Monday, July 28, 2008

2nd Week


On a day trip to a small town about 3 hours away to meet some weavers we will be working with.


The very cool motorcyclists coming through Antigua. I want a ride!


Holiday: Festival of Saint James. a white marching band leads the way with the Saint statue being carried into the church. This is so amazing to see and experience, and it happens quite often. On a sad note, our shoe maker Berto, who has traditionally been raised to celebrate these festivals no longer joins because a pastor recently evangelized him, and he is no longer allowed to participate in this rich cultural tradition....

Cooking in the kitchen...

Thursday, July 24, 2008

GUATEMALA!

MovieTime!
Lats night we saw the new Batman movie which was incredible. And tickets were only $2 for seats in a modern movie theatre that blows any american theatre out of the water!






Aaron and I have been in Guatemala for a week now...and it has been wonderful and productive. We have our shoe production underway, and are excited to be working with artisans we connected with last time here. UPAVIM (www.upavim.org) is one of the organizations we have worked with, and we are so pleased to see them strong and continuing their success. Our shoemaker Berto is also booked with us for the remainder of our stay, and we will be heading over to his home soon to work on shoe design ideas.

Some pics of:
• The grand volcano Agua (as seen from the street in Antigua)
• The view from our home.
• Our office (find the sleeping dog!)
• Our very little home. (It is actually a little room built on a roof, and we share the pila & kitchen with an 86 year old woman called Mena.)
• Aaron in morningtime: Volcano Fuego in the background puffing some spoke into the air.

Monday, July 7, 2008

World Health Organization’s ranking of the world’s health systems.

Source: WHO World Health Report -

1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom
19 Ireland
20 Switzerland
21 Belgium
22 Colombia
23 Sweden
24 Cyprus
25 Germany
26 Saudi Arabia
27 United Arab Emirates
28 Israel
29 Morocco
30 Canada
31 Finland
32 Australia
33 Chile
34 Denmark
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 United States of America
38 Slovenia
39 Cuba
40 Brunei
41 New Zealand
42 Bahrain
43 Croatia
44 Qatar
45 Kuwait
46 Barbados
47 Thailand
48 Czech Republic
49 Malaysia
50 Poland
51 Dominican Republic
52 Tunisia
53 Jamaica
54 Venezuela
55 Albania
56 Seychelles
57 Paraguay
58 South Korea
59 Senegal
60 Philippines
61 Mexico
62 Slovakia
63 Egypt
64 Kazakhstan
65 Uruguay
66 Hungary
67 Trinidad and Tobago
68 Saint Lucia
69 Belize
70 Turkey
71 Nicaragua
72 Belarus
73 Lithuania
74 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
75 Argentina
76 Sri Lanka
77 Estonia
78 Guatemala
79 Ukraine
80 Solomon Islands
81 Algeria
82 Palau
83 Jordan
84 Mauritius
85 Grenada
86 Antigua and Barbuda
87 Libya
88 Bangladesh
89 Macedonia
90 Bosnia-Herzegovina
91 Lebanon
92 Indonesia
93 Iran
94 Bahamas
95 Panama
96 Fiji
97 Benin
98 Nauru
99 Romania
100 Saint Kitts and Nevis
101 Moldova
102 Bulgaria
103 Iraq
104 Armenia
105 Latvia
106 Yugoslavia
107 Cook Islands
108 Syria
109 Azerbaijan
110 Suriname
111 Ecuador
112 India
113 Cape Verde
114 Georgia
115 El Salvador
116 Tonga
117 Uzbekistan
118 Comoros
119 Samoa
120 Yemen
121 Niue
122 Pakistan
123 Micronesia
124 Bhutan
125 Brazil
126 Bolivia
127 Vanuatu
128 Guyana
129 Peru
130 Russia
131 Honduras
132 Burkina Faso
133 Sao Tome and Principe
134 Sudan
135 Ghana
136 Tuvalu
137 Ivory Coast
138 Haiti
139 Gabon
140 Kenya
141 Marshall Islands
142 Kiribati
143 Burundi
144 China
145 Mongolia
146 Gambia
147 Maldives
148 Papua New Guinea
149 Uganda
150 Nepal
151 Kyrgystan
152 Togo
153 Turkmenistan
154 Tajikistan
155 Zimbabwe
156 Tanzania
157 Djibouti
158 Eritrea
159 Madagascar
160 Vietnam
161 Guinea
162 Mauritania
163 Mali
164 Cameroon
165 Laos
166 Congo
167 North Korea
168 Namibia
169 Botswana
170 Niger
171 Equatorial Guinea
172 Rwanda
173 Afghanistan
174 Cambodia
175 South Africa
176 Guinea-Bissau
177 Swaziland
178 Chad
179 Somalia
180 Ethiopia
181 Angola
182 Zambia
183 Lesotho
184 Mozambique
185 Malawi
186 Liberia
187 Nigeria
188 Democratic Republic of the Congo
189 Central African Republic
190 Myanmar

Just back from Maine

Maine: the way life should be...

perfect weather, family & friends, fireworks from a boat, charades & parades, long boat rides, rock skipping contests, oceans & sunsets, dogs and babies and moonpies!