Guatemalan countryside

Yesterday I went with Mike, two people working for the Peace Corps Ryan and Adam and Todd who is also American and who came here for intership regarding natural diseasters, to the Guatemalan village about two hours drive to see the site where a bridge is going to be built. It is going to be built by the people of the two villages on either side of the river with the help of PAVA - the non-profit organization for which Mike is working. The mountainous countryside is beautiful. In many places in resembles the south of Poland because there are many pine forests. When we got to the site the men who will built the bridge were waiting for us and shortly afterwards the local government came to greet us as well. All the men were measuring, digging, laying out the plans, etc. When that was done we were invited for lunch consisting of chicken soup with tortillas and softdrinks. Central Americans, like South Americans, know how to have fun and the talk during lunch was really joyfull and full of humor. The man of the house at one point tripped over a stone and went flying to the other side of the patio and that created a lot of laughter for him and for us... We speculated whether it was due to the stone or the "cola blanca" which is the locally made sugar cane vodka which was flowing during lunch... We passed through many villages and small towns on our way back. In all of them the women wear different type of traditional clothing - it's an amazing variety of embroidered blouses and woven skirts. Men usually wear dark pants, white shirts and sombreros. We got home late and then I went with Mike to Dona Luisa Restaurant and Bakery and we indulged in supper and reading of the newspapers which Mike always reads during at night. Mattieu, who is French and who also lives at Mike's home, joined us. Mattieu is interested in water projects and is researching different charitable organizations who deal with purifying water and establishing wells in places where there are no rivers. Today I went with Mike and Todd again to different schools which have been built by PAVA earlier and to ones which are being built right now. Yesterday and today we went on the roads which are only accessible by FWDs and which are extremally bumpy. I have to say I am exhuasted by these bumpy roads... and my butt is black and blue. And not only my butt... my tits as well! To women who ever want to travel in the Guatemalan countryside: if your breast size is bigger than that of the eggs fried sunny-side up you gotta have a heavy duty sports bra or else you'll be holding your jewels all the way, to prevent them from jumping up and down, right and left! Tomorrow we are going to go to other part of the Chichistenango region to see more PAVA projects and on Friday I think I will be taking a day off and soaking my bruised butt in herbal waters...