DAY 5 OF BECA WEEK - FEEL GOOD SHOPPING, WEAVING LESSONS, AND THE KAMOON PROJECT HOUSES

The Mikaso Hotel in San Pedro La Laguna is a beautiful place to wake up - bright sunlight, clean, nice tiles, lovely views from windows and decks.

I had breakfast in and headed to the Cooperativa school to use the internet and meet with Mynor; here's the view back toward the hotel from the pathway.

What a nice surprise -  Maria Elena, one of the girls Mike and I help sponsor, was passing by. Though her home is near the hotel, this was the 1st time I'd seen her this year.

Do you ever have the feeling you'd be close friends with someone if your circumstances were different?

This man is waaay up in a tree picking avocados (viewed from deck of the Cooperativa school).

At 10 o'clock Sharon Stewart, Mynor, and I took 4 of the kids shopping with money provided by their sponsors. Mynor said it was likely the 1st time any of them had shopped for new clothes; they were very serious about their choices and helped each other make the difficult choices.

After, we took them for ice cream and it was apparently the 1st time for that experience, too.

I made a quick stop at the market; the locals call this 'cal' - it's the lime they use in tortillas.

Here's the nice share kitchen at the Mikaso

and here's a combination of sweet breads from Antigua and the cinnamon bun lady, tamales from our visit to Juan Carlos' house yesterday, and the latest take from the market.

After lunch we headed to Juan Carlos' house for a weaving demonstration, same plan as last week's, similar grand result. 1st we watched the master weavers, then took turns with simpler projects.

The ladies prepared hot chocolate for us before we said grateful goodbyes and headed out.

Next stop was the Ujpan Tuch home; this family received the 1st home built by the Cooperativa's Kamoon Project, lovely home, cute kids. The oldest daughter in the family, Maria, is a Beca student.

Next we visited the Navichoc Pacay home, built mainly of cornstalks and plastic sheeting. The fundraising is complete to begin a new home for them in early August. This is the family of our very 1st Beca student, Andrea.

I took the Sharons to the art gallery of Jose and Henry Mendez; Jose was the father in my 2009 host family. These brothers are artists who have a project to teach local kids to paint in the local folk style, Help Me Paint My Future. They've also painted the illustrations for a wonderful book; all 3 of us purchased copies of the book and the Sharon's each purchased a painting. The photos below are the originals for the book illustrations.

Henry and his daughter.

The busy day drew to a close with a lovely sunset

and a wonderful dinner at a local restaurant.

Good night!