Yesterday we were able to take the kids on a field trip to the zoo. Only those who have had good discipline ratings were allowed to go so that narrowed it to 12 kids. We had so much fun with them and laughed at them doing the animal sounds at each cage to get the animals to respond. The Howler Monkey was the most fun with boys trying so hard to get that monkey to howl - but alas it was lunch time for the monkey and that was his priority. In Guatemala it is so much easier to see the animals. The fences are about three feet high in the areas where the animals are down low and but there is only a few feet between you and the animal. We were hoping Dan's hat wouldn't fly into one of the lion cages as none of us were going after it...we did tell him we may go after him if he fell in...:). We then took them to McDonalds and a merry go round in a local mall. McDonalds tastes just the same but it's an outing when you go there - for middle class it would be like going to Red Lobster.
The mall we visited was very posh and expensive in every way. Marble and glass - fancy lights and nice furniture. There were many American stores there but there were few patrons. One wonders how the mall five floor sustains itself.
On Tuesday we took a trip to a market in Antiqua. We went high into the mountains to get to the town and saw homes that you and I would not allow our dogs to live in. The mountains are steep but lush. We saw plots of land dug into the mountain for farming. There are still large trees within the farming areas so the workers can tie themselves to the trees so they don't fall down the side of the mountain. Many are killed each year. We went past a "squatter's village" where one of the past President's wives gave the land to the people so hundred flocked for a piece of land that is about as big as some of our garages. They built their homes out of tin or cardboard or whatever they could find. No electricity or sewer or water was provided. Some of them now have electricity. The strangest thing is that those people will come to their jobs dressed and clean as you and I. They are prideful of how they look - they may only have a few items of clothing, but many of them seem to keep themselves looking beautiful. They use stones to wash their clothes and their "whites" are whiter than a whole bottle of straight Clorox could get my son's socks clean.
The market place was quite a sight. Hundreds of vendors that you have to barter with. You never pay what they ask. Most of them speak enough English to barter with and if you're not comfortable then you walk away and go to another vendor. Of course, there is a lot of pick-pocketing and crime going on within the market, but it was interesting to see the native people who, by the way, are much shorter than we are. They watched us carefully to see if we would pull out piles of money or just little amounts - you can never trust us Gringos :-). The market held many bright colored fabrics, quilts, blankets, pocketbooks, scarves, carved items, hammocks, small trinkets, clothing, etc. but not much pottery. The booths are small - maybe 8' by 8' and literally packed with items. The streets of Antiqua were cobblestone and very bumpy - almost made us carsick. I don't see many older people around but noticed that the younger generation and older generation with return your smile while those in their 50's seem to give us the "evil eye" (probably not, but they are definitely not as welcoming).
One of the staff members said to me yesterday that they need to be careful that they don't try to "save someone" who really doesn't need saving. With our baseline of our culture as all we know, we tend to feel pity and want to help those who are worse off than us. But many of those folks are in a great place spiritually. The US is becoming one of the richest mission field due to our spiritual famine. While we're gathering more to have a comfortable life, we're neglecting Who it really came from. Think about that - it's tough to wrap your mind around but if you really think through it honestly, I think you can at least acknowledge truth in it.
Some of the people seem overweight here, but it is definitely because of the beans, rice and tortillas that is mainstay of their diet.
-A servant
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