11/12/2012

   Since weekends are almost our busiest times, I spent much of today doing laundry and cooking.  What amazes me is that no matter what I do I cannot get clothes clean in our washer.  I've tried Clorox, vinegar, color saving bleach, a special bar of soap they use here.  You just as well wash  the clothes by hand because if you want them clean you have to scrub them until they are spotless - then you put them in the washer and they still come out looking like they had never been washed.  We go to pick up William's kids and their laundry is laid out on top of the tin roof of their house.  It can't be that clean but they always look brilliantly clean.  I tried pulling the curtains back and hanging Scott's shirts in the sunshine to see if that would help - it did seem to help a little.  I know much of the problem is the way the washer works.  The clothes are always wound up in a ball inside it. 
   Then this afternoon we had our two Spanish classes and FHE with the Roberts.  The Lowes are back from Canada for a month.  No one will be here to replace them so they are spending a month here, a month at home, a month here, etc until March. 

   I'm including some pictures I took the other day.  Here you always see young and old men that have only one leg.  The people here say it is because the government will pay for it if a wounded leg is removed but not if it is fixed.  Now that is sad! Here they wear hats with material that hangs down around the sides and back to protect them from the sun.  They are usually begging or trying to sell something in the road to make enough money to live.  They also seem to have many people born with deformities.

This depicts the three methods of travel here:  the car, the motorcycle and the horse drawn wagon - don't have the bikes though.

Believe it or not, this is a functioning taxi!  We just pulled up along side of him in our travels.  A wing and a prayer must be this guy's motto. ( The rest of the car looked a little better)