smatterings of the week

the past week was our last of ´normal´ASOSAP´ work. thursday we had our last meeting in the village of Pampacche -they in turn put on a big fiesta for us. a bright red and white parachute (atleast that´s what it looked like...ya know the ones you played with in kindergarten and it was so much fun to all be around it and lift it up in the air and all jump under it..worth lots of grade school giggles, right there.) anyway they had that covering the wall while pine needles carpeted the floor. we couldn´t see much floor anyway though because so many people were there -it was great to see the women and all their children and many of the men of the village all together. they played the marimba for us. after we honored the women for their participation this year and had cake, there were speeches of thanks between their community leaders and ASOSAP - Bill and Glenda. then we were blessed with Ca´kik and Tamalitoes, the traditional meal made for special occasions. Mmmm...mmm.

then friday, well first we went out to breakfast at a local comedor for my birthday breakfast...did some errands and then later went for coffee at my favorite place here in San Cristóbal, El Viajero. our afternoon was spent on the road, driving with Glenda and Eva out to a town 3 hours away for their driver´s license exam. after arriving at the snazzy hotel, we went for a refreshing swim in the pool. i think the nice hotel, was a gift from ASOSAP to Glenda and Eva for all their hard work and us for the time and work we have committed to ASOSAP. it was a great treat. the girls had to be over to their exam early so after meeting them and walking them over to the exam place, i enjoyed the early morning by the pool, reading, writing and swimming. brad did too after crashing for a bit longer since it was so early. we went to see how they were doing around 11:30 and found them finished and successfully holding up their brand new licenses! yay! they had worked hard for this and brad too!! it was nice closure for brad having spent a lot of time teaching them to drive. they are pretty proud of themselves as they ought to be.
we headed back and spent the evening making dinner for our host family. we donned them with Thai peanut stirfry over rice and blackbeans with a dessert of a huge fresh watermelon and papaya we bought along the road on our trip.

and this morning, brad headed out with Bill for Guatemala City. they are picking up some guys and will be hiking in to a couple villages looking at potential projects for next year. i will be meeting up with them in the village of Pambon Grande on Tuesday. then i will return with them to the Guate (as they say down here). Bill is heading out to the States and we will return to San Cristóbal to wrap up our time here next weekend. wow. it seems strange for it to already be ending.