Yoga Goes Great, Getting Home Goes Guate

YOGA

Triangle Pose

It struck me over the weekend how seemingly out of character this was for me. If someone would have told me a year ago that I would be on a Yoga Retreat, at a lake surrounded by volcanoes, in January, I would thought that someone was confusing me with another person...but nope, there I was, holding Dolphin Pose, arms shaking, and soaking in the beautiful view and warm breeze.

Yoga has never been part of my vocabulary, part of my lifestyle, or part of my exercise routine. It is now! Audrey, a P.E. teacher who spent 5 years in an international school in Malaysia, is also the resident yoga expert and pose-holder. She organized this women's yoga retreat to help us better understand the poses we 13 ladies try so desperately to hold for 5 breaths -- a lifetime -- each week. I did not start attending her yoga classes until after Thanksgiving, when James and I spent a relaxing weekend at the lake with Audrey and her equally great husband, Tony. One morning that weekend, Audrey went outside to do yoga, invited us along, and in that short time I gained respect for those who practice yoga. After realizing how difficult it was more me to hold these poses in a brief 15-minute session, I decided this was an activity worth pursuing, so I started taking her class. Each week, I am amazing and exhilarated at how sore I am in muscles that have remained unknown until now.

Although there are many forms of yoga, Audrey teaches the Ashtanga Yoga type, which has lots of power poses, and as one website describes, "The very nature of the way the ashtanga series were designed mean that they satisfy the caveats every yoga practice should if your aim is also to be physically fit in the traditional sense. The constant movement, and the pace mean you build up a sweat and get a cardiovascular workout." So this is not the relaxation-style of yoga I had previously been exposed to....it is physically demanding, well-paced, and intense! I love it. This article will give you a better understaninding of some of its other benefits.

Our yoga retreat consisted of 3 different sessions, each lasting between 1-2 hours. The first 2 sessions were more for teaching and learning (still difficult and sweaty), and we put it all together to do the entire series of poses in the final session on Sunday morning. We were looking out onto the serene Volcan San Pedro and Lago Atitlan for each session, and even though I was instructed at several points to close my eyes, I found it so much more peaceful to look out onto the lake or watch the clouds swirl around the top of the volcano!

Volcan Pedro (above)

Attempting a Head Stand (below)

TRAVEL

Of course, no trip in Guate is complete without some level of transportation drama, and this trip takes the cake thus far. Here is my list (in order of events) of the

Top 25 Reasons you know you chose the wrong travel agency in Guatemala

AKA: Top 25 Reasons Gran Jaguar Travel Agency wins the "Worst Travel Agency. Ever." award

25. When you show up a week early to give the travel agency -- Gran Jaguar -- a check for the trip, there is no written record of the itinerary and the front desk person is clueless. You trust and give them the check anyway.

24. On Friday to leave for the Lake, your van shows up an hour early. They claim there was a problem with the check, and they need cash instead. The van leaves to get gas and does not return for an hour and a half, even though there is a gas station less than 2 miles away. No explanation was given, and the trip gets off to a late start.

23. For the return trip on Sunday, your driver shows up looking like he's on drugs, drunk, or just mentally "vacant," as one girl put it. He tries to smoke in the van.

22. Your beat-up Kia van has a near-flat tire and squeals on every turn as if the brakes are going out.

21. Before the trip home even begins, driver insists everyone get out of the van to go down a slightly inclined driveway of the hotel. This makes no sense in the long run. See Number 18.

20. Your driver keeps touching you when he talks to you. (NOT acceptable or part of the culture) I was in the front seat. This happened frequently until I put my backpack up as a barrier and buried my head in my book and prayed fervently; I could not focus enough to read.

19. Your driver keeps trying to get you out of the van - he asked me 5 times "Do we need to stop?"

18. Your driver insists on taking the backroads through the steep mountains (dangerous roads - the highway's nickname is "The Snake") instead of the straight-shot highway path everyone in the van agrees is safer and more direct.

17. Your van breaks down (hole in radiator) near The Cave People - indigenous Guatemalans who are rumored to live in caves and come out to rob/harm people who break down along The Snake, which inevitably happens because it is so steep and windy.

16. Your driver does not know what to do except let the van cool down while you sit on the side of the road. The van always becomes mysteriously drivable when people become disgruntled enough.

15. Your driver asks to borrow your cell phone because his phone is out of minutes.

14. Your driver asks for a hug after someone lets him borrow a cell phone.

13. Your driver does not want to drive to a town where you can get cell phone reception or be around other normal human beings.

12. The travel agency who hired your driver -- Gran Jaguar -- keeps hanging up on you or is generally unavailable and unhelpful.

11. Gran Jaguar's best offer is to wait the 2 hours on the side of the road while it sends another van.

10. After driving for 5 minutes, the van breaks down yet again.

9. Your driver asks for hugs because "he is nervous" and then when offered advice, he tells us to "Callete" ("shut up").

8. The travel agency director instructs the driver to use the tobacco from "10 cigarettes" to plug the hole. No one, and I mean NO one, understood how this would help. Not the girl whose father is a mechanic or the girl who worked for a tow-truck agency for 2 years.

7. Your driver keeps saying he wants to get some water for the radiator from the nearest town, and ignores the enthusiastic pleas from the group that we have gallons upon gallons of water WITH us, so we do not need to wait; we need to find civilization.

6. Your driver hails down a tourist van driving by for water. See #7.

5. Because of the dire Sitting Ducks situation, you have to hail down a colectivo (truck), load in the back of the truck with all of your belongings, and ask to be taken to the nearest civilized civilization.

In the back of the colectivo. Audrey's face (bottom left) says it all.

4. Because of the lack of trust in Gran Jaguar or driver, you have to call your significant others in Guatemala City (2 hours away) to come and pick you up at a random restaurant in a random small town, and hopefully before it gets dark.

3. While in the colectivo, you suddenly see the van you just fled from driving behind you, flashing its lights, and the lunatic driver trying to hail you back into the van to continue the trip home.

Crazy driver trying to flag us down to get back in and journey on. Yeah right.

2. You have to wait 2 hours at a restaurant while the driver of your van keeps driving by and Gran Jaguar owner keeps calling you to convince you to get back in the van.

Waiting in Restaurante Don Mario for our men to come to the rescue

1. After men come to pick you up, and you make it home 4 hours later than planned, the travel agency refuses to refund your money or take any responsibility for the ordeal.

***

So, that was the transportation drama that found me at home later than expected on Sunday. It reaffirmed how important and priceless it is to have your own car and know who is driving you and where you are going. Luckily, in the moment, everyone (except for me, I think) had a sense of humor about the whole thing and really, once we were saved by the colectivo, spirits ran high and we spent 2 hours drinking beer and playing scrabble in a lovely restaurant, Don Mario. My friend Courtney claims I will name my first child Mario. Mario Mildren. I like it.

I cannot stress, though, what a great weekend overall it was, and how much I am enjoying my newly discovered activity, Ashtanga Yoga!

Roca Sunzal - Weekend on the beach in El Salvador

While Beth headed off to Santiago for a girls-only yoga retreat this past weekend (she'll provide a recap), I went with a group of 19 others to a tucked away surfing community in El Salvador. We rented two 12-person vans and loaded up directly after school Friday afternoon. I volunteered to drive for the first part in my van, and as we left the city, a storm began to roll in. We first had to climb up in elevation as we left Guate, which put us amongst some low clouds for a stint. It was somewhat nerve-wracking driving a slow van with a manual transmission in bad weather and being responsible for everyone's lives. Thankfully the rain never picked up and the traffic thinned as we got out of the city. After about an hour in the van, the clouds started breaking and it turned out to be a gorgeous drive, with sweeping views of the land perfectly lit up by the setting sun. It was hard keeping my eyes on the road!

I was under the impression that it would only take three-to-four hours to get to our destination. That time frame is doable in a car, but not in a slow van with a lot of people and different bladder needs. All the pit stops slowed us down, but everyone has having a lot of fun and we weren't in any big hurry to get there. The border crossing only took about 10 minutes and consisted of an official reviewing our passports. I ended up driving the whole way, and we finally made it to our hotel/hostel, Roca Sunzal, around 9:30, making it a six-hour trip.

We were near the city, La Libertad, and close to the capital, San Salvador

The kitchen was nice enough to stay open for us so we could have dinner there. We all gathered in the outdoor dining area (it's all outdoor, really) and enjoyed drinks and food until midnight or so when everyone surprisingly called it a day. My neighbor, Matt, and I split a two-bed room in a hostel for only $21 a night. The room was very basic and didn't have a.c., but it did have it's own bathroom. The first night was pretty warm (daytime temp's in the upper 80s) and I slept OK, but the following nights I slept like a baby after being exhausted by the sun all day. Staying in the hostel is the way to go as it's right across the street from the hotel and you can access all of the hotel's amenities, like their pool, cabanas with hammocks, bar, pool table, and restaurant.

Inside the hotel grounds going towards the dining area and ocean

Some of the guys playing a game in the evening

The pool

The Sunzal beach we were staying on was a unique spot. It felt remote, yet there were a number of small hotels, restaurants, and surf shops. It was really a surfing community and you don't see too many locals selling their wares, just younger kids on the beach trying to sell shell jewelry. There were quite a few people in the area and a lot of seemingly full time surfer ex-pats. It was a young crowd and a lot of fun for all of us.

And then there's the beach and ocean! It was black sand, minimally built up (no high rises), and had the biggest waves I've ever encountered. I had so much fun in the water body-surfing and boogie boarding. The waves could carry you on the board easily 50ft. and 25ft. or so without. I played a lot of frisbee with people, some Scrabble on the beach, read my book and soaked up the sun, and thoroughly enjoyed watching the surfers. I've never seen surfing in action before, and I'm planning to try it when we go back in two weeks.




The big landmark of the area is the gigantic rock formation jutting out of the ocean just 30ft. or so off shore, hence the name "Roca," which means "rock."


A unique resident of Roca Sunzal is the cat/rabbit hybrid running around. The rumor goes that a frisky rabbit and cat got together and this creature came of it. It's even famous enough that a reporter came from the U.S. to do a piece on it and there's an article about it hanging up in the bar. I'm pretty sure it just has a deformation, but there's no denying it looks 100% rabbit from the waist down. Most everyone in our group was creeped out by it, but not me. I tried my best to befriend it and get some lap time, but it was more interested in getting table scraps and chasing off stray dogs, which it does quite well as I witnessed (those back legs don't make it any slower).

The cat/rabbit, or 'cabbit'

Sunday morning we were up early to get breakfast and spend as much time on the beach before leaving around 1 p.m. I was completely packed up and hanging around waiting to leave when another working spouse, Jen (who came on Saturday with her husband and two girls), approached me and asked if I wanted to stay an extra night and drive back with her and the girls on Monday. I had no reason to be back early as I'm still waiting on work, so it was an easy decision for me. I booked my same room for another night and had another full day to spend on the beach! That night I had dinner with her and the girls and spent the evening to myself reading and lounging. Monday morning I enjoyed more time on the beach and then we headed out a little before noon.

It was sad not sharing this wonderful weekend with Beth, but fortunately we're heading back to El Salvador in two weeks for a three-day weekend with a few other friends. We're not staying at Roca Sunzal, but we are going to an area that looks just as nice and we'll be able to go fishing, snorkeling, and diving. This weekend ranks in my top tier of favorite get-away spots. It's also easy to get to, so I'm suggesting to my parents we spend a couple days there when they come visit. I think it may become a regular weekend get-away...

*More pictures on our Picasa page*

New Camera Feature

James and I got a new digital camera for Christmas (thank you Mom and Dad!) and it has this REALLY cool feature on it called "Color Accent" that lets you choose a color, and when you take a picture, it takes it as black and white except for the color you have chose to accent.

Check out some of the pictures I've taken with it. Pretty cool, huh?!

Small outdoor market in Antigua

Cathedral in Parque Central in Antigua


Guatemalan Weaving

Palacio de la India in Guatemala

Putting the "A La!" in Guatemala!

On Saturday we ventured to Antigua, Guatemala! The weather has been so terrifically gorgeous of late that we just had to leave the city and spend a day in the fresh air of the small colonial town that used to be the capital of the country, Antigua! Our friends Matt & Amy joined us for the excursion, too. This was actually our first full day to just bum around with no goal or mission ahead of us...just to relax and enjoy the security of the town and comfort of its weather.

When we arrived, we decided to climb the Cerro de la Cruz ("The Hill of the Cross"), a small hill just above Antigua, looking over the entire town, dwarfed by Volcán Agua (no, we haven't climbed this one yet!). The view was spectacular and the climb only took about 10 minutes.




After that, we walked right past where my friend Brandi Martin and I did a summer homestay/Spanish immersion study in 2003. It was really neat to be back to a place I knew so well!




Then we had lunch at a recommended restaurant, Palacio de la India (our next best thing to India Palace from Lawrence!). It was a super small yet tastefully decorated restaurant that served, you guessed it -- our favorite-- Indian food! James and I were the only customers while we were there, so the service was obviously excellent, as was the food quality. It is a hidden gem that we hope will stay in business for quite awhile, even thought it's a ways from the Parque Central.



After a delicious and filling lunch, we decided to find a good place for local coffee, and Fernando's Kaffee did not disappoint! The Guatemalteca woman who served us was animated and friendly (and corrected me that she was a Señorita, NOT a Señora!), and we bought whole bean coffee that had been brewed the very same morning for about $5/lb. After sipping down an espresso, we went walking around, looking in boutiques and also found and checked out the posada (small hotel) we'll be staying in with my parents when they come in March, Posada Don Valentino. Everything looked great, so we decided to relax some in the Parque Central.


The Parque Central in Antigua is the focal point of the city for tourists and Guatemaltecos alike, which also attracts people trying to sell you things, too. It's not that annoying though....sometimes it's nice to have the sellers come directly to you!

Finally, we checked out a nice art store with interesting paintings that we want to buy one day. We rounded out the afternoon at the Casa de Jade (Jade is pronounced "Ha-day" in Spanish), a premier place in Antigua for buying quality handmade jade items, ranging from expensive jewelry to masks, chess sets, mirrors, and other decorative items. We couldn't afford anything in this store, but it was beautiful stuff, and also cool to see the people making the items on site!


According to La Casa del Jade's website, Jade was considered a stone more valuable than gold to the Maya, a symbol of eternal love, eternity, or the sky. When a noble-class person died, they were buried with masks or necklaces of jade. When someone of lower-class died, a piece of jade was placed in their mouth because the Maya thought that the spirit would always leave the body through the mouth, and when leaving, take the piece of jade with them as a passport into heaven. Interesting!

WOW! It is days like this that we love living abroad, and living in Guatemala! We can't wait to have family and friends visit this beautiful country.

Embarrassing Moments

I usually am not one to be embarrassed by anything, but Guatemala is really challenging this notion....so many words in Spanish are like so many words in English...change one vowel or forget to pronounce one sound and you have probably sounded like an idiot.

Recent faux pauxs of ours include:

"Buenos Dias!" We just proudly hailed someone a "Good morning!" 5:00 in the evening.

"Quiero pan con jueves calientes" I just asked for bread with hot Thursday on it (instead of eggs).

But this morning was most definitely the winner....every morning I stand on a busy corner and wait for MY school bus, which said "autobus escolar" on it ("school bus" formally written). Since EVERY school bus here is an old yellow bus from the U.S.A., the only way to know what bus YOU get on is by looking at the top where ours says "autobus escolar." During my 10-15 wait every day, I get faked out by other yellow school buses and I have to carefully look at the writing..."Bus" "Special" "Centro" etc. Not only that, but I have also been forgotten about and have had to flag the driver down at the light to let me on.

Today the bus was running late, so I was anxiously waiting for it long after it should have arrived. I see a yellow school bus carreen around the corner and go right pass me! I check, and it says "Bus escolar" on it, which in my panicked mind is close enough to "autobus escolar." So I go running up to it at the stoplight and have to bang on the door for it to let me in. Once I step on the bus, everyone is looking at me with mixed expressions of confusion, fear, and slight amusement.

The gringa has gone crazy. Once I return a similar look to them, I apologize and step off the bus. James was still on the sidewalk long enough to see the students laughing at me as the bus drove away. Guess I'll have to be more careful next time when reading my bus! The bad thing is that this bus drives by me every single day while I wait for MY bus. So I'm sure that schoolbus will have something white and embarrassed to point and laugh at for a good while now....

BIG Weekend: White Elephant, Football, Goths, Volcano!

Beth and I had a pretty packed and fun-filled weekend. Here's a synopsis of what all we did.

Friday, January 11
Beth and I attended a white elephant gift exchange with about 30 other staff members at the home of Tony and Audrey (they're the couple we spent the weekend in Santiago with). We brought a trash sack full of extra coat hangers as our gift, and, surprisingly, someone actually traded for it! We really thought the first person to open it was stuck with it. But I guess that goes to show there were some other pretty awful gifts. With so many people and so many exchanges, the whole process probably took two hours. It was a lot of fun and pretty funny at times when coveted gifts kept being stolen.

This is the jacket I really wanted, but sadly it was taken...

Saturday, January 12
We had a typical, lazy Saturday morning filled with eggs and toast, coffee, and a couple episodes of The Simpsons. Aftewards, we headed over to the tennis courts to play for an hour, but unfortunately there was a tournament being held and we couldn't. We spent the afternoon at a friend's place with 10 or so people lounging around watching the Packers game.

That night we had plans to go to a goth themed party. I'm still not sure who's idea this was or why they thought of it, but it turned out to be really funny seeing all our friends here dressed up like sad goths. Plus, the party was held at an amazing home about 30 minutes away off the highway to El Salvador.

I was only planning to wear a dark t-shirt, but then was coerced into wearing makeup and a black hat. And I'm glad I did as it was fun to be in costume. Beth looked the part even more as you can see by the pictures!




Sunday, January 13
Sunday we went with our friends, Courtney and Alan (and their son, Wiley), to Volcan Pacaya, for an afternoon hike. This is the active volcano we hiked at night a few months ago. It was a beautiful day (as most days are right now) and fun to see the trail and volcano up close in daylight. It was continuously spewing smoke from the top and we were expecting to see a lot of lava after some other teachers told us about their experience from the week before. Unfortunately we didn't see the rushing lava like they had described (we only saw a couple streams of it), but we still really enjoyed being outside and seeing the craggy monster up close.

A look at Pacaya from the highway

Hiking up

The Carvers

Notice the smoke spewing out the top and the little hikers off to the left of it.
We plan to hike to the top at some point soon.

This cooled lava is what makes up the base and volcano and is treacherous to climb--it's really sharp, so if you fall, you're going to get cut! It is grippy with proper shoes though.

It only takes an hour to get to the trail from our place and less than an hour to hike to the base of the volcano, so it's an easily doable weekend activity. We hope to take some of you there when you come visit!

When it is Hardest to be Away

This past weekend our family pet pug, Fritz, died suddenly of a collapsed trachea. He had diabetes, and he was only 8 years old. Pets in our family are valued as any other family member, so this has been very difficult.



It is so hard to get news like this when you cannot drive home to hug your parents or be there to help take care of a loved one. We both felt so helpless when we found out, because there was nothing we could do at this point, and words to convey my sadness and heartbreak over the phone felt so insincere, empty, and weak.

Fritz was such a good puppy dog! My dad always thought he was the "smarter" of the two pugs, and he was such a great companion dog for all of us, especially my parents after we moved away to college. He was one of the most playful puppies and loved to go for walks. He had a snaggle tooth on his lower jaw that poked out of his mouth all of the time, and my grandpa sometimes said his alter ego was "Juan Fang." (get it? one fang? haha) He didn't like people to be up in his face (much to my chagrin), but he loved to lie on your lap and be held. We loved him so much and it is sad to know that he is no longer there at home.

While we were home for break, Fritz seemed perfectly healthy. He even played with my sister's new pug puppy, Ellie! Because it was so sudden, it is still so shocking, especially when we are not there for closure with my parents, and we just saw him as healthy and happy as ever. We are very glad we went home and got to enjoy Fritz as a healthy dog one last time.

We will miss you, Fritz.

Keeping Busy

Since coming back from Christmas break, I haven't had any design projects to work on. Last week it was nice returning mid-week and still cruising in vacation mode. This week is different. I feel like I should be working, but I don't have any projects yet. Thankfully I brought back a few things to keep me occupied. At the top of the list is a 1,000-piece puzzle featuring beautiful ocean scenes. We got this as a gift from Beth's parents for Christmas and it's turned out to be a great diversion for me! I haven't done a puzzle since childhood, so it's been a lot of fun, but also challenging and time-consuming. It's taking up the entire dining table.


Next on the list is Super Mario Galaxy, which I got from my parents for Christmas. It's the newest Mario game and is on the Wii. It's been so fun and definitely the best game I've played on the new system. It's a long game and can also keep me pretty well occupied.

And then there's my new book I'm reading: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. It clocks in at about 900 pages, making it probably the longest book I will have ever read. My friend, Adam, is also reading it and we're planning to have weekly Skype chats to discuss it. Should be a fun way to keep in touch and delve more into the book.

Last, there's always the gym, ultimate frisbee, and now soccer. Yesterday I went over to the school and played a game of small field soccer with other teachers. It was a ton of fun, though my legs and right knee are feeling pretty sore today. I'm planning to play frisbee this afternoon, but I first need to see if I can even run or not.

Oh, and Monday night we got with friends to watch the OSU/LSU game, last night we went to a bible study, and tonight we have Spanish tutoring. So, in all I guess I'm staying pretty well occupied.

"5.6 on the Richter Sca-ale!"

Last night around 8:00, Beth, Jacob (our friend from Peace Corps. staying the night with us) and I were hanging out watching an episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" when suddenly the apartment began to sway. We all looked at each other startled, waited for it to die down, and then it go worse! So we all ran over to the laundry room, which, conveniently, had a doorway for each of us! It only lasted probably 20-30 seconds and the most it did was shake our sliding doors, but it definitely freaked us out.

We immediately got online to look for news and check out our favorite seismology web sites ; ). It took probably 15 minutes before anything was reported, but then we learned that there was a 5.6 quake about three hours from us near Quetzaltenango. From what we read it didn't seem severe, but it certainly got our hearts racing. That, coupled with having to land against 40 m.p.h. winds Wednesday, made for an exciting first week back.

Rock......Chalk.....Jay....Hawk....K......U......

Last night James and I had a few friends over to watch the Orange Bowl (KU vs. Virginia Tech). What started out as a blowout by Kansas turned out to be a great game, and in the end the Jayhawks walked away with the victory!

This was the first KU football game we've been able to watch this season, and I have to say, it was probably the best! We were looking for our friends Kim and Chad Luce on the TV since they were at the game, but the camera must have only been in the KU Band section and the guy with the huge Mangino Head on a Stick. Oh well, I'm sure they had a blast!

Here's the Washington Post's article about it all, slideshow included.

We wish we could have been there, too, for the Rock Chalk Chant!

Got-a-tan on Roatan

Rewind back to December 8-16 and James and I will find ourselves on a Caribbean island, Roatan, Honduras. We spent the week there getting PADI certified in scuba diving on the 2nd largest (and probably most beautiful) coral reef in the world! Because this experience was several weeks ago and we have many blogs to post, I'll try to just hit the highlights:

Friends

We went to Roatan with some Canadians who work at CAG, Jack and Jen Talsma. They are a teaching couple (she teaches English and Jack teaches P.E.) from Canada, and exactly our age, married for almost the exact same amount of time as James and I! They couldn't have been more fun, talkative, or easy-going, and our personalities all seemed to mesh very well, which made for a great experience. We will definitely be traveling more with them!

Lodging

We stayed at the quaint and quiet Posada Arco Iris (Rainbow Inn). We had a room with two beds, hot water, and a kitchenette, which is where we cooked most of our meals since the island was more expensive than Guate. Its best feature was definitely the deck! The deck had a little table and a hammock to relax in, which is where I spent lots of time! We never really felt couped up, even though it rained for a straight two days near the end of the trip. The posada was right across a sleepy street from the ocean, so we were just steps away from the beach! We layed out to read, went snorkeling, and take naps from our posada. It was also in a central location -- less than a block from Native Sons (our diving place), the bakery where we got coffee every morning, and the grocery store where we bought food.

Land Wildlife

Roatan had plenty of great wildlife on land that was as entertaining as the aquatic life. We had lots of fun watching and listening to the bright green parrots at sunset at a happy hour bar, feeding the monkeys at our posada, watching the leaf-cutter ants work hard on the trees (amazing, actually!), and watching two chameleons fight a battle on our very own deck! It was spectacularly fun! More good news? No giant spiders or bugs in our room!! Yeah!

Aquatic Wildlife

The animals we saw while scuba diving AND snorkeling were beyond my wildest imagination! Among a multitude of other beautiful types of fish, we had the luck to see:

A sea turtle
An eagle ray
Cuttle fish
A sea snake
Barracuda fish
John dory fish
Parrot fish
Trumpet fish
Spiny lobsters
Giant grouper fish
Beautiful coral
Blowfish
Angelfish
Lizard fish
Gobi fish

And so much more, but these were some of our more memorable sightings! We actually spotted the ray from our bakery's deck where we were having coffee, and I saw it jump OUT of the water! Crazy!

Diving

The experience of diving is a surreal one. You are weightless in deep water (40-60 feet for our level) and surrounding by a world that does not seem to notice you, and yet you can get as close up as you want. I loved it! I found it to be exhilarating and relaxing all at the same time, and it quickly became one of my favorite future hobbies :)

Island Life

Being on a Caribbean island is like being in a slow-motion time machine. You never look at your watch, you never worry about being mugged, and you can always squeeze in a nap or a margarita no matter what the hour. Spectacular sunsets, warm winds, lazy days, and a calm, clear ocean are many of the factors that make James and I "Beach people" when seeking out a good vacation :)

So, I guess that concludes our Caribbean vacation for 2007! We were sad to leave, but on the other hand, we were very excited to come back to the U.S. to see our friends and family! More in the next blogs on that!

From single-digit temperatures to high winds...we're back in Guatemala!

Our wonderful Christmas break came to a sad end yesterday morning. Our very kind friend, Cara, got up with us at 4 a.m. and ventured out of the warm apartment and into a very, very chilly outside to drive us to the airport. Thankfully we had no issues getting to the airport, checking our bags, and departing on time.

We first had to fly to Charlotte, N.C., before flying to Guate. While in Charlotte, we reunited with some other teachers and caught up with them before we all boarded the plane to come back. The flight home was three hours and 40 minutes, so Beth and I put to good use our new Christmas gift: Travel Scrabble! We were so excited to get this and know we will use it a lot at home and on many of our weekend get-aways.

Both flights were some of the bumpiest we've ever been on. I'm not keen on flying, so I get pretty tense when the flight's not smooth. It got really shaky the last hour as Guatemala City was surrounded by dense clouds and 40 m.p.h. winds. To make matters worse, we had to circle the airport for an additional 10 minutes while the runway traffic cleared. By the time we finally landed (bumpily, I might add), my pulse was pretty high.

Beth and I were eager to get back to the spring-like weather, though we were greeted with thick clouds and the strongest gusts of wind we've ever experienced in Guate. The wind has not died down since and it continues to howl and shake our sliding doors as I type this. Our apartment stairwell makes a loud, annoying howl, too, due to it.

Once back, we set to unpacking and washing our clothes. Not two hours back then did our power go out. Power outages are common, and they usually restore within 10 minutes. We waited and waited and it didn't come back on. So, we decided to head out for a quick workout and also to buy groceries. By now the sun was nearly set and we should have known better how dark the gym would be. There was enough light coming from the busy avenue so we could work out, though it was really dark and certainly an odd situation. We called it after a half hour and headed home groceryless (the grocery store next door was also out of power and appeared closed).

When we got back we got some candles lit and made good use of our other new Christmas gift: high powered head lamps! These things really light up! We planned to shower up and hope the power came back on in the meantime. Well, being in Guatemala, it should have been no surprise that the water was not working either. (Does that make any sense?) So we sat on the couch in our smelly workout clothes and munched on some popcorn we made earlier.

Finally we decided to buy some bread from the tiendita and get by on sandwiches (keep in mind the most substantive meal we had all day was a bagel). Flashlight in hand, I descended the stairwell and out the building. Crossing the street I noticed some lights flicker on and heard someone yell "Tenemos luz!" (We have light!). Yay!

I got some tortillas, a can of refried beans, a red pepper, some tomatoes, and a squash and Beth and I made a pretty decent dinner with our limited resources. It wasn't how we pictured our first day back, but it was kind of fun and thankfully didn't go on too long.

It was great being home and seeing many of you. Thanks to all who helped us out while we were home! We really appreciate everyone's generosity and kindness.