Our next home. This is a treehouse. But really, a house on stilts. The bathroom is below. We used mosquito nets that were provided for us. This is our new swimming place. It had a raft that we could swim out to and a slide into the water. Our first injury - and our only one. Antonio was climbing the slide the wrong way and hit and cut his head. Unfortunately the airlines confiscated our bactine but we did have ointment.

A favorite with Antonio and Crystel. We went for a three hour horse ride into the Guatemalan countryside and the village. We didn't take pictures of the village because it would not have been respectful. But ... we took in everything with our eyes. The shacks, the children, the chickens, the dirt, the pigs, the men and women. It was an awesome glimpse of what I think of as the 'real' Guatemala. This is where Antonio and Crystel's change became profound. I could just feel the realization sink into them of the love their birth mother had for them to permit them to have a different life. Once in awhile I would say to them - people live there - because in our minds - it was inhabitable. They responded with that they 'knew that'. I didn't need to say anymore.

The Guatemalan in the blue hat was our guide.

Jody before the ride. If you look close you'll see that really she's unsure about this whole 'horse' thing. But ... what a way to see a village.