On Saturday, the thunder and lightning was incredible. For about 45 minutes, we were treated to a real show. First, it hailed and rained so hard that the water runoff system that the city has was overloaded.



It rains a flash flood here several times a week, so to overload a system that's designed for lot's of water is a big thing. Then, the lightning started, followed by thunder less than a second behind. When it was over, Becky and I went for a walk. A block away, lightning hit a tree next to the road. The tree split and fell on a car passing by. It was a big tree and a direct hit. I just hope the people lived.

We walked to a new mall. So far, Xela has been a very beautiful town full of tradition. But walk the other way and you find a true American mall with many of the same American stores. There was a movie theater in the mall. We tried to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. But it was only showing in Spanish. I know a good chance to practice. Not for us, we got out of are seats and went to a movie that was in English. The movie Hangover II, silly but we laughed all the way threw. Cost of the movie was $3.25 each. Large popcorn, pop and two candy bars $8.00 total. It cost us less than $15 to go to the movie. Half way through the movie, we thought the power had gone out as the movie stopped. Intermission, everyone got up and bought more food then ten minutes later the movie started back up. I'm surprised this marketing plan has not reached the US. After the movie, our walk home was like Tacoma rain. We felt right at home.

Denny