All things December

It's been a crazy month full of celebrations and visitors. We made it through both and are now prepping for school which may or may not be starting up again on the 17th. We hope that all of your celebrations went smoothly and that you are now in the process of starting the new year off with a bang. Included are a bunch of pictures from the different goings on here. Enjoy and happy new year!

The day after Christmas in Sumpango there was dancing in the streets from 3-8. These women in masks and costumes danced in the roped off area for hours.

 The masks were a little disturbing, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. We stayed for a few songs, they had a great live band but only the girls were dancing.

 Lizzy started the Christmas dance party at midnight. It was a lot of fun.

 This is what Christmas looked like from the roof in Sumpango. Right at midnight it started sounding like the town was under siege. We were happy to emerge from the holiday unscathed.

 The little kids loved shooting off fireworks in the street to celebrate at midnight.

 They were not the biggest fans of the firecrackers.

 Our Christmas package from the Reeves! Thanks guys! We loved it.

 Just before Christmas we showed a family how to bake in a pot over their wood burning stove. We made banana bread and then celebrated Miriam's 10th birthday.

 The kids with the fruits of their labor.

 This was the last day of our english class. Only half of the students showed up for the last day, but we all had a lot of fun together. We sang Jingle Bells for the last day and the students were very enthusiastic for the one horse open sleigh "HEY!!"

 December was also the month for opening up the newly constructed roads in town. We were involved in two such celebrations.

 We also hiked Santa Maria, the 2nd highest volcano (12,375 ft) in Guatemala with a group of friends from town.

 Lizzy was enjoying the view from the top.

 Here is a view into Santiaguito, one of the three active volcanoes in all of Guatemala.

 Liz with our friend Nery and the sea of clouds behind them on the hike up.

 Here is a view of our town post harvest. Everything is now very brown and very dusty.

 December means Christmas parties and Christmas parties mean White Elephant gifts. Here is just a sampling of the treasures that were exchanged.

 The theme of this party was second hand treasures, hence the very stylish dresses the ladies are sporting. Megan is our Christmas angel and Lizzy is the grannie with street cred.

Here are Lizzy and Brian doing the dishes in the Pila. He is our little helper whenever we wash dishes. He mostly just likes to pour water into dishes, but at least it gets him out of his bad moods.