Fran is doing great, in her (probably) penultimate semester!!!

Fran separating the beans from the chaff

A handful of fresh black beans

Fran's teacher pitches in to harvest the black beans

Hello friends,
Fran is taking 7 classes this semester so she is working as hard as she has ever worked to keep up. Her employment with the dentist ended, which is just as well, because she has no time for anything but to keep up with her classwork. As I've mentioned, we will find out in January whether she has one more, or two more semesters to go before completing her degree.

A complicating factor (maybe) was the sequence of three earthquakes we just had. The school was closed for two weeks. On top of that, the director of her school has been accused of stealing a great deal of money and is in judicial proceedings. It does seem sometimes that anyone in power here, sooner or later gives into the temptation to take what is not theirs! The rumor is, though we are not at all certain, that this situation may delay everyone's graduation by a semester.

But that doesn't stop Fran from moving forward. She is the most courageous and hard-working person I have ever met, and nothing is going to stop her from getting that degree in her hand.

The Day of the Dead is approaching!!!  I wish some of you could come down to Oaxaca and participate in this amazing time.  Here are some of my photographs from former years.

Have a Happy Halloween. We'll be in touch before the upcoming holidays!
Besos from Oaxaca,
Lorena and Fran