eKaqchikel 2007 - Setting up in Panajachel

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Reached Panajachel this afternoon around 3:30 pm. Drove through much rain to get here. This does not bode well for our production. We're already scouting indoor locations for backup sites.

We're staying at the Posada de Don Rodrigo, right on Lake Atitlan. This hotel is only twelve years old but it resembles the other Posada de Don Rodrigo in Antigua where we stayed last night. It may not have the three hundred year-old charm of its older sister but it makes up in amenities! During the 2005 production trip, we did a lot of shooting on the hotel grounds, which are beautiful, evocative of the region, and fairly private. We like to mix it up with shots and settings in the town, too, but it's nice to know that if all else fails we could pretty much cover everything on site.

Marie was able to finally get in touch with Liz tonight via iChat - video window and all. The hotel bar has a wireless access point so we tried it from there and it actually worked. But Liz wasn't responding to e-mail, so Marie, noticing her sister-in-law In NYC was online at that moment, texted her to call Liz and tell her to log in. After a few false starts, and with coaching from Guatemala to New Orleans via NYC, Liz finally made a connection. We were even able to walk around with the laptop (a Macbook with built-in camera) and show Liz a few of the sights. The marimba players especially got a kick from that. Check out the pix!

I realize I still shouldn't get excited by this sort of thing. Technologically, it's fairly old hat, but I do enjoy seeing technology, especially video and media technology, work so seemlessly in such an unlikely situation.

We meet with the teachers in the morning and lay out our produciton schedule. Hope to begin shooting in the afternoon, weather permitting...