Just a note about the pictures Dale has put on the blog.  The top one is of the predominant means of transportation here.  I'm not sure if we have mentioned the "Chicken Buses".  Most of the people travel from one town to another using these buses.  They are decorated each one differently, old used school buses from the US.  You can see them especially in the morning full to overflowing with people and loaded on top with baskets of goods to go to market or to sell on the street. They make many stops along the way and only charge a few quetzales to ride.  There is a helper who takes the money and yells out the destination.  He helps the driver to know when everyone is loaded- the conductor of the bus.
     The next picture was of a dam.  You can see a very small trickle of water in the bottom.  The thing that was impressive was the water marks on the sides.  You can see that there are times during the year when there is water almost to the top.  There was a young girl who was washed away in a torrent such as this recently.
      There is a cathedral near downtown that we were very impressed with.  It isn't open to the public very often.  We just happened to hit it right after they had a meeting.  They were very gracious to let us in and we tried to be very reverent.  The work inside was very beautiful but didn't have the copious gold that many of the cathedrals have.  It was built in 1902 and had a very good spirit about it instead of the oppressive spirit that you can have at some of the older ones. The pillars and much of the interior work was plastered with crushed quarts.  There were many beautiful stained glass windows and a gorgeous wood carving of Jesus before Pontius Pilate.  Outside there were signs of the masons in the cement work.  We felt very lucky to have the opportunity to see inside this particular cathedral.
      In zone 1, there is a central market that we visited in the next picture.  Our friends were looking for blackberries to make jam and for $1.50 they were able to get a pound of beautiful blackberries.  There are so many interesting things at the market.  At this particular market you are welcome to bargain with the sellers for a better price.
     Dale took a picture of a sewing machine, a new one that looked just like one our grandmothers may have had.  It is capable of treadle or of electricity.  It was selling for just over $100. Dale was pretty excited about it.