The work is rewarding, exhausting, and involved. But, we also get some down days. In La Esperanza, Norris and I spent time on Saturday exploring the town during the teacher training. We all had the whole Sunday for ourselves, and went off to find a waterfall.

Driving a bit further out of town, we ate a delicious lunch at a fish restaurant by a lake. No, we didn’t eat in a boat.

If there’s a view, Norris wants to see it. So, he climbed to the top of this grotto, and then cautioned me not to follow. Having to meet the challenge, I proceeded up the steep and tall steps. This is only half of the town of La Esperanza.

The school board took us to dinner one night at the Hacienda. We had a Parillada which is a meat platter of chicken, beef, pork, chorizo, fried plaintains and queso (cheese). Teresa, our vegetarian friend, shared some of her beans and cheese called anafres that comes in a dish over a candle.

We also got in a little souvenir shopping. Here was a weaver shop with greatly reduced prices. The lady was working on the loom when we arrived.

Another weekend we took a day trip to Valle De Angeles. This was really a tourist town with tons of souvenir shops. We watched some of the carving at one place and the leather sewing process of purses at another. All of our Christmas presents might come from this town.

We got in a couple of phot shoots,too.