January 23 - 4th Day on the jobsite

Margeurito cooking his lunch

The five of us spent 2 days cutting and twisting wires used in tying rebar

The locals on their way to work

Guatemala traffic

Where's the safety harness??? Oh that's Marianne's job!!

Marguerito, Gerraldo and Edgar

Our mode of travel for the 14 of us is in a 12 passenger van so we are crowded in like sardines. As we pass the Guatemalan locals they look at us and laugh. Probably they are thinking, "Those crazy gringos!" Yesterday on the way home in busy traffic the back hatch of our van sprung open. Amidst screaching for Jose, our driver, to stop the van, the traffic around us was honking. We are indeed making a great impression on the Guatemalan people. As throughout this whole trip, God has been looking after us - no bags or tools fell out of our super packed van. If it had, by the time we got stopped there is no way the stuff would still be on the road.

On our trip to and from the worksite we see many old, super packed buses, people trying to sell various wares ranging from flowers to phone cards as they walk between the traffic stopped at lights, as well as security guards armed with sawed-off shotguns guarding the various storefronts and vehicle contents.

We are enjoying working with the Guatemalan men on the worksite. It is refreshing to hear the laughter and bantering that goes on between all of us. Although their ways of doing various construction techniques are very different from ours, the outcomes are very similar. They use very basic methods of producing items that we would purchase prebuilt from a local hardware store.

It has been great having Shanon with us the last couple of days. Jake, our team leader, expressed his appreciation of how well our team has melded together and what we have accomplished to date both relationally and project wise.

Tomorrow (Sat) we go to work for a half day and then have the rest of the day to relax and maybe take in an afternoon siesta.

Sunday we will be driving 2 hours south to attend the church of the onsite workers. We are looking forward to seeing the countryside.