26 de Junio, 2002
Miércoles
Andrés
Back in Guatemala again! During my first hour in Lemoa I was fed a wonderful bowl of chicken soup, a warm cup of tea, and had Carlita on my lap. It was better than being at home.

The big news here is that Andrés has been walking, assisted by crutches. Given what a fall would mean, he has incredible courage even to get out of the wheelchair. He has to wear platform shoes and a special brace, but it is amazing to see him up without the wheelchair.

The other news is that we now have fresh water coming from the spickets. A team from Tennessee has been here for the last week working on the well. The rain water collection system has been rerouted, and the cisterns are now full of potable water. It is difficult to explain how much this means to everyone here.
We are still working to wire the Hogar for fax and email. Our neighbors the Maryknoll Sisters recently received a special cellular phone line as part of a government program. They were assured that the line would work with fax and email. They kindly split a line out to the Hogar. I tested it today and found that the line does not even support outgoing calls, so Benjamin and I were off to Chichi to chat with the local phone company, Telgua.

Telgua employees are similar to those of our own DMV, but much less helpful. As usual they denied everything. First they claimed that our phone line didn't exist. A quick call resolved that. Then they told us it would take 3 months for activation, it being a new line and all. Somehow Benjamin talked them out of that. In the end, after arguing for 20 minutes they told us to pay Q300 and our line would be active in 3 hours. This I doubted vigorously, but we paid anyway in desperation. Miraculously, 3 hours later we could make calls. Internet and fax connectivity, however, is still missing.
 

We have a new child, Moises. Although he's 7 years old, he's only about the same size as Maria, who's 4. He is a very happy kid. He fits in well and rounds out the age range here at the Hogar.

We also have a new puppy, "Pluto", but he is not doing well. He looks much like his namesake, only skinnier. He's skinny even by local standards, which is rather alarming. Basically he's just a furry skeleton. We took him to the vet on Saturday and they gave us some anti-parasite medication. We gave him the meds, but still he won't eat or drink. I'm not sure how much longer he'll be around.
Moises

I have been driving the kids to school and back, and now know how busy Chuck and Irene must have been. Due to the childrens' various school schedules, trips to Quiché depart at 7:00 AM, 12:00, and 5:00 PM. That's about 3 hours of driving per day, and it's wearing me out. Today alone I encountered newly installed unpainted speed bumps at high speed. In Quiché a stoplight perpetually showed red in all directions. You know how we Americans react to that -- imagine how it is here. Add to that a chicken bus undergoing repairs in the gorge between Lemoa and Quiché.
School shuttle

Guatemalans throw branches in the road to signal problems in the road ahead. Here is a guide:

  • twig: small vehicle broken down ahead
  • branch with leaves: lane completely occupied by stalled van
  • multiple large leafy branches: chicken bus in the middle of the road, blind curve, steep approach.

Since the foliage is rarely removed once the emergency has passed, you have to judge for yourself whether the warning is still in effect using freshness, greenness, and flatness as indicators. Luckily I knew the system so when I saw three small trees in my lane, I knew it was more than just storm damage. Just beyond the bend a tow truck had a chicken bus in it's grip, and was causing many dangerous driving maneuvers.
 
De Los Niños

Tengo quatro anos. Me gusta jugar mucho. Gracias para su ayuda!

I am four years old. I really like to play. Thank you for your help!

Carla
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