Our last week of temple mantenance closure

Spencer's report: Saturday, the 10th, I walked down into the huge bus terminal area in Xela to find a bus that would take us to Lake Atitlan. In seemed rather intimidating at first. There are two or three bus lines in there and it's very dirty and crowded. There are no signs for directions--only men yelling out names of towns and rudeness with men trying to fill up their buses. These are the local buses, not the nice ones we have used going to Guatemala City. They are mostly Bluebird Buses designed for schools or transportation between smaller cities in 3rd world countries. Here is a picture of the man sitting across the aisle from us as we left Xela. He is wearing the "tipico traeje". The seats are not built for comfort, but rather for crowding extra people in with stops and starts with people getting on or off at small communities along the way. They have schedules and you just have to learn where they park and when they leave. Anyway, I found the bus that makes the run to Panajachel (Lake Atitlan) and the bus helper yelled quickly their departure schedules. Monday morning we drug our suitcase down there. Luckily we left early thinking we'd have 30 minutes to spare. But it was leaving at 10:00 not 10:30, so we barely got there in time. I had even suggested Jeanine might want to wait at WalMart, but thankfully she didn't want us to be separated. I forgot to get my money (I had used all my cash to pay Fast Offerings the day before), but Jeanine had some money to get us there. I paid my 3 Quetzales to use the public restroom. The smell and sanitation would make you "hurl". Away we went. At one point there were three people on our bench seat (made for two), three across the aisle and one standing. It was that way all thru the bus, but with each stop after that it got better as more exited than entered. Often people got on the buses to sell something--mostly food, drinks and "snake oil" that will cure everything. The ones I can't stomach are the preachers. We made the trip in good shape in about 3 1/2 hours (an hour longer than by car). Jeanine had reserved a nice hotel. She called and the price was way too high, so she went online and thru Expedia it was less than half as much! I liked everything about it. There was a nice swimming pool. We had it mostly to ourselves because it was cold water. Here is a view of our hotel from the lake. Panajachel makes its money by selling tipico items made in that part of the country. People come from all over the world to visit Lake Atitlan because it is so beautiful. This man gets up and down the street on his hands and knees. He protects his knees with car tire rubber. The lady sitting down shuffles herself by swiveling her hips. She's also using recycled tire rubber to protect herself from the cobbled streets. On Tuesday morning we took a private boat across the lake to see Santiago Atilan. The water got really choppy and we were bouncing from the top of one wave to the next. There are three volcanoes around the lake. There are at least 12 towns that are named after the twelve apostles. We were fascinated to learn that San Pedro, Santiago and Panajachel all speak different Mayan dialects that have no overlap or relationship with one another. They can only communicate with each other by using Spanish. Here are pictures showing the volcanoes. Each community has its own style of clothing. Much of their economy is the tourist trade. They also grow produce on the sides of the volcano slopes. The church has these nice two story churches on both sides of the lake. We talked some missionaries and they said the missionary work is going strong in the area. The government built a laundry with nice pilas (the sinks with a rubbing board on the side), but the women prefer washing their laundry on the shores of the lake. Jeanine was just dying to get our there in the cold lake and wash clothes. It would have made a great picture. In the last picture you can see the laundry facility built with shade and everything, but no one is using it. We visited the "Parque de la Paz" (Peace Park). It is where the army and the natives came to an agreement to stop this "unholy" war. It was going on in the 1980s and 1990s. The Mayan people were being slaughtered--sometimes only because they couldn't respond to questions asked by the soldiers in Spanish (a language they didn't understand). So the soldier would shoot them. The president of the country apologized and set up a plaque stating that they will not have military force there in the future. The killing of the Lamanites is foretold in the Book of Mormon. One fun stop was to visit a little old matriarch that demonstrated the making of the "hat" she wears everyday--as do many other women in this town. She begins by wrapping her hair and the cloth together and then she starts winding it around her head. She also makes wuilpils (the handmade blouses). What do you think of Jeanine in this headdress? (only she didn't start by winding her hair in it!) This is the "real McCoy" on the dock by our boat. This is beautiful country. These are children of Lehi who are now accepting the gospel. They have suffered for 2000 years. I'm so glad to be part of this work. I'm so glad to be part of this work. These are the remnant of the seed of Joseph spoken of by Capitan Moroni. I love this lake and surrounding areas. this is the Book of Mormon land! Of that, I'm sure.