Tuesday....

I am not sure were exactly we went, but it was a beach along the Pacific Ocean. It was hot....and part of the adventure was riding in the back of a pick up truck for the hour drive. If we were home I would have had a complete meltdown because it is just dangerous to ride in the back of an open pickup. But there we were bouncing down the road. The scenery was spactacular. There were plantations of bananas, Mangos, sugar cane, citrinella, and trees that looked like parasols. Never did figure out what they were.

We stopped at a small resturant and had Chop suey. Yumm! Then on to the beach. We found a cabanna, ordered cold beverages. Some when swimming. Some took naps in the hassocks, I waded in the water for awhile and then enjoyed good conversation.

It was a 'volcanic' beach which meant that the sand was black. The waves were high, great for anyone who wanted to surf. The water had a strong undertow, so everyone had to be very careful. I noticed that as I stood in the water, the sand would be pulled away from under my feet, so it was difficult to just stand in the water. The water was warm and soothing though.

We stayed at the beach most of the afternoon and then headed back. On the way back....not a big suprise....it started raining and storming. We were drenched by the time we got back to Reu. We went to the hotel, changed clothes and then headed to the Dardon's for supper. After supper we had our nightly devos and then headed back to the hotel for bed.

This day we also worked on sorting the boxes of school and medical supplies that we had brought from Iowa and Illinois. Most of the supplies will be stored, but some of it will be taken to the jungle school, coffee plantation, and the farm family that we will see on Wednesday when we head to Antigua.

Supplies are much needed, but it is difficult and expensive to get them to Guatemala. I was shocked to find out that many children are not able to go to school because they have no shoes and uniforms. We were taking to a guy from Flordia that we met in Mexico on the way down, that was 15 when he got his first pair of shoes, we later learned that this is not unusual.

There is a public education system in Guatemala, and it is open to all children. But many families need their children help with the family business, what ever that happens to be, and many families are too poor to afford shoes and the required uniform.

More later....