my ramblings: First week in Huehue

Well not much has happened. I left saturday morning from Pana - 4 busses, and 3 or 4 hours (I forget). First bus to Solola (2Q), then to Los Encuentros (3Q), then to Quatro Caminos (15Q) and then to Huehue (15Q). It went relatively quick as the road construction must stop on the weekends. They should have the road done before I come back next year and it will be nice - basically I think the road is being widened all the way to Xela.
The feria starts this week and today I took the girls to El Parque Central to get their braids (trensas) - 5 girls so I said 15 braids each, which means 75 braids at 2 Q each is 150Q - well Alma couldn´t go (basically is grounded) so I said 20 braids each which comes to 160Q. Patty gave her braids to Estilita and Reyna Guadalupe didn´t want any so Estelita and Graciela got their whole head done. They don´t charge by the trensa in this case they charged by the job - 80Q each (how did they know what I was willing to spend?).
just for the record - 1,000 Q at the ATM cost me $131.50 (US) so basically 7.6 Q to a dollar - or my rule of thumb is 8Q to the dollar for quick calcs.
They do look cute with their braids and I love that Patty gives hers to her sister - I suppose I could have just paid another 80Q for Patty, but I have to set some sort of Limits.
The women doing the braids are from Livingston which is on the Caribean coast. They are Garifuna, descendents of escaped slaves who I think mixed with the mayans (not sure). They have their own language also (I believe)