Coco (Jorje) and his mother - our hosts in Guatemala City
Estanzuela is very hot and dry; many cacti on the way there.
View of the country on the way from Guatemala City to Estanzuela
Paleontology museum in Estanzuela; shown are giant ground sloth and mammoth
Beaked whale, Mr. Rye (GTA leader), Lukas y Natano
The underground part of the museum is spooky
View across Estanzuela, from the roof of the furniture store, where the Girl's school principal works afternoons. In front of us is the Parque Central - every Guatemalan town has one.
View to melon fields surrounding the town; Estanzuela is prosperous because of melon exports. Melons love the heat!
Family business, growing seedlings for the melon fields.
Market in Estanzuela.
Market
Old and new buildings
stream on the outskirts of Estanzuela
Estanzuela is exceptionally clean, by Guatemalan standards
The mayor's wife, sweeping the street. The mayor's compound, where I stayed, is on the right.
In the mayor's compound.
Host home for one of our students.
Host family in their kitchen
Host family central courtyard
One host family has four hammocks; here Isaac
Lukas
Natano
Nancy and Sam, flanking host Juliana
Girl's school principal on his way to school
Girl's school entrance; museum is to the left
I arrived the day before our students; their 6th graders were putting on a carnival for the 1st graders.
The girls love their principal
At the Girl's school
They serve snacks at the girls school in this veranda
Our students, with the principal and the district superintendent of education. They added metal bars on the windows and roof, for security for the lab.
Welcoming ceremony at the girl's school
Our students were quite the rock stars!
Nancy, Sam, and Lukas teaching about computers; hands-on work comes next
The lab we set up is in the back, the laptops around the table. We also got some desktops donated earlier by another group working and networked
Teaching the teachers
Jackie in the center; she and husband Walter Arreaza were our contacts. She's from Scotland. Flanked by the principal and assistant at the middle school.
Oh my. Some wonderful computers donated by Japan, just gathering dust. They didn't have anyone qualified to teach, were waiting for a teacher from the state ministry of education.
We got the computers up and running, and got the students using them. Luke and Nathan in back; one of Jackie's daughters in the center; she translated.
Other students are eager for their turn.
Lukas teaching computer hardware at the high school.
Eager learners
Isaac y Natano troubleshooting
Lukas got this student to translate, and gradually take over the teaching
We'll go to the school for boys next year (as it turns out, in August 2007)
Principal at the school for boys, using high technology. She is eager for a laptop.
The boys are eager for their turn for a computer lab
Very eager
On our way to the Mayan ruins at Copan, Honduras
On the way to Copan
Our guide at Copan
Entrance to Copan
Copan
Ball court in Copan. The captain of the losing side had the honor of being sacrificed
Stellae, telling the story of one of the rulers
Our group on a pyramid
Our students, accompanied by some of the teachers
Museum at Copan; mockup of how a temple would have looked
Visiting the sister of a host, and her family, in nearby Zapaca
Host mother in red; daughter Juliana on left; sister from Zapaca on right
It was really hot. We went for a long walk.
Heir of Slytherin
Visit to the local ice factory
Nancy is really cool
Beating the heat (ice factory is on the right)
Local taxi, a “tut tut”
Melon growing relies on irrigation
Entrance to a prosperous pig farm
Tilapia pond
Peacocks
Toucan
El Diablo (the devil)
All those pregnant females
No wonder he's beat!
Piglets. The mother is separated so she doesn't crush the piglets
Cool dude
Countryside; the white dots are birds
Picking okra
Local security; the police use these pickups.
Visiting a melon processing plant
Sorting the melons.
Melons galore!
Workers after their shift at the melon plant
In the computer lab, visit from district superintendent of education
At the school. The girls would give our students lollipops.
The girls do the cleaning at the school
Snacks at the school
Goodbye ceremony
Performance at the goodbye ceremony
Performers at the goodbye ceremony
Goodbye ceremony. I'm wearing a “Leandro Morales” shirt (the mayor)
Goodbye gift; good rum, and local embroidery
Local beauty queens
Leandro Morales - mayor of Estanzuela. (We're at his house.)
Trinkets outside the museum
Shopping at the museum
Local embroidery
Estanzuela embroidery
You can buy embroidery at the museum, at local shops like this, or from people you meet
