planning projects, aka I am almost done asking for help

Time is going so quickly! Next week is November, which means we shouldn't be expecting any more rain, woohoo!! We've had several days of sun, so I have clean, dry clothes and purified water (I hand-wash and line-dry my clothes so if it rains a lot nothing dries, I also purify my water using the solar ray method, leaving a 2-3 liter bottle of tap water on the roof for a full day of sunshine). Now that the rain has stopped we have clear, cold nights, with so many stars! With so little pollution (light or otherwise) and the altitude, I think around 6,000ft, the view of the stars is amazing but it is quite chilly. I am sitting here in a jacket and scarf but during the day a t-shirt is still fine.

I will be turning in the SPA application soon to be reviewed in November. When I turn it in I need to show a breakdown of how the money for the project will be spent and where the money is coming from (split between the community contribution, the municipal donation, donations via Friends of Guatemala and then how much I am asking SPA for) so if anyone would like to donate to the stove project in Llano Grande and has not done so already, please send that off in the next week or so (and email me to let me know that you did so, there is a bit of lag time while FOG processes the checks-- katemhoffer@gmail.com).
And a huge thank you to everyone who has donated!! I sent postcards as well, I hope they got there OK since the mail system here isn't 100% reliable.

This coming weekend is Halloween, which is not celebrated here, and November 1st is Todos Santos (All Saints day), which is celebrated. My sitemates and I will be celebrating both holidays in Antigua or near Antigua. There is a kite festival in a community about half an hour away from Antigua on Todos Santos. Kites are starting to pop up all over the place; many are home-made with different colored crepe-paper and sticks. The traditional belief is that the kite symbolizes the connection between the world of the living and the world of the dead, one end held by the person on earth and the kite up above in the sky. In Sumpango, where the festival is held, the best and biggest kites in the whole country are displayed on Todos Santos. I will be posting pictures next week!
People here also re-paint and bring flowers to the tombs of their relatives/ancestors and on November 1st they take lunch and eat in the cemetery. It is a day to celebrate ancestors and honor them by visiting and decorating their graves.