This year’s celebrations were small – the government has squashed the running of the torches and there were not enough students to form a band.  Here are a few pictures of the parade of schools.  None the less, it was another day for Guatemala to celebrate and be proud of it’s heritage.  There have been good years and bad years, but I have been able to see the progress as my time here continues to stretch over another decade.

My favorite part of the day was watching the students perform “gymnastics”.  It was quite risky – no mats below to catch falling students.  The group above was the most impressive as they created human pyramids and threw classmates in the air.  I am sure this would not have happened in the states on a cement basketball court.