Day 3 and 4 in Jobompiche, Guatemala

Wednesday and Thursday were more of the same. Hundreds of kids in the morning and painting in the afternoon.

Making balloon balls.

Some eager participants.

Showing off his work.

A work in progress. I need to look for some pictures of the finished product.

Check out the scaffolding at the school expansion next door.

The lakefront at the school.

A bird.

Lunch on Wednesday.

Dining room for our meal. It was pretty hot outside on the porch.

The shower is in the back. The pila is in the middle. The pila has one deep basin for fresh water with 2 side sinks for washing. It is used for dishes, clothes, bathing, etc.

This is the main street in Jobompiche. The home in the center is home to some of the kids in the program. Pretty flowers in the trees. I think that is a poinsettia on the right.

This little girl kept us entertained at lunch.

Kids lined up on Thursday. Notice the steps and elevation change. No handrails. Rocky ground. No fence at the lake. Somehow the kids survive. I think we go a little too far with the life-safety stuff in the US.

Lunch on Thursday. This is the most substantial home we visited during the week. Victor works at Tikal and is a working hard to provide for his family.

The home is a work in progress. They are saving up for windows.

Here the ladies do dishes in the pila after lunch. The pila drain pipe is about 12 inches long in this case. It drains down the hillside. Generally, the homes have running water pumped from the lake to a tank above town. Outhouses seem to be the norm in Jobompiche. The school may have a septic tank - although I'm not sure how effective the leach field could be in the rocky soil. The lake is very clear so it is able to absorb whatever pollution it receives.

Here the older students are giving presentations. It looks like the subject is autoestima or self-respect. It must tie-in with a lesson we observed later. The subject was sex education. Probably appropriate for the end of the year and in a society were some girls get married at 14 to 16 years old.

We finished around 3 o'clock and were invited by Moya to come to her hotel for lemonade and cake. Very nice. That is a howler monkey. She is a British expat that has opened a hotel even further out than Jobompiche. She helped with the crafts earlier in the day.
Moya's Website

Construction standards are a little hit or miss in Guatemala. They had a little trouble with the sewer in one room. The result is known as the throne room.

That evening our hotel owner was showing off an elephant beatle someone had found down the road.

Here is a close-up.










Here are a couple of shots of the finished murals.