The Little Yellow School Bus

With gas being at an all time high we thought why not do what the locals do and so we acquired a tuk-tuk. We were able to sell a van that some wonderful people in the states donated. Tuk-tuks are used in most majority world countries. They are in India and Vietnam. They're just little scooters. But this one is much bigger than the others around here. A local mission helped us to get it. We can coast down to the end of town and though it can only go up to 10-25 rpm's uphill, it's going to save us on gas money.



This is Will giving it a test ride in Panajachel. It's rather loud, but it's diesel and that costs less here. The kid's love it! The locals, well, some just smile, the guys wave (they don't see women driving tuk-tuks around). Some people wave us down for rides. We thought we could get 5 kids in back and 1 in front, but we stuffed 14 in it, just like a telephone booth!!

New "Kids" on the Block

This is Margarita. She is one of our latest additions to our family. She came from a hardware store in Chimaltenango. She was sitting outside minding her own business with her sibling and here she is. Will and I thought that a cat was needed with all the field mice we have around here. They seek shelter during the rainy season and seem to be attracted to living under the adobe roof tiles. She came to us somewhat ferrel but after running away for a few weeks (or Allie wouldn't let her come back)she appeared to become domesticated overnight. She follows Will and I around like a dog and needs to be scratched like most cats. She's keeping the sunroom free of geickos, insects and sad to say some type of bird that I only discovered feathers and maybe it's head (hard to recognize some things after a fight). Will also throws her on top of the roof and yahoo! we don't hear the patter of itsy bitsy feet anymore!

As you can see Jojo is not thrilled with her. First Izzy, our Rottweiler came to live with us, then Allie, now Margarita. Life was much simplier for him then. But they all know who is the alpha, I think......






Meet the 'Familia Cabra' (goat family :) We have TONS of monte or brush here, TONS. We have workers that have to cut this brush down underneath the avocado trees or the trees suffer. The goats love to eat this stuff and we love to see them eat it. We call the mama goat 'mamacita' and the little boy is Billy, hehe, that's pretty original huh? And his sister 'Coco'. Will got to see them butt their heads last week, just like kids......Now Jojo isn't the only dog having a fit over the new additions. Allie is keeping her eye on them.....a little too much if you ask me. But the week we got them Izzy and Ally broke into their pen (which originally was Allie and Izzy's so who can blame them for the confusion?) and Izzy had Coco pinned with his mouth around her neck before Juan got a hold of her. Izzy needs to go to jail. She is just a breed that will hunt other mammals. So, she is now tied up during the day while the goats are grazing. Here's a picture of Allie and Izzy. Izzy is doing one of three things that she does well, eat....sleep....and look for prey....




So after Izzy's little escapde, the worker's quickly built a new, secure house for them. You can easily picture this as a vacation home near a lake somewhere....The goat family is now content in their secure shelter and even enjoy having guests over for a quick bite :)