and Johnny (students at Beerseba) in the light rain. Les picks us up in his Kia van and we hook up with Estuardo and Erwin and their big cattle truck. Eric misses … [Read more…]
Off to bring relief
What a priviledge to carry the gifts from our church here in Tactic and gifts from Canadian Donors to the refugees of the mudslides southwest of us. According to some reports there are as many as 200,000 homes destroyed or damaged. Mixed reports say that 652 people are confirmed dead with the number rising possibly … [Read more…]