Some Recent Photos

The first several photos are where we are docked.

View from the lower deck of the restaurant at Nana Juana. The Rio Dulce bridge is in the background. Jupiter's Smile is the sailboat with the white sunshade slightly to the right of center.
The pool at Nana Juana
A view of the grounds at Nana Juana looking towards the open-air hotel lobby, on the left

in the background.

This is the entrance from the road into the Nana Juana Hotel and Marina. I visit this spot almost every morning as the sun is rising to get in a half hour of brisk walking before breakfast and school. We never use this entrance since we drive by dinghy not by car.

Here we are at school. Ilianna is our maestra. She is a pediatrician, M.D., but is too busy with teaching, several civic, business and community causes and activities to run a practice. She is a joy and very patient with us. Not only is she teaching us Spanish, but we are able to keep abreast of the local happenings, the gossip, how to stay healthy and how to get along in Guatemala with the least effort. While we have worked very hard at school and doing homework, we have had a great time learning. I just realized that we haven't been taught any swear words, but we haven't needed them either.
Here is the view from Ilianna's seat of Barb at work at her school desk. Nice classroom, Si? The Rio Dulce bridge is in the background. This view should make the science teachers "down under" at Palmer envious (Probably the "up and over" science teachers too. Maybe every staff member and every student!) Like them, we don't have air conditioning either. It's 90 F degreesThe parking outside of Tienda Miriam gets crowded.The parking near Dispensa Familiar seems less so, but we were just lucky that day. La Dispensa is connected with WalMart, it is said. Yes - low prices everyday. Just be sure to check the expiration dates and convert a dollar to 7.42 Quetzales. Try it - Escarola ver (leaf lettuce) 3.55 Q, tomate 1 libro (tomatoes,1 pound) 2.97 Q, agua pura 12 litros (drinking water, 12 liters) 40 Q, Corn Flakes, 600 g. (Corn Flakes, 600 grams) 24.75 Q.

We stop at Backpackers, a hostel with a restaurant/bar. Happy hour beers go for 2 for 12 Q while we pick up our laundry (washed, dried and neatly folded) for 35 Q per load. We enjoyed dinner, on September 4th, at Churrasquerros with Bryan (S/V Pearl S. Buck), Pam and Richard (S/V Tisha Baby) on the occasion of our 40th wedding anniversary.

A fitting place to quit for now. Spanish homework calls to me.
Until then, be well-----Jay & Barb