Some pics

I wanted to share some photos now that it isn't raining and I have enough internet time and signal to send these to you. They are kinda jumbled but show some of the highlights of both my project as I get more involved with La Salle school and the other students and the two communities we are in.


Andrea, one of the students in Santa Clara with her host brothers in the town plaza. They just built the plaza last year and to attest to its newness they still have the speakers installed and they haven't been stolen yet :)



The wife and daughter-in-law of Don Pedro, one of the most hilarious and genuinely interesting maya men I've ever met in my life. This is the more modern though still wood-burning planchas that they make all the meals on as well as use to dry things, start the fire for the tuj, and general home entertainment.



Walking out of Santa Clara onto the main two-lane road that connects up to the Pan-American Highway (also currently a two-lane road though they are doing construction right now to expand it.) For those that don't speak Spanish, the sign says "dangerous curves." I thought it was hilarious seeing the women waddle with the weight on their heads while walking past this sign, though they were still a little far away for the camera view...I need to go back and get a personal photo of me standing by that sign don't you think?



My host father working on his latest project...a flushing toilet and shower behind the house!! I hope they don't stop using the tuj just because they add a shower but I am definitely looking forward to a flushing toilet.



Little Diegito helping sift sand for the concrete his dad is using for the bathroom.
He's one of the most cariñoso and cuddly kids I've ever met and constantly asks me questions about what we have in the states...like if we have food there and if we use toothbrushes. Basically adorable.




These are the tuk-tuks that constitute inner-city transportation. You can pick one up as they make periodic rounds throughout the city (or call someone that you know including two of the host families' teenage sons) and for 2Q (about 25 cents) you can go anywhere in Santa Clara. Be careful though because according to the municipal decree the tuk-tuks can longer cross city boundaries with Santa Maria and Santa Maria only has one tuk-tuk driver of it's own.



The kids of sexto magisterio (ages range but normal matriculation would put them at 17-18 years old) including my good friend Williams
(first guy on the left with red shirt) still healing from a broken heart due to my rather surprised rejection of his love.



Me with the home ec teacher of the bakery and one of the students of sexto magisterio.




My wonderful host mother walking back from the little preprimary school that her daughter Teresa goes to, complete with Jessica on her back and leftovers from her job as lunch lady on her head.




The products of my labor as a temporary student in cuarto magisterio--making the typical breads they sell every day. Most Guatemalans have 5 meals a day they tell me...breakfast, a morning snack of bread with a hot drink, lunch, another "refaccion" or snack of bread with a hot drink, and dinner. The breads sell for between 25 centavos (about 3 US cents) to 2Q (25 cents). Some are better than others but all come complete with a whopping amount of shortening...mmmm.




This is Santa Maria from a hilltop of Santa Clara (in case you don't remember, I live in Santa Maria but 4 of the students live next door in Santa Clara.) The communities are distinct in a lot of ways even though they are right next to each other and for the most part get along in a sort of repressed, conscious negation of long-standing town rivalries.





This is one of the students, Amy, learning how to weave on a backstrap loom. To my shame, she actually finished this belt and did a fabulous job for never having touched a loom before while I can barely make a straight row...but you can't do everything right!





This is me getting my belt ready to be put on the loom. Pretty much a professional at this step...it's the actual weaving that gets me down.




After church we all climbed into a pickup to go over to Nahuala so the students could go to the market and get lunch and I went to visit my old translator and her daughters. Pretty unique seeing 7 gringos crammed in the back of a pickup truck. It's the only mode of transportation between the two towns though so you hold on tight!