Guatemala City

It was another beautiful day in Guatemala City. It appears we have finally left the rain and cold behind. We met up with Gloria from Fundacion Ayudame a Vivir and started our day by visiting the National Pediatric Oncology Unit. It is very sad that children have to be stricken with cancer, however, this wonderful facility makes the treatment a little easier. There are many issues that surround the illness of a child in Guatemala. The child most likely doesn't receive regular medical care and therefore the cancer is discovered very late. The parents may be unable to take the time to get the treatment for the child because they have to take care of the other children at home. This hospital not only treats the child's cancer but also provides some services for the family. They teach the family about nutrition, they provide shelter at the hospital for the family, they provide transportation for the family, they have spiritual and psychologial support for the family, and many other services. The hospital is almost finished with a new wing for the children. The blood drawing area is designed to look like a barn to encourage the children to want to enter. The new wing is very inviting. We left alot of candy for the staff to pass out to the children that are able to have candy.

We left the hospital for the meeting of the Club Rotario de la Ciudad de Guatemala. This is the oldest Rotary club in Guatemala City. There are over 50 members. Since it is so close to Valentine's Day, the spouses of the members were also invited to the meeting. It was a packed house! We set up to give our presentations in our very bad Spanish and we were asked to keep our presentation brief because the club had a very big agenda. It is difficult for us to alter our presentations "on the fly" because our Spanish is rather poor. However, we managed to cut down the time of our presentations and speak Spanish rather well. Except for Angela who referred to her boyfriend (novio) as her girlfriend (novia). The Spanish language has a lot of words that alter slightly if it is male or female. This is very difficult to get used to. Many times when people are speaking Spanish I cannot distinguish if they have used an 'o' or an 'a' at the end of the word denoting male or female. However, their more discerning ear can obviously detect the difference. The bad thing is we didn't know why they were laughing. There was a very nice picture of Angela's boyfriend. It was later that someone told us about the mistake. I had made a similar mistake and made reference to my "wife" at a dinner last week. I guess we all have to be a little more careful.

After our wonderful lunch and quick presentations Mike and Laura left to visit a children's museum in a Walmart??? We will have to get an update from them later.

Angela and I accompanied Isabela to a home provided by Fundaninas. This is a wonderful program that provides shelter, food, support, and education for girls that otherwise would be abused and/or abandoned and living on the streets. The home we went to visit has approximately 27 girls residing there ranging in age from 4 years old to 18 years old. The girls are not only taught the necessary skills to live independently when they reach the age of 18 but they are also given the skills to support themselves. Some go on to become nurses, accountants, and hair dressers. Still others may become chefs. Fundaninas becomes the guardians for these girls and provides them with clothing, food, medical care, and school - in some cases private school. It is not just routine medical exams and care that is provided. While there we met a young child that has a very serious kidney disease and Fundaninas pays for all of her treatments including dialysis. We saw another girl with braces on her teeth. The girls were very well behaved and very sweet. The older girls wanted to know if we were married, what we liked to do, what our favorite musicians were, and what our favorite colours were. The younger girls admired our hair and eyes. They wanted us to take their pictures and then they wanted to look at them. They also liked looking at the pictures of my dogs. They grouped together and sang several songs for us. Even when we passed out candy to them they were very respectful. They thanked us. Nobody tried to grab for multiple bags or claim they hadn't gotten a bag. Angela and I received many hugs and kisses. It was a heartwarming experience.

Angela and I ended our day with a wonderful dinner with our host and hostess. They have made our stay in Guatemala City most enjoyable. I will be sorry when we have to leave tomorrow morning.

Guatemala City

We awoke to a beautiful day in Guatemala City. Our group was led by Andres of the Metropoli Guatemala Rotary Club. He drove us to Amatitlan where we met up with Angela, the wife of another Rotarian.





We toured Andre's steel fabrication plant. It is a family owned business that has been in operation for 50 years. He and his brother now own the plant.













We had a wonderful lunch of typical Guatemalan food. This explains why my clothes no longer fit!









We left Amatitlan and headed back to Guatemala City and the traffic. Once there Angela gave us a driving tour of the City before heading over to the City Planner's office. Oliver Hartleben gave a presentation so we could see the plans they have for Guatemala City.


We then went for a tour of the Universidad Francisco Marroquin. It is a beautiful, small, private university. Luis Figueroa gave us an inside look at the history of the school and the wonderful private collection of books and maps in the library. WOW - they had books from the 1700's. It was a wonderful collection.







We ended this very busy day by attending the meeting for the Metropoli Guatemala Rotary Club. They are a small club with 18 Rotarians. Everyone welcomed us very warmly and appreciated our presentation - even if our Spanish wasn't great.

Fun in the Sun - Puerto San Jose

We traveled by bus from Chiquimula to Guatemala City. It was an interesting bus ride. We all felt as though we were risking life and limb. The bus driver seemed unconcerned with the sharp turns and the high speeds at which the bus was travelling. We were tossed around the bus like little rag dolls. Whenever the bus stopped to pick up or drop off passengers, vendors would enter the bus selling food and beverages. It was a very interesting bus ride.

But three hours later we arrived in Guatemala City where we were warmly greeted by Roberto Fuentes and Adrien Caceres. They had been warned of the large amount of luggage with which we traveled so they brought large vehicles. We went to Roberto's house where his wife prepared us a wonderful lunch. We then met up with the GSE team from District 5080.

The two teams then traveled to Puerto San Jose for a weekend at the beach. It was our first planned beach time that we actually saw the sun. Yes - I said SUN!! The beach was wonderful. There was black volcano sand, blue water, white waves and SUN. Of course this now means that I have red legs. On Sunday evening we traveled back to Guatemala City - and the cold weather - where we enjoyed another wonderful mean prepared by Roberto's wife. The food is wonderful and I may never leave.

A Blustery Day in Chiquimula

Our day started with a visit to Reyitas de Luz, a school for special needs children. Special needs children in Quatemala include children with physical or mental disabilities. The school has about 36 students. They have to turn children away since they are at capacity. Disabled children attend school until they are 21 years old. They are never mainstreamed into standard schools.



The Chiquimula de la Sierra Rotary Club partnered with the Modesta (California) Rotary Club to provide a shower for the school. Unfortunately, there are times during the day when special needs children may need to have a shower and change of clothes. Before this shower was constructed the children would have to be washed outside with cold water from a hose. It was very embarrassing for the children.


In Guatemala the government doesn't contribute anything to schools for special needs children except for the standard salary for teachers.


After handing out several bags of candy to the children at the school we went to Lorena's house for a typical Guatemalan breakfast. It was que rica (very delicious), except that Angela and I mistook the salt for sugar and ruined our coffee.

After breakfast we met up with the Modesta Rotary Club and traveled to The Basilica de Esquipulas where the the Black Christ is located. Many people in Latin America make the pilgrimage to see the Black Christ. It is believed that people are cured when they pray to the Black Christ.










We left The Basilica for Convento Franciscano Belen. It was built in preparation for a visit by Mother Theresa of Calcutta shortly before her death. There is currently 1 priest that resides there.








We enjoyed a dinner of pupesa de queso and pupesa de chicharron with the Chiquimula and Modesta Rotary Clubs.


We leave early tomorrow morning for Guatemala City and Puerto San Jose.

Goodbye Rain - Hello Chiquimula

While we enjoyed our time in Honduras we were tired of the rain. The border welcomed us along with the Rotarians from Chiquimula, Guatemala. We were met at the border and shown a few of the sites on our way to Town.

After dropping our stuff at the hotel - we went to see Iglisia Santisima Trinidad. It is a great church. It was destroyed several times by earthquakes. The first time being in 1765. After the last time it was destroyed they did not rebuild it. They are currently doing some basic work to structure. They are trying to make it strong so that it doesn't become any worse.

The Chiquimula Rotary Club greeting us with a nice dinner. After which we all went home to rest for a busy day tomorrow.

We said goodby to the rainey skyes of Honduras and said Heloo to

Copan - We are Undaunted

Despite the bad weather we are going to make the best of Copan. We went to the Copan Ruins. They were absolutely wonderful. Our hostess here in Copan, Sandra, graciously called a friend of hers to give us a tour of the Ruins. We got a great history lesson along with the tour. It is definitely worthwhile to get the guided tour. We also took the opportunity to see the Tunnels. It was disappointing that the plexi glass was in such poor condition. It would have been great to have a better view of Rosalila - a temple found under another temple. We also took a run through the museum while we were there.

We ran back to Casa de Todo where we had a quick lunch and then our guides picked us up for our Canopy Tour. Again - thanks to Sandra this was another great experience. We went down about 11 lines. The views were amazing.
Dawn going down a zip line

.

Mike coming down a zip line

One of the guides showing his skills on the zip line

Laura coming down a zip line tandem with a guide

Angela coming down a zip line

Mike's new cruiser!

Thanks again to Sandra for making Copan a wonderful experience and to Roberto for driving us around and putting a roof over our heads. We are off to Guatemala in a little while. Hopefully they will let us in!

Adios Honduras.