JULY 6 2005 - Abrazos por todos

Well yesterday we hit the chicken bus circuit, that meaning we hopped a bus from Antigua to Chimal and then another bus to Comalapa.The chicken bus is not the greatest but the scenery was beautiful and I learned a lot about the area from Norm´s Peace Corp buddy Mike D. They also told me what to watch out for on the busses and that Chimal was the pick pocket capitol of Guatemala. We made it back and walked out to Norm´s place and then the Canadian Adam that is working on the land and I walked back into town to buy our groceries and a yellow rose because it is Market day on Tuesday Friday and Saturday. We bought many things including meat and eggs, although we do not have a fridge and proceeded to walk the mile and a half abck out to Norms´place. I suggested we cook all the meats and then just save them in containers to use for the next day until market day came again. L ast night was wonderful, we had hummace and toasted pan and then a huge salad with fresh lettuce from the garden and fresh chicken and vegetables from the market. I also made my now famous strawberry limonada and a fruit salad with mint for dessert. It seems all I do it cook and then prepare for the next meal, when you live in a village with a rudamentary stove and no fridge you have to be creative. It also cuts down on the snacking. So today was wonderful we woke up early and then the kids were there on the dot. The minute they saw Norm/Mateo they all started running towards him and did a bit of a dogpile hug around him, we then headed up to the unfinished soccer feild to play games and get out exercise. I took some amazing photos that I will post later when we get to a faster connection. We played games, exercised, worked inthe childrens garden planted a yellow rose that we named Flor Marta, and did a little bit of drawing and coloring. At the end of the day I shouted Abrazos por todos and they dogpiled me just as they had Norm in the morning and one sweet little boy gave me the cross around his neck which made me feel wonderful because here people have next to nothing and the gesture was so generous, I also received flowers from some other children. So this is my suggestion is... shout at the top of your lungs where ever you are... abrazos por todos... and if you don´t get at least one hug from the crazy guy down the hall from you or the people in the internet cafe then you might want to reconsider how you spend your day. Anyway I have to go I am making a sign for Flor Marta and I just bought two more roses (one red one white)that I need to get home, by the way I just bought two more roses for 3 dollars about 20 quetzales. I feel better about leaving my rose garden in Austin because I now have a rose garden in Guatemala and the roses have names and about 40 gardeners under the age of 10.