The Wall

Our "trash group" is a loose collection of about seven or eight gringos, often augmented by visitors and/or other residents. We pick up trash every Monday morning along the main street. We have been doing this for about three years now. This same group runs the recycling program, but we'll talk more about that later.
Anyway, one of our biggest gripes was the long Hong Kong (a supermarket) wall, which was a very dirty white, completely covered with graffiti. We asked Mario, the owner of Bruschetta's, to get permission for us to paint the wall; he did. He also was the focal point for an art contest, which asked for entries for mini-murals to be painted on the wall.
Led by Jim Eaton, we power washed the wall (twice), primed and painted it, blocking off the mini-mural "canvases". This took days and days, which you might expect since all the workers were in their sixties. Nevermind, we did it! And then it was time for the kids to start painting. We had eight wonderful youngsters who were very serious about this. It was hot, and since the wall was east-facing, they were in the bright sun for most of the day. They never complained, but kept at it. The trash group keep them well hydrated and fed.
And traffic in El Valle stopped, as residents and tourists stopped to watch, take photos, and compliment the youngsters and the trash group. Over the main two weekends of painting, we had so much fun with the kids and the folks who stopped. The amount of good energy was incredible.
We later had Cesar (local artist) paint the first panel. The last panel was designed by Cas Jimenez (art teacher) and painted by him and his students.
All my photos of this wonderful project are in my other computer; I'll see if can resurrect some of them.