Lenten TreasuresMarch 24,2012

Lent is really the time to visit Antigua. The streets are covered with "fombras" which are carpets made of sawdust and decorated with flowers, fruits, and other produce. The Lenten processions take place every weekend, with hundreds of men in purple carrying floats of Jesus, Mary, heaven and hell. This fombra was made by Canadian students at my Spanish school, right next to San Sebastian Park, about 4 blocks from my house.

   Last Sunday, I went out for a walk and ended up meeting my friends at the school, helped with the fombra, watched the procession, met Teri's God's child Yanci, took them for Pizza and walked home together 4 hours later. Quite a "stroll."

This week at Casa Jackson was quite a turnaround. Ismael went home as did Guadalupe and Marlon. The twins, Blanci and Axel will be leaving soon. The baby at left is Jenifer Susana, a one year old who is returning to Casa Jackson having failed to gain weight after her discharge. I believe she is about 11 months old.   The baby on the right is Jenifer Vanessa, whom I believe is a little younger.

 Here is Manuel Jesus and his mama, also nearing time to go home and above is Javier who has only been with us a few weeks,

For those who have been following Luis, here he is looking so much better.He walks with very little assistance, and this week was drinking out of a glass without much help. He is still painfully thin, but we can see a personality emerging as he gets stronger. He laughs at the other kids playing, reaches for a hand to say hello, and waves goodbye. Life is so precious.

Today, March 24th, is Luis Bedoya's 37th birthday. Since he was working today, we took Friday off and went to an amusement park called Mundo Petapa in Guatemala City. It took a series of chicken buses to get there and almost as many to get home. The bus back to Antigua last night had about 130 people packed into a space for 50. We drove up the switchback curves of the mountain, and ended on the cobblestones of Antigua. All my bones hurt as well as my ears and lungs. The city is a great place to visit, but I think I  will stay with Antigua with it's tourists and cobblestones.

Here are pictures of Danilo and Diana on the water slide, and David and Daniel on the tower. This was a blast.

And the last photo is to make sure you realize that this country is not only about fun. I do have fun, but please never doubt that these people are very poor. Petapa is for rich people in American jeans and kids with sugar mamas.(Godmothers)
Here is a quick shot of how Guatemala City looks for the miles and miles we walked to get to the various buses.

The 130 people on the chicken bus last night were laborers. No one who had a car or could afford a taxi was there. They tolerated this dangerous, dirty bus because there was no other choice. Just the exhaust will probably cause cancer in some of them. While I probably could have afforded something else, I was glad to be reminded of why I am here. Please don't forget that these hard working people need food, clothing and education desperately.

Love to all in blogland... Noanie-joanne