That's Spanglish for a huge update. Yeah. I wish I was self-disciplined enough to not have to start every post with some apology for not having posted.
So way back in March, yeah, March, Bryan Stoller and company were here. This included Bryan, his wife Kara and their three kids, Corey and Beth Steffen and their six kids, and Hannah Zimmerman. It was a crowd and they all stayed here in the guest house with Bev and I. It was a tight fit, but we all got on fine. Life was definitely a lot more interesting that week.
Someone turned 40 while they were here, but I won't say who....
We went out for tacos one night at a little stand on the street. Yeah, all 16 of us crowded around poor Luis and asked for 40-some tacos. He's was more than happy to serve us.Bryan ran an eye clinic to give out eye glasses. He met with several hundred people over the four days that he worked. He was a very busy man. The girls that came down helped him out with the work that needed to be done in the clinic. That consisted of testing everyone on the wall chart and actually giving out the glasses. Everything seemed to go quite smoothly and we even were able to send over all the kids in the elementary for a quick exam. A couple of them came back proudly wearing new glasses.
This is apparently what the girls did helping Bryan all week. Looks pretty tough to me.
Oh, wait, here's the wall chart. It had pictures instead of letters for all the people who don't know how to read.
Here is the room where they gave out the glasses. You can see all the glasses around the side of the room. There are thousands of them. If anyone has used glasses that are no longer in use, you can send them to Bryan for the eye clinic here in Ixtlan. His address is in the Silver Lining.Meanwhile, Corey set up the new computer lab for the school. The boys and I were the lucky ones to help him. We now have 15 brand new computers in the school and are thankful that we will be able to give computer classes next year as well. I won't say that the set up went without glitches, but everything is now pretty much ready to go.
Corey and Beth with the wonderful new computers. Computer classes will start next year and the kids are very excited.I can't forget about the most valuable people of the week Kara, Beth (and sometimes my very own wife - when she wasn't helping at the clinic). They were the ones that kept us fed. Obviously the most important job of them all. We ate very well all week thanks to their work.
Here is Kara with some of the girls at the market doing her job for the week. Looks like fresh pineapple was on the menu.Saturday we took a little break in the morning and gave the group a chance to get away for a little while. We made a quick trip to the market in Zamora and managed to get a good cultural experience in, even if we missed the ever elusive chorros. We then headed out to Lake Camecuaro for a little bit of relaxation. The lake is fed by natural springs and is crystal-clear and very cold. We snacked and walked around a bit before we headed back to Ixtlan for lunch and a little more work.
Here is a shot at the market in Zamora. That's zucchini, chayote (a type of squash) and onions in the very front. 
The market isn't all fresh produce and pig heads, just ask these girls. They were taking one big whiff of the pleasant aroma before going through the fish market.
Here we are at the beautiful Lake Camecuaro.The crew left on Monday morning, crammed into the big green van. Thankfully, Beth took a lot of pictures which we copied onto our computer before they left, so we can actually give you some good pictures this time. Thank you, Beth!!!
