Off we went with Jane and Wendall with great travel plans in mind...until we got about 15 minutes out of town and sat for 3 hours. Up the road at a major intersection, a manifestacion (demonstration) was held blocking traffic to the west and to the east. With nowhere to go, we sat and enjoyed our time together. If we had know that it was going to be so long, we probably would have played a game of dominoes! We intended to take a couple of side trips but with the lateness of the day, we traveled directly to Uspantan to spend the night. We enjoy this little hotel with its beautiful flowers and views overlooking the town. The next morning we walked in town and through the market then before we left, we each had a shoe shine...4 quetzales...that is about 50 cents apiece.
Crossing the derrumbe once again ( it is SO BIG when we are crossing it) we headed to Coban for the night. Being a UGA Bulldog fan who's looking forward to the start of football season, we enjoyed riding behind this truck for a little while. Note that pretty GA red and black...GO DAWGS!!
After breakfast the next morning with Ms. Fran, we continued on the way north to Playa Grande.
Playa Grande is the most northern municipality of the Quiche department we are currently researching. It was plotted out in 1964 to encourage people to work their own land. It suffered greatly during the civil wars in the 70s and 80s, but become official in 1985, and people once again returned to settle. It has the feeling of the old west but is growing. Though spread out, there is no traffic light (not uncommon to us at all) or fast moving traffic because there are only dirt, rocky roads. To give it an even more old west feel, as we were returning, we were met with a "cattle drive."
With a population of about 80,000 people, twelve different people groups call Playa Grande home. (Can you imagine walking to town and hearing 12 different languages spoken in the market? Some speak both their indigenous language and Spanish.) There are several evangelical churches who are working and growing among the people but many of the aldeas, where only an indigenous language is spoken, still need to hear and respond to the Gospel.
A couple of unique things we saw while traveling were
- rice growing...this particular lowland area was flooded by the river and produced great crops.
- ostriches...We passed an animal reserve and noted these ostriches...never before seen in Guatemala, at least to us.
Now we are home recuperating for awhile and digesting the information we received before we head out again. Thanks for praying for us as we hit the trail. Walk the trail with us as we continue to pray for our nation, for all people to hear and respond to the Gospel.
