Beautiful day today with warm sunny skies and light breeze! It's a real relief from the cold cloudy days and nights we've been having. It's hard to believe that parts of Guatemala are under a thick cloud of soot from the volcano Fuego erupting yesterday.   Here in Chichicastenango we are far enough away from the volcano that we aren't covered in ash and breathing in the thick-with-soot air.

Antigua Guatemala with  volcanos Fuego and Acatenango in the far distance--when things are quiet!

Nice shot from the Prensa Libre files of the ash spew.

 The poor folks in 4 surrounding departments were affected by the ash fall. (Foto Prensa Libre: redes sociales)

We wouldn't have even known about the eruption if it hadn't been for Facebook chatter.  Thankfully the surgical team headed to Clinica Ezell made it in before the airport in Guatemala City shut down.  Sheri is down there this week accompanying the families of some of the cleft lip and palate babies scheduled for surgery, and reports that things are good down there without any volcano fallout.

Today was a restful day, starting with worship in Chijtinimit (the only congregation in the Chichi area with morning service), followed by a nice walk up to town for lunch at the beautiful Hotel Santo Tomas and then shopping for groceries at market.  We scored some great fruit and good-looking veggies as always, but struck out on finding our favorite smoked sausages.  Maybe next time. 

We are kicking back for the rest of the afternoon, trying to get over the last bit of respiratory crud that is lingering in our house.  From the coughing and sniffling sounds in church today, and the waiting room traffic this week in clinic, we seem to be having an influenza outbreak.  I always wonder what kind of strains we get around here in Chichicastenango with all of the international tourism coming through.  Today we saw a lot of Europeans, a smattering of Americans and one Japanese hippie cruising through market, and with the Lent season upon us the crowds will be growing each week. 
Anyway, greetings to everyone from the Land of Eternal Spring and Volcanos!   We hope you have a great week.