The Top 5 Weirdest things I've seen in Guatemala...

5. a 30 foot kite (also one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life) at the Day of the Dead festival in Sumpango.

4. The guard in our neighborhood riding a bicycle in his fatigues carrying a very large gun...how dangerous is that?

3. Today the curbs of the main boulevard (for Michiganders think of US 31 with no shoulders and downhill & curvy) were being painted by hand. This means as crazy as driving in Guatemala is there are still people who work along the side of the already narrow roads, standing in the road bent over painting the curb white with large paint brushes on either side of the street at the same time with nothing but an orange cone to fend off traffic.

2. A fleet of 10 guys cutting the grass in the median with machetes, whacking away at stuff with the next guy mere inches away...did I say that these were machetes...imagine bending over for that job all day!

1. Number one weirdest thing I've seen in Guatemala...On our way to church Sunday night 3 weeks ago we were waiting to turn left on the boulevard when I noticed something blocking the lights of a car that was coming. Thinking it was simply a car that was driving without its lights...a common occurrence here in Guate...I warned Aaron to stop and then down the boulevard doing about 30 mph was a man sitting on a pile of crates with some kind of small wheels underneath. He was holding on to a rope he had fastened through the bottom crate and seemed to be wearing rubber boots for braking power. And down the boulevard he went...in the dark...with no lights...riding crates...with practically no steering...and absolutely no brakes. Aaron and I just looked at each other...only in Guatemala!

A Picture for You!

Hello from Guatemala. I don't have time to write right now but thought a few of you might like few pictures just so you can see for yourself that we are fine. These were taken by our friend, Heather Houskamp on the way to the Day of the Dead festivities which took place on Nov. 1 in most Central American countries.
We are overlooking the city of Santiago...Lots of kites there but lots of people too.

This is a picture of part of the group that we went with. We met some new friends from England and enjoyed time with some other friends who have become our Guatemalan family.
Here we are standing along the road for the view over the valley of Santiago...common occurence in Guate.And my favorite part of the day...riding in the back of Malczewski's truck back & forth (20 miles or so) to the festival. I felt like a kid again! We had a great day and we'll blog more about it later! At His feet,
Amy & the Klandermans