FLORES

We loved Flores! The rural Guatemalans seem friendlier than the jaded city folk of overrun Antigua, and the tropical countryside was lovely. It reminded me of Florida a bit. Here are some shots of Flores, which sits on a small island in the middle of Lake Peten Itza. We took a boat across the lake one day and hiked around in the jungle and up to a viewpoint, where we could see the whole island. Pigs and scrawny dogs roam around the streets of the small towns. Grace and Gloria loved the motel pool and we have discovered "licaudos", the Guatemalan version of a smoothie.

OLD MAYAN TEMPLES (by Grace)

Yesterday, we went to a place called Tikal. Tikal is an old site in the jungle, which has Mayan temples in it. We woke up at 3:30am to get ready for the early shuttle to the bus station. Once we made it to the bus station we all got into our comfortable seats, and sat there for nine hours. We slept on and off throughout the trip. Finally, we made it to Flores and rested for a day. At 6am we all got on another shuttle to the National Park in Tikal. Once we got off the crowded shuttle we just started walking around, planning where to go and what to do. Our first stop was the Grand Plaza. The Grand Plaza is where they buried their kings and queens in temples. The temples there were soooo big; the details were also very interesting. Right in the middle of the Grand Plaza are stelae which is what they recorded family history on. We climbed on one of the temples, too. On the top you had perfect view of the temple in front of you and the ones around you. There was this one palace where the archaeologist stayed while he excavated the Mayan site. We made our way through the jungle without being bothered by bugs (yes!). Unfortunately we didn't see any monkeys. Nearing the end of the trip, we climbed another temple. It was so high up you could see all the way over the top of the jungle. When we climbed back down, we saw a group of missionaries. After we finished talking with them it started to rain. It made me feel right at home. We made our way out of the park and ate some lunch. We waited a while until our shuttle came. This was an experience I'll never forget.

SKORTS, SHORTS, AND BUS BATHROOMS

Today we spent 10 hours on a bus riding from Antigua to Flores. There are flights to Flores, but they cost thrice as much and just reinforce the idea that we have to move speedily all the time.
Some of my most pleasurable travel moments are when I'm in transit, just poking along aiming for Somewhere. And the BEST moments are when I don't know where Somewhere is. I love to take long, rambling walks and just see what I see, hear what I hear, smell what's there. I have a good sense of direction, so I rarely feel truly lost, but that almost-lost feeling is so fun! (Stephen can't do this. He is lost most of the time, even in his home town. Literally, not figuratively. On more important levels, he's nicely grounded.)

Okay, the whole day wasn't wonderful. Trying to use the bathroom in a rolling, pitching bus was an experience I don't need to repeat to feel fulfilled. Then there was the guy that got on the bus halfway through the journey and sat across from me sending strong wafts of bad B.O. my way for 150 kilometers. And he jabbered nonstop at the young gal next to him, so I kept my eye on them, to see if I needed to "rescue" her from the could-be-a-creep. But that ended well enough when he got off the bus in a cute little village that was having a parade in the middle of the street that the bus was negotiating. Through the window, as we made our way slowly down the street against the flow of the parade, I shot photos of Guatemalan cowboys on horses and young girls wearing plastic silver crowns waving at the crowd. But I'm using a hotel computer tonight, so I can't upload the photos for you.

Mothers and (presumably) sons would board the bus every so often with baskets of food and drink. We bought fried chicken (a Guatemalan staple) and "tortillas de carne" (YUM!) and rice and tortillas. We paid $5 for three meals. We drank the juice boxes we'd brought and munched on our chocolate. Gloria lay in my lap and looked up at the clouds, imagining. Grace read "Dracula" and slept. Stephen napped and jotted down some notes for work. I watched the landscape change from dry hills with cactus, to burnt sugar cane fields, to green hills that reminded me of home, to palm trees and more green -- and always the craggy, volcanic mountains.

Now here we are in a motel in Flores, a pastel-hued town on a small island in the middle of a lovely lake in Peten, the largest and most northern of the 22 Guatemalan departments (states.)
It's a jungle out there, or so I'm told. We have tickets for Monday morning to visit Tikal, an important and famous Classical Mayan site. It's set in the middle of the huge Mayan Bioreserve, a largely unexplored jungle, full of many other Mayan sites, most of them not yet excavated, and many not yet even discovered. This is an area rich with mystery and possibility.

I get to wear my shorts and tee-shirt to church tomorrow. We only brought our backpacks, since we are staying only 3 nights. When we checked online for the location of the church here in Flores, we didn't find any, so I took my skirt out of my backpack and left it with our luggage. But it turns out (coincidentally?) that the shuttle driver here in Flores is Mormon (I asked him about the church) so we now know when and where to show up tomorrow morning. The girls have skorts and Grace is rather appalled at my proposed dress, but of course, Jesus doesn't care, and that's good enough for me.

LA VIDA BUENA

The past two weeks have been devoted primarily to studying. In the mornings, we have 2-3 hours of home school, which has its ups and downs, but on the whole, is working well. In the afternoons, Grace and Gloria study Spanish for 2 hours with Roxanna, and I study with Marco for 4 hours. It wears out our brains, but we are all learning quite rapidly. We usually break up the day with a walk about town, either to do errands or just to see what's out there. One day we walked through a nearby cemetery and often, we find ourselves down Calle Santa Lucia at the video store. Tonight we brought home The Wizard of Oz. This morning, we went out for breakfast and also bought all the bus tickets we will need for the rest of our time in Guatemala. We leave Saturday morning at 4:00 a.m. for Flores and Tikal. I'm actually looking forward to the 9-hour bus ride, as it will take us through some beautiful parts of the country.

Here are some random shots of the Guatemala Garfields.

(I've tried 4 times to upload more pictures. I quit.)

CHOCOLATE!

Wednesday we went on a school excursion to visit the "palacio" of the first Catholic bishop from Spain, who arrived in Guatemala in1527. We enjoyed the tour of the palace grounds, but we MOST enjoyed what happened next! We followed our guide across the street. She knocked on a gate and we waited. Some time later, a woman appeared and invited us in to see how they make chocolate. It was a little family operation and we found it fascinating. So here is your lesson in making chocolate, one small batch at a time. 1) Here is Grace holding a cacao bean. 2) The women have roasted the beans on an open fire and are now blackening their hands by crumbling up the cacao beans. 3) The man sends the roasted, crumbled beans through this mill, which turns them into a sticky paste, then mixes it with sugar. I tasted it at this point, and while the flavor was amazingly rich, the texture was quite gritty from the sugar. 4) They send it through the mill once more, which grinds it up fine and dry. 5) The man weighs the chocolate, then forms each piece by hand. It's like stiff clay, at this point. (And the small concrete room smells wonderful!) 6) The chocolate wafers are wrapped in one-pound packages for sale.
7) Finally, here is Marco, my Spanish teacher, with fellow student Kieran from Kentucky, and Gloria with their little pink bags full of chocolate. Grace and Gloria pooled their money to buy a pound of cinnamon chocolate and Stephen and I bought a pound of almond chocolate. Each pound cost $1.50. It is so rich that we can't eat much at one time. Tonight we are going to try using it to make hot chocolate. Seriously, you've never tasted anything like this. Pure cocoa, with just enough sugar to make it delicioso. Hurray for chocolate!

VIEWS OF ANTIGUA

The town of Antigua Guatemala is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was a Spanish colonial town, so we see lots of ruins of old churches and convents all over town. The town is surrounded by lovely green hills and three volcanoes. The climate is ideal, which is why Guatemala is called The Land of Eternal Spring.

ZOO DAY (by Gloria)

I had a great day on Friday!!! We went to the zoo. My family and I held a tarantula. We saw many reptiles. Grace and I swam a lot.

STEPHEN TAKES A BREAK

Perhaps some of you have been wondering how it is to work online from Guatemala, as I have been doing for what feels like the last 23 centuries dating back to a week ago Tuesday. My answer to this smouldering issue is that it is remarkably similar to telecommuting from the comfort of my computer room at home in Camas, Washington, with the exception that my room there does not double as lawnmower storage (see note at bottom). Another small difference at our place of lodging here in Antigua is that there appears to be a relationship between internet access and availability of hot water--on any given day you get one or the other, absolutely guaranteed! I have not found this to be a problem at all, as I very seldom shower while working online. So in brief, it's been working pretty well so far, and I'd be happy to provide specific details on the actuarial work I've been doing, but I'm waiting for someone to ask first. Truth be told, I've been waiting on that since 1982, when I began applying actuarial methods to the problem of world peace.

Note: I know what you're thinking, and I did try to log on to the Craftsman 8320 Shur-cut, but evidently I had the wrong password.

DR. DOOLITTLE AND GLORIA TRAVEL THE WORLD

Home school is great! My parents teach me. I am learning how to write in cursive, and I am also learning how to write paragraphs. I love it sooooooo much! Every morning, I am the first one up and I always get my work done before Grace. In my head, I say, "This is easy." I am learning about Native Americans, even the ones in Central and South America like the Incas, Mayas, and Aztecs.

I am also taking Spanish classes in the afternoon with Grace. My teacher's name is Roxanna. Here are some words I've learned: feliz, yo, rodilla, negro, and amarillo. You can look them up to find out what they mean.

I just read Doctor Doolittle Tales. It was a great, great, great book. It seems like I was Tommy Stubbins, who is the little boy who wants to be a veterinarian, like John Doolittle. John Doolittle is a great veterinarian. He used to be a regular doctor, but for some reason, he liked animals better than people. Polynesia, his pet parrot, taught him how to speak to animals. It was awesome to read to my parents. Tomorrow I get to make a play about it. And next time, I will tell you about Charlotte's Web, because that is the next book I am reading.

A DAY AT THE VOLCANO

Yesterday Gloria, Lisa, and I climbed all the way to the top of the world and saw the world create itself. We went and climbed a Volcano called Pacaya, which is one of the four active volcanoes in Guatemala. Guatemala has 31 volcanoes. We all rode horses up. Lisa always guided her horse the long way, so she wouldn't run over the hikers just ahead of us. Gloria’s horse was very smart and always took the right path. And mine . . . my horse ran into other horses. Without my awesome guide, I would think the horse would run of its own accord. On the way up the horses had to go on these horrible trails, cobblestone. But once we passed that, it was just dust and some narrow parts. We stopped a few times admiring the beautiful countryside. When we got to a part where the horses couldn’t go, we were all grateful to get off a walk, for we have been sitting for about and hour or more. When we got off the horse we saw a huge hole in the ground we couldn’t see anything at the bottom for we were in a cloud. We made our way around and out of the cloud. Then, we headed down into the crevices filled with dried lava. It took a while for everyone in our group to get into the crevices for some places weren't stable enough to stand on. When we were stopped, people started to roam around and some found a hole in the lava where a fire was starting. There were also places where you could feel the hot parts of the earth; some were so hot you couldn’t put your hand there. My sister Gloria started heading up, way up on the highest point you could go; I started following her. In this one area I was making my way down this hill of lava then I fell, because it was so hot, but I quickly went to the other side. Half way up to where Gloria was, I turned around. I went and sat on a cold lava rock, because my shoes were so warm I thought they were melting! After a while our group headed back. My mother’s knee isn’t so well, so we (my mom and I) were behind because I hurt my ankle. It was getting dark fast, but we made it down the volcano.
Now we can say I climbed an active volcano in Guatemala!

EASTER SUNDAY

One of the handy things about being LDS is that wherever we go in the world, there is church.
Because The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a global church, we can celebrate Easter with Latter-Day Saints here in Antigua today and everything but the language is pretty much the same. The forms of worship, the class curricula, the spiritual feeling -- it's all familiar and much welcome. Even though none of us understood many of the words today, we all got the spirit of it, and it was good to share this special day with our fellow church members here.

This facet of our travels will, I expect, provide a touchstone of truth and fellowship for us, all around the globe. For that, I'm grateful.

My Best Day Ever (by Gloria)

Yesterday was my best day ever! We went to a picnic park down by the church. My mom, sister, and I had a peppery bean sandwich with homemade tortillas. There was a big fountain in the park. I took an itsy-bitsy bath.

It is Semana Santa here. People are making street decorations to celebrate Easter. They use colorful sawdust and cutout stencils to make the designs. They also use tree needles and flowers to design pictures.

And finally, I got a foam toy dog. (Mom says he's an iguana.) He is like a little puppet because he has a wire handle sticking out of his neck.



IT WAS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!

p.s. We are having a lot of trouble with the internet, so I will post pictures later to go with this post. Hasta luego!

LIFE ON THE ROAD

We are now in Antigua, Guatemala, after a fine day of traveling (minus all throwing stars and incident reports). We are staying in a large room right at the Spanish school where Grace, Gloria and I will be studying for two weeks, beginning next Monday. The Internet is not working there, as promised, so we are sitting tonight in a fast food chain restaurant called Pollo Campero, tapping into their wifi connection.

The girls are happy to be in Guatemala and adapting well to the changes in our lifestyle. Better than I am, really. This past week has been an emotional roller coaster, and though I did expect that, it is nonetheless unnerving. I figure it's a combination of missing Gabrielle (though we did get her first letter today and she is doing very well -- yay!) and missing good sleep and a transition in my homeopathic treatment for depression and the stress of trying to make sure all travel details are in order. Now that we are here and settling into one place for the next three weeks, I expect my mood will improve.

Now it's a matter of finding a rhythm for our days. Home school doesn't really take that much time in the mornings. Grace and I are reading a lot, and Gloria spent a lot of time today watching the Disney Channel in Spanish, which actually is a great way to learn the language. Stephen is still on a full-time work schedule, so he is preoccupied with irascible internet connections. We are learning to put our used toilet paper in the trash, not the toilet, and doing our best to figure out meals from the offerings in the chaotic supermarket and the outdoor mercado. (Great fruit here!) We have access to a kitchen, but it's pretty grimy, so cooking is a challenge. We were hot today and cold last night. There is a lot of unstructured time, despite today's excursion to see the Children's Procession -- part of the Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations. BUT, we got some extra blankets for tonight and I managed to cook up a decent dinner of rice and beans and salad and Grace and I both finished a book today. The girls discovered a lime tree in the yard this evening and decided to bring some downtown to sell. This did not work out so well, partly because none of us knows how to say "lime" in Spanish. So now they are happily cutting them up at the table here and eating them.

I expect the next few weeks will be primarily about adapting to life on the road, as well as living in such close proximity to each other 24/7. Yes, life is simpler in some ways, and the stress I've experienced so far has been no surprise. So all is well!

The B ig Chicago Bean

Hey, this is Grace.
Today we went to downtown Chicago. We (my brother, sister, mother, and ME) went to the zoo, the big bean, and the Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago was my favorite part, aside from the big bean. They're famous for the Impressionist collections. Monet was one of my favorite artists. He painted the same things at different times. For example, he painted a hay stack in the winter, summer, fall, and sunset. Harald Sohlberg, another of my favorites, created the famous 'Fisherman's Cottage', which is a lovely picture of a cottage in the evening. Now, I saved the best for last. Vincent Van Gogh! This art museum has a wide selection of Vincent Van Gogh paintings. We only had half an hour in the museum, so we had to speed through everything.
I like cows!
~grace

Hi! This is Gloria now.
sssssssssssssssssssssss!!! You just heard the python!!! We went to theLincoln Park Zoo. My mom, brother, sister and me went on a bus. We saw lions, tigers, coyotes, and many other animals. My favorite is the baby monkey. We also saw reptiles and nocturnal animals. My other favorite is the sand cat. I took pictures of the animals with my camera.

Lisa here, to sum up our cold but delightful day in Chicago. Chicago sits right on Lake Michigan, which thawed just two weeks ago and is a roiling, muddy mess right now. We had a couple of bright, beautiful days here, but today was barely above freezing. Undaunted however, we braved the cold to visit the (free!) Lincoln Park Zoo, which turned out to be a really wonderful small zoo. The animal exhibits allowed close observation and perhaps because of the cold, most of the animals were quite active. And perhaps because it's often cold in Chicago, many of the animals were housed in warm buildings, which we lingered in just to stay warm.

We spent longer than we'd anticipated at the zoo, so only had a brief half hour at the incredible Art Institute of Chicago. (We had a free pass from the local library.) When we discovered that they're most famous for their collection of Impressionist art, I got quite excited, since that is my very favorite style. I squealed with joy to see original Monets and Renoirs and Gaughins all hanging side by side on the walls -- room after room of them. I told the docent that we were going to Paris and would see many of the Impressionists there, and she said conspiratorially, "Well, we have more in our collection. The French didn't like the style, so we bought up as much as we could before they realized how great it really is." On the way out, we zipped through the Asian art and learned a bit about Hindu gods and stopped to admire the Mongolian wedding headdresses. (Since Bayra is Mongolian, we've a special interest.)
We then walked through Millennium Park and stopped to investigate the Big Bean, a huge, reflective silver bean in the middle of the park. I have no idea what it's supposed to mean, but it was fun to join the other camera-toting tourists buzzing around the bean, chattering in myriad languages.

It has been great to spend a few days here with Garrett and Bayra, Zach and Nate. Zach and Nate are hilarious fun and we are looking forward to seeing them next in Mongolia. Early tomorrow morning, we fly to Guatemala and will be there a month. We arrive just in time for Semana Santa, a big Easter deal in Antigua.
Hasta luego!

Chica-go!

Day One: "Incident Report." Portland Airport, 6:30 a.m., security line. Gloria's backpack contains a metal Chinese throwing star that big brother Gordon gave her (which makes it precious and -- oh yes, a weapon.) Three TSA authorities descend with clipboards and reams of paperwork and grim faces. "I just had it in there for Show and Tell and forgot it was there," whispers Gloria as the TSA officials demand, "Who is responsible for this child?" Star confiscated. Incident reported to the federal government in triplicate. We are told to expect a letter and a fine. Gloria is mortified, Grace is anxious about missing the flight, Stephen is bemused, and I am laughing out loud as we finally board the plane for Chicago.

Here we are arriving at Garrett and Bayra's apartment in Hyde Park, just up the road from President Obama's house. Notice our amazing packing job: one carry-on and one backpack apiece. Notice how adorable our grandsons, Zachary and Nathan are. See how happy we are to be finally embarked on our Big Trip.