First full day in San Juan

On our first full day in San Juan the school was closed. We asked our host Benedicto if there were any other activities around town that we would be able to help with.

He pointed us to the fire station that his father was working on.






We spent our time at the fire station reclaiming lumber. They are working on such a minimal budget
that much of the lumber was borrowed from friends and neighbors. After it was used to build forms and the concrete had cured the forms were disassembled and we would break them down and remove all the nails, being careful to save them to be used again. In Guatemala resources are used very judiciously. In the United States there many shows on TV about green living and green building. I think that there is a lot that can be learned by watching how people with more limited resources find solutions. Both our children worked really hard and without complaint. We were very proud of them.







After work, it was more work for the kids in terms of playing. They taught the children at our house how to play "duck duck goose". However, they did not know the Spanish words for duck and goose so they played "Tortuga, Tortuga, Elephante" (turtle, turtle, elephant).









Our host families house was interesting to us. The parents orginal house sat out on the street. Four of the children had then built houses behind the parents.