Moms birthday quilt

For moms birthday I made her a rag quilt. It is made with 3 layers of flannel so it is very warm and cozy. Perfect size to for the couch.

Fun

Mom came up and made caramel apples with the girls. Well Zephy at least. Sheradia was just the taste tester. Zephy playing with Lincoln logs. And I started to make a fabric bowl with scraps of batiks it turned out to be easier than I thought and I was glad to use up those little scraps I had saved.

other notes from the home

While I am on here (I have to change computers to blog) I thought I might as well update everything. SO here is a photo of Zephy getting a WOW award at school. And the new canoe a friend gave us. Needs a little love but we took it out for a test float with the girls and the dog. The dog kept going from side to side making the boat rock and freaking Sheradia out. I think everyone around the lake heard her scream. And the girls riding home in the back of the truck under the boat. And Scott finished (well almost) the rock work on the outside of the house.

parting shots

View from the top of the 2nd tallest pyramid you can see 3 other temples and what looks to be a hill is just another building they have not uncovered yet. All you can see is rainforest all the way to Mexico and Belize from here. Wonder how many Jaguars are in there? We could hear howler monkeys and I spied one black tail monkey. Here is a typical country school. No windows save for wire and when you look inside there is really nothing. hardly any books or desks and the playgrounds may have a basketball hoop or soccer posts if they are lucky. another lowland home and a shot of driving to my home. Fall is my favorite time of the year.

Ruins

Some shots of the Mayan ruins we toured around at for 4-5 hours. You could spend days and it is more interesting than I thought it was going to be. Got to climb the 2nd tallest pyramid in the world. this city was 16x16miles and had 5 temples and all sorts of other things. I found it interesting that in the living quarters of the rich they found no kitchens or toilets. Anyway here are a few shots. A smaller temple. The ritual grounds where they would have human sacrifices on the round stones and the stairs that lead to the ones you can climb just so you can see how steep they are.

lowlands

We took an all night bus trip, 9 hours, to the Mayan ruins. I would say it was worth it. Here is a photo of bird nests, a parakeet I think, and Leave cutter ants that are by the millions there. I got lots of bites by these and sand flies. By the time we cam home I had about 40 bites all over my arms and legs. And they actually take a chunk of skin so you have blood oozing down your leg. Then one of typical housing in the lowlands.

Hard work

Here is a steep road down to a village. And these men are making gravel the hard way. You can see the different grades or rock piled up. Even on the farms or lime stone areas you only see shovels, picks, hoes, and everyone is carries a machete. A few wheelbarrows but that is about it. With all the hours of driving around the country I only ever saw one tractor. Everything is done by hand. They say it is because the wheel is sacred to the Mayan people so they will not use it for work. And last I had to get this photo of the local airport gun control. You can see you lock your own guns up for safety here. Many people have automatic weapons there. Just about all the guards even at Subway or burger king have an AK47. Sometimes I was afraid to take a photo as you can't tell who is just a guard going to work or who is part of a guerrilla.

School

Here are 3 of the 7-8 volcanoes surrounding the lake that we could see. These looked like one until we got a little further round and could see there were 3 cones there. Fisherman on the lake. See the farmed terraced hillside behind them and how steep it is. They will grow corn in any spare foot of ground they can find. when we pulled up we were worried where the boat was going to dock with our heavy bags. The dock had sunk into the water and the men were trying to fix it. We managed okay. And last is the special needs school we took the supplies to. We were not allowed to take photos of the kids so I just have one of the building. The teachers were so excited they were nearly in tears they were so overwhelmed. They get no help from the government and while they have volunteers they don't receive much in the way of supplies or money. We got a chance to play with the kids a little Mom took a little boy for a walk around the grounds and he just wanted as many cuddles as he could get. I played with a little paraplegic girl of about 2 her legs and feet and hands were deformed and when she laughed you could see her teeth were brown from rotting. Very sad. The volunteers go out each day to collect the kids and bring them back here. If they don't get them the kids usually sit at home which is a small one room building with a cook fire in the middle but little or no ventilation so they sit there unattended in the smoke.

supplies

Here is the school supplies and toys and things we took over as we were repacking at the motel. We had to catch a boat early in the morning to take them to the village so here are the 3 suitcases in the front of the boat and mom and dad and the diver.

kids

Back at the market here are shrimp for sale, a variety of beans and three little girls trying to get me to buy just one thing from them. Most every time you take a photo of someone there you have to pay them. So here I just gave them each 1Q for a photo. These little boys where begging my dad to let them shine his white tennis shoes.

Goods

Here are the fibers sold to other locals for making their woven or embroidered products. Then there is a woman with goods she is carrying on her head. Some dig through the trash for tin they clean and add handles to and resell as cooking pots. And one woman embroidering wall coverings and table cloths.

a sort of trick

Here is a famous Catholic church in Chichi. When the Spaniards forced the Mayan people to build this they sort of ticked them and made 14 steps the the front which is a sacred number for them and their gods and like other catholic churches they light candles inside not to el Chisto (Christ) but to the sun, rain, earth, and life I think it is. outside they burn incense and wave it around to their gods as well. Here are photos of Mayan people covering the steps outside. Then the cemetery we went to. Garbage is every place you look. Like this photo with piles of it in the foreground.

To Market

We spent a whole day at this market. One thing besides taking school supplies down was each day we would try to put toys, soft stuffed animals, color books and crayons, Bibles, etc in our backpacks and randomly hand them out. This was a ton of fun! This little boy behind his mother selling nuts was one we gave a color book and crayons to. He was very shy. Here is chicken, A woman knitting bags (that I bought for a dear friend of mine in NZ). And an old lady selling fruit. As you walk down the streets and streets of this crowded market children and adults are begging and pressing you to buy something. They don't take no for an answer very well either. Sometimes it got to be very annoying other times it made me laugh.