To Panama and Back

We spent the last two and a half weeks traveling through Panama and Costa Rica. We were fortunate to have great weather and see some beautiful places along the way. We began by traveling via bus to Panama city. We saw the Miraflores Locks, Calonial Panama, beaches, jungles, islands etc. Panama is the most beautiful Central American country we have seen so far. We then made our way to Costa Rica to meet up with a few friends. This portion of the trip included plenty of time spent surfing, playing in the waves, and lots of sun.
We made our way back and arrived at our house in Teguc on the 9th of July. We consider ourselves lucky to have seen so much in such a short amount of time. Highlights of our trip included the Panama Canal, hiking through the jungle, surfing, finding agates, and ocean kayaking to name a few!

Semana Santa in Antigua

Semana Santa in Antigua, Guatemala, was wonderful. We took a few days of language school, and enjoyed the celebrations of Holy Week here that attract over 800,000 people.
Missy and I at some ruins.
An example of an "alfombra" or carpet made of natural materials. We never figured out the significance of these- most people just simply said that it was tradition.

Here is an alfombra that we helped make. In the following picture, you can see what happens to alfombras- they get walked through! A processional plows right through the middle of even the most beautiful alfombras. The processionals themselves are huge wooden stagelike floats that are carried by about 60 men. The scene on the float varies, but always has something to do with a scene from the last week of Jesus. Every church has one or two of them and they all have their set times of weaving up and down the streets of Antigua with huge throngs of people following, and the incense burning, and the bands playing behind them. It is a very interesting sight.

Man's Two Best Friends: His Hammock and the Perro

A Home for Susanna

Our church here has built over 400 houses for people like the old woman in blue- Susanna. Most of them have a cement floor, but this one we had to build right on the dirt. Hopefully someone will put in a floor for her before rainy season. We love the times that we get to serve the people here in a tangible way. She was very grateful even though we didn't put the door quite where she wanted it. (note: the walls that you see were pre-built at the church and had to be carried by about 7 men up a hill, down an alley, and finally up a rickety set of wooden stairs to get to what you see.)

Clearing the Roof With Moses

We had a storm last week that knocked down two dead pines in our yard, and one of them damaged the roof a little bit. That's 13-year old Moises (Moses) on my shoulders. He is getting the branches off our roof. They didn't puncture the roof, so that was nice. Moises and his little nephew helped clean up branches and tiles, and we paid him by buying him a backpack for school. He is a good kid and lives about 5 minutes up the road. He doesn't have much, but his family is very nice and he seems to be a very responsible boy. I think that I'll have more jobs for him in the future.