Trying to reason with Hurricane Season

As I look back on this past week I can't help but to smile at the number of blessing it brought.  The other group, who left earlier this morning, brought their A game.  They were full of energy and smiles.  Not to mention it was nice to have predominately English being spoken at the dinner table.  I was finally able to share the jokes I had been bottling up inside of me for 3 weeks.  Lets just say most of them landed and leave it at that.  While I had less time to myself, I was surrounded by fun activities and community.  I finally got to go and see how the people here make their corn tortillas that they eat for every meal.  I dropped a few, but they were nice enough to let us take the ones we made home.  (I think they just didn't want them, they looked pretty ugly.)  The experience allowed us to see the inside of one of the homes here.  It was very simple. A dirt floor, two or three rooms, and a wood burning stove.  But how much do we really need?
I also got to see the artwork of one of the locals here.  He invited us to his house and showed us his paints which were amazing.  I was especially impressed as I never even learned how to cut a straight line using scissors. (We all have our crosses to bear in life.)  I also saw a guy climb a coconut tree and then we got to eat and drink fresh coconuts.  Did I mention I got to wield and axe and chop down a tree.  It doesn't get much manlier than that.  I think one of the sisters got nervous because as we neared the end 3 guys speaking Queche and maybe some spanish showed up and took over. ( I had no idea what was going on but contributed a nice "Timber" yell at the end.) In all honesty I am still surprised at how smoothly it went.  The experiences of this week were truly remarkable.
As the week ended, the community really came out to show their appreciation to the visitors.  Thursday night there was a talent show where people danced and sang songs.  The sense of community here is tremendous and it was great to be invited into it.  Friday morning it was a girl from Wisconsin's birthday and so keeping with the tradition we were awoken by firecrackers at 5 in the morning. (I think they were nice or just late, it usually starts at 3 or 4 and no one wears a watch down here.)  Once we got over the initial shock and realized that were not in a war zone, we ran outside to see 3 guys playing guitars and singing.  The hooked up amps.  I doubt if anyone in the village didn't know it was Anna's birthday.
The day concluded with a wonderful dinner prepared by the sisters.  It was like a family Christmas dinner with wine (That surprising did not taste like kerosine) out of a milk carton looking container.  The evening was filled with stories and jokes ( everything had to be told twice once in English and another time in Spanish).
In all this pass week was certainty a blessing.  There was peanut butter! and friends to reflex with, and an overwhelming sense of community.  As I move forward into the last third of my trip (I can't believe there are only two weeks left) I look forward to both the increased time for reflexion and the increased fellowship that has developed with the locals.

I'm writing this under a tin awning (spelled it right the first try!) as a storm rolls in from the East.  It is both exciting and a little nostalgic.  Anyway, that explains the title.