Monday, October 19, 2015; 6:45 a.m.

Dean; Ahuachapán all week

We all got up for breakfast at 6:30 this morning, but no breakfast has appeared.  Francis just walked in, and she is from here so she stays overnight with her mom.  It’s raining still, but not very hard.  So, we’re gathered where we met for devotions last night.  Weather forecasts vary, but Francis was expecting the rain to stop today.  Coffee just came out from the kitchen, so everyone just took off to get some.

Our hotel has Fiberglas and metal roofing panels, and Tim has learned that it makes it sound like the rain is worse than it is.  We have to work out a rain plan today, and the roads to the work site can be so muddy in this weather that going there might be unwise.  Jim says they got stuck in the mud at this site a few years ago.  Understood.

Going back to church events yesterday, aside from Pastor Carlos, we did see several familiar faces.  One of the first was Jim’s little buddy from years past, Luis.  As a little boy, maybe 5, he is growing up fast.  We also saw some other kids, who had played outside the old church with coloring books last year.  They were Alison, Diana, and Judith.  We also met some of the older ladies: Maria Teresa, Amelia, and Ana Marie.  Conspicuous by her absence was Marie, who always had a shovel or broom in her had last year.  Pastor Carlos mentioned in his greeting that Cristo Rey was the culmination of his 41 years as a Lutheran minister.  We believe he is unpaid, and has some other day job.  Also, we know his wife is also a Lutheran pastor.

One thing very commonly seen here in Ahuachapán is the mototaxi.  These are a 3-wheeled vehicles like a small motorcycle with a cover for 2 passengers in the back and the driver in the front.  They are everywhere, and all painted with the same red, black, and white checkerboard pattern to indicate its role as a taxi.  Private mototaxis exist also, but are painted differently.  It may be that simple economics here make this a preferred mode of transportation.

We’ve had a breakfast of scrambled eggs, salsa, refried-like beans, and bread.  Simple, but welcome.  Francis has the ladies from the Habitat co-op project coming at noon as part of the rain plan.  More about that later, but they make arts and crafts, and have started small businesses.  We are trying to teach Francis to say “small business” instead of using the “micro entrepreneurship” term that Habitat has instructed her to use, but she can’t pronounce.

Karla (the Habitat interpretive contractor) is also with us today, but with no trip planned to the work site, there is no interpreting for her to do with the work crew.  She’ll be helpful once the ladies from the co-op arrive at noon.

At 10 a.m. we will head out, likely in the rain, to visit the bakery owned by Francis’s mother.  It is only a few blocks away.  In the meantime, there is little to do except listen to the rain.

All for now.