We are safely home in Xela after our weekend trip to Lake Atitlan. The lake was magnificent. We rode a boat across it from Panajachel to Santiago and then back again. Duane had really wanted to hike in the area, but one needs armed escorts to do it safely. With three minors along, we thought it too risky and passed up the opportunity.

Saturday evening the entire country lost electricity. Fortunately for us, Chase had his flashlight! We were walking in the streets when the lights came back on a couple hours later. What a relief!

The following day we visited a natural reserve. Since we had heard the reserve was small, we weren't expecting much. What a surprise! It was a beautiful outdoor jungle. Completely green with beautiful waterfalls. We saw monkeys and braved hanging bridges. Duane even got to feel like he'd taken a hike. At that altitude, we were all huffing and puffing.

We rode a public bus, commonly referred to as a chicken bus, back to Xela. What a ride! It was two hours of a speeding bullet bus (60 mph?) winding along mountain roads. Absolutely crazy! Even though the chicken bus had many stops, it was much faster than the private bus we took on the way to the lake. At each stop, a man would haul people's luggage to the roof of the bus at lightening speed. He'd balance the luggage on the back of his neck and shoulders as he climbed the ladder up to the top. Whenever anyone had to get off the bus, the man would just throw the stuff off the roof. And during the ride, one could see this man climbing, like a monkey, all over the outside of the bus to arrange the luggage and prepare for the next stop. (Did I mention how fast and swervy this bus was?) This is clearly what Duane saw a man doing on our first day in Guatemala, on our trip from the airport to Xela.

Today began our second week of classes. Duane got a new teacher who he thinks will be even better than the first. As I write this, he is conjugating a verb into the 25 tenses of Spanish. Yikes. Our field trip today was shopping for Daniel's birthday fiesta tomorrow. Our host mother had given us a list of items to buy so our teachers helped us find everything.

Today was also the first day of Guatemalan school for Charles and Daniel. It went OK! There are approximately 10 students in each of their classes. The other students all wear uniforms but since our kids are temporary, they don't need them. Charles described the experience as "easier" than the Spanish school. We think they will do fine at the school and hope they will make friends.

Today we also met with a Guatemalan Christian Reformed missionary. He told us about the work he is doing and invited us to visit a few of the very, very poor villages he works with, which are about 1.5 hours from Xela. We decided this would be an interesting experience and plan to play hookey from school a couple days in early September.