Final days (part 3)

Wed. July 21

We had breakfast with Diego at Ruth and Nohemi, finished our work with the crafts and started back to Guatemala City. We were going to stop at the Iximche Ruins on the way. This is a small ruins by the standards of many of the Mayan ruins but quite beautiful and very intriguing. I particularly like these ruins because it is not very touristy and they don't get a lot of visitors. When we stopped here the workers opened the museum for us to look around. After doing this we walked around the ruins for about 1 ½ hours. It was so beautiful and peaceful. The only sounds were the workers cutting grass with their machetes. Ruth wanted to show us where some of the Mayan ceremonies were held so we went to the back of the ruins. When we got there we saw that there was a ceremony going on. We did not want to disturb the ceremony but we were interested to see what was going on so we found a small knoll several hundred feet away where we could sit and observe without being obtrusive. There was a lot of chanting and burning of incense. The ceremony would get louder and then softer. The adults were doing the ceremony and there were several small children who were playing several feet away. There was an older woman leading it and she was joined by about 3 men and 4 women. It was really quite interesting. Of course I didn't take any photos so you will just have to imagine this part.

After leaving the ruins we stopped at a nice place for lunch and we arrived back at the Sharing the Dream office about 2:00. In the afternoon one of the scholarship students Pablo came to see us. It is always fun to see him. He is in middle school and quite charming. He has a rare medical condition that can be controlled by medication. The problem is the price of the medication is so high that his mother had to choose between the medication and paying for his schooling. We have a sponsor that pays for his schooling so he is very proud of being in school. His mother and his little sister came with him. After visiting with him we just hung around the office. Kyle and Carisa were helping Ruth's nephews next door do an art project, which was quite cute. They couldn't get out the door unlocked so they were handing the project back and forth through a crack in the door. Carisa was doing the interpreting and Kyle was doing the artwork. The art project dealt with drawing bananas. Of course when they were outside the office they were joined by other children on the street who wanted to see what was going on. The rest of us caught up on our laundry and packed for the next day because we were going out to the orphanage at the river.

Thursday -July 22nd

We got up early and went to the bus station. We had bought some food the day before to make our lunch so we did that. The bus to Rio Dulce is not the chicken bus, but is not plush either. It is like an old grey hound. There were 2 people to a seat so it wasn't very crowded. Of course the seats didn't always work very well and there wasn't a bathroom. The bus stops once on the 5-hour trip so we limited our intake of coffee. The bus ride is quite interesting. It takes quite awhile to get out of Guatemala City, then we hit construction right away. We sat in the construction for about 30 minutes. When the bus stops like that there are always people getting on the bus and selling food, water, pop, etc. After about 3 hours we stopped for a 15 minute break. We got out and used the rest room and walked around and sat and ate our lunch. The trip the last 2 hours gets warmer and you can tell we are getting to the jungle.

The bus dropped us off right before the big bridge going over the Rio Dulce. We had a suitcase full of books with us so we grabbed that and started for the Backpackers. We had all packed in our backpacks so besides the suitcase we didn't have anything else. The Backpackers is right on the edge of the river almost under the bridge. The Backpacker is run by the orphanage and is a place where people can spend the night. There is also a restaurant and a bar. It can get pretty noisy here as Wed. and Sat. nights are disco nights and the music goes until quite late. I planned the trip around these nights. The accomadations are interesting. Since we are at the edge of the jungle and it is quite hot, everything is screened in. This means there is not much privacy. Carisa, Marta, and I were in one room, and from our bathroom we could whisper and John and Kaye could hear us in their room. Of course we did quite a bit of laughing about this..

We spent the afternoon hanging out at the Backpackers. After all of our travels it was nice to just sit on the edge of the river and not do much. I visited with several of the people that I have known for a long time. Angie the director of the orphanage was not here. She was in Guatemala City recuperating from an accident. She has really been out of commission for about 3 months. I missed seeing her as I hadn't had time to go see her when we were in the city. It gets dark in Guatemala quite early. Sometimes as early as 6:30. So..since we are used to it getting dark in the states about 9 this time of year it really throws you off. We all went to bed about 9. I was in our room all ready for bed and happened to look at my watch. It said 8. John had looked at his watch wrong. I went into the bathroom, as you remember it is in whispering distance of John and Kaye's bed and told them it was only 8. We all had a good laugh over it as John was the only one in our group that wore a watch and we called him our official time keeper.

Tomorrow I will get to see my son Miguel again as he has been staying at the orphanage the past week. I am looking forward to it.

Diane