Judy Schwank and her team work with Enrique to determine what surgery is most needed amongst the people of this and surrounding areas. 
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Interviewing the Patients
Line-Ups at Clinic for Surgery
Today, about 50 people came to the clinic to see if they qualify for free surgery through Dr. William and Judy Schwank's surgery team that is to come to Guatemala in the fall. Unfortunately, there is no adequate place in Peten to do volunteer surgery, so the patients that are chosen will have to find the way to and back from Guatemala City or Antigua, 10 to 16 hours from here.
Finishing up the Library Corridor
This past week Eduardo sent Santos and Alfonso, two of the Gringo Perdido employees to finish the paving stones of the corridor around the front side of the library building, so all will be in readiness for the Inauguration by the president on September 30th.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Cataloguing Books
We now have another volunteer ... Julie Bedford from Alberta. Julie will be staying for almost 2 weeks getting the library organized, cataloguing books and preparing to offer library services to the youth of the village.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Angel
Over the past couple of months, we lost two of our three parrots to virus and accident. That left R2D2 alone, for the first time in his life, and he didn't like it much. We were happy when, on 6-6-6, a young boy asked if we wanted a baby parrot. We have named her Angel. She's building up strength in her toes and legs by practicing on the branch we hung from the ceiling in my office. She started prying open peanuts and sunflower seeds over the last couple of days ... she will soon be ready to join R2D2, who is once again singing above us in the lemon tree!!
Monday, June 12, 2006
Triathlon Hombre Maya
As the participants in this years Hombre Maya Triathlon head off to the first buoy of their swim, you can see in the background the promontory of land that has been called since Mayan times "El Cerro Cahui" ... Crocodile Mountain (note its shape like the snout of a crocodile).
Eduardo and Eduardo
This is the 17th year that Eduardo Cofino has hosted the Hombre Maya Triathlon ... a competition that begins with swimming in Lake Peten Itza, followed by bicycling to Tikal, and finishing up by running through Tikal Park to the finish line in front of the famous pyramids at the Central Plaza. Here Eduardo, and his youngest son, also named Eduardo, are announcing the beginning of the event (June 11, 7 a.m. Sunday morning).
Waiting for Dinner
It is traditional at this yearly dinner, after the athletes have been served, to serve up the leftovers to the kids of the village, who wait patiently in line for their turn.
The High-Carb Dinner
Gonzalo´s food service crew are all ready to serve the yearly "high-carb" dinner to the athletes on Saturday evening. After the participants for the Hombre Maya Triathlon have registered, they receive a dinner of pasta, bread and salad.
Local Triathletes
Since its inception, the local children have been encouraged to participate in the Niño Maya Triathlon. Our local kids are naturally strong bicycle riders and runners, but need instruction in swimming ... we are looking for a volunteer to teach them.
Niño Maya Triathlon
On Saturday, June 10th, the 6th annual National Niño Maya Triathlon was held here in the village. Here, the youngest children begin their swim, following which they bike towards Santa Elena and back to the beach, then run towards Tikal and back again to the beach and the finish line.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Cleaning Up
People who live close to street lights were out early this morning with brooms, shovels and wheelbarrows to clean up the piles of crunchy beetles ... called something that sounds like "drone-droneys" to my untrained ear (roll those r's) ... before the smell overwhelmed the neighborhood.
Jungle Lemmings
Once every few years, like lemmings running off a cliff, these hard-shelled beatles take wing and fly to the closest light source, where they bang and crash into each other, falling flailing to the ground, never to rise again.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Presenting Certificates of Excellence
Today, on the last day of this 2-week journey, the women were presented with Certificates of Excellence for the incredible job they have done in planting a Forest Garden that will help to increase the earth´s oxygen supply. Here we see Marta Luz making the presentation to Doña Bety.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
The Playground
The kids keep themselves occupied in the playground, using the tire swings to build ever-more-complicated machines, while the women are busy cooking in their makeshift kitchen.
Today's Lunch
A carne guisada is on the luncheon menu today ... it is a meat stew that uses a local red spice called achiote to color the broth.
Preparing the Lunch
The women of the Women's Group are hard at work preparing the lunch. They have been on duty almost every waking hour since the group arrived, cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, as well as providing a place for workshop participants to sleep for the night last night.
Hosting a Workshop for ProPeten
The Women's Group were thrilled to be approaced by representatives from ProPeten about hosting a 2 day workshop for about 30 indigineous people from other villages. The 2 days of meetings are taking place in the meeting house up in the top right, and the women are making the lunch in the makeshift kitchen in the foreground.
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