The party to raise money for the local primary school began about sundown. We met a few other people on the way: a young woman from upstate NY who is living in Antigua, working for a non-profit building houses. Not Habitat For Humanity, but the same idea. Her mother and a friend were visiting, and we walked together down the dirt road. Someone living at the hostel was apparently a cook, and had volunteered to make crepes. We were offered three kinds, for a donation. The beer was warm, but it was good! Several local hippies had gathered to make music, and a Guatemalan woman from Antigua was there to dance. There was much conervsation and laughter, everyone sang when they knew the words. I had a long conversation with an 11 year old boy, traveling with his parents and two siblings. They had a home base in Maine, but hadn't been there in several years. The younger brother didn't remember much about it. Smart, social, aware, conversational skills many adults should have, he was a pleasure to talk to!
Here a couple of photos of the fire dancer, Roxanne. The band played for a while, then moved to the bar/restaurant beside our hotel, Bosque Encantado. A man from the village who was receiving the money spoke to us, thanking us for our donation, and promising to spend the money wisely. School is NOT an obligation in Guatemala...some villages don't have a school of any kind. Girls are most likely to not get any education, even if a school is close by. I don't know about the literacy rate in the country, but suspect that it is much lower than Mexico, and Mexico's literacy rate is very low. The ex-pats who live in Guatemala might be changing it in bad ways, but they are certainly making many more good contributions.
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