teco/teca

Summer Trip - part 2: Oregon

2009-08-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

Portland - Day 1
After four fun days in L.A., Beth and I flew out the morning of July 20th (Monday) to Portland, where we were met by our former neighbor in Guatemala, Amy, and her new baby boy, Royce. The last time Beth and I saw Amy, she was still pregnant, so it was really fun to see the baby (especially since he looks so much like his papá, Matt).

Amy took us straight from the airport over to Multnomah Falls for a hike. The highway we took ran parallel to the Columbia River (which divides Oregon and Washington; pictured at top) and was one of the prettiest stretches of road I've been on; the dense forests of pine trees and steep cliffs were really beautiful. The Falls were spectacular and extremely tall, though the hike up to the top was paved and switch-backed, making it fairly leisurely, plus the morning was still nice and cool.

Multnomah Falls

We followed up the hike with an early lunch at the McMenamins' Edgefiled location brew pub. (Check out the link HERE to learn more about these interesting chains.) Following lunch, Amy drove us to Gresham, a suburb of Portland where Beth's aunt and uncle live, and dropped us off. Matt and Sue Kenny, and their daughter, Christina, were so welcoming to us and immediately made us feel at home.

Timberline Lodge

They took us on a scenic drive up to the base of Mt. Hood to visit the famed Timberline Lodge (also famous for providing the exterior shots as the Overlook Hotel in the movie, The Shining). The five of us toured the lodge, marvelling at the massive timber used in the construction (and apparently no nails were used in the building), and then stopped for a drink upstairs in the restaurant where we sate next to a windown with direct view of Mt. Hood.

Us with the Kennys

Our view from the restaurant

Next we drove back down to Portland and had a late but delicious dinner at the Hopworks Urban Brewery. Matt and Sue departed after dinner, but Christina stayed up with us and showed us around the city. While driving around, Beth and I were both surprised and impressed by how many bicyclists and bike-friendly (i.e. bike lanes) the city is.

Portland - Days 2 & 3
Our second day in Portland was primarily spent with Amy and Matt. In the morning, Amy took us to the Hawthorn district, where we had fun exploring the unique shops and buying some ridiculous souvenirs. We stopped off at the BridgePort brew pub for a snack and a flight of beers (sampler) before then heading over to another neat area, Knob Hill. This area was more upscale and expensive compared to the funky and esoteric Hawthorn. Beth and I enjoyed meandering around on our own while Amy went home to drop off baby Royce with Matt's dad and then to pick up Matt. The four of us met back up later in the afternoon at the Deschutes brew pub (my favorite of all) for more snacks and beer-sampling. After that we did some more walking and sight-seeing before heading back to the Kennys' place.

BridgePort's Flight

Our third day in the city started off with a delicious breakfast of blueberry waffles prepared by Aunt Sue. After breakfast, Christina took us to the artsy Pearl District where we enjoyed exploring high end furniture shops, art galleries, and the famed Powell's Books--a gigantic, city block wide, multi-level used book store (they even provide you with a map to navigate the sprawling store). We had planned to visit the city's rose garden, but got delayed due to a temporary car trouble. We did make it in time to get a good seat for the Portland City Grill's happy hour special. This 30th floor restaurant has panoramic views of the entire city, including its 12 bridges, and of course a great look at Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helen. They have lots of tasty food for about $3 a plate between 4:30 and 6, but it fills up fast with hungry tourists pining for a snack and a good look at the city.

Views from the Portland City Grill.

For dinner that night, Uncle Matt and Aunt Sue treated us to a fabulous meal of grilled salmon and halibut (all very fresh of course!) that was cooked on pine planks, homemade relish and coleslaw, plus a zesty salad (not sure what went into it...but it was good!). And for dessert we had key lime pie. Yummy! We really enjoyed spending our last night in Portland with them. They couldn't have been nicer and more welcoming to us.

Summer Trip - part 1: California

2009-08-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Beth and I recently got back from a trip that took us to California, Oregon, and Washington. This post will just be about our first 1/3 of the trip, California. Hopefully we'll get the other two states blogged about soon, but no promises as we move to Lawrence next week and we may be pretty occupied with all of that.

Let me preface this blog with an explanation as to why we took this trip. Last December, a college friend of ours, Brad Osborn, announced to us that he was getting married in Seattle over the summer and would like me (James) to be in the wedding. Not only were we excited to be a part of his wedding, but now we had a great excuse to visit the Northwest! It was a trip we had been planning to take within the next three years, so it was nice knowing we were going to visit it sooner than we originally thought.

Skip ahead to this past spring... After spending a fun week with our friends, Mandi and Aaron, in Guatemala, we decided to add in some days to see them in Los Angeles on this trip. We are so happy we were able to see them, as we always have a great time together, and they made our time in California very fun and memorable. Here are the highlights!

Hiking up to the Hollywood sign.
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A stroll down the Walk of Fame.
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All being fans of The Office, we had to check out Dunder Mifflin, which happened to be in a completely random, semi-ghettoy neighborhood.
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Getty Art Museum - the buildings and grounds were amazing--the best we've ever seen. ---

The Disney Conert Hall (designed by Frank Gehry)
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L.A. Observatory
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A day at the beach in Malibu, followed by delicious fresh seafood.
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Numerous delicious meals cooked at home by Mandi and Aaron. Here we are making our favorite, BBQ pizza!
"See how good that looks!"
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Seeing the new Harry Potter movie in a nice theater that even had costumes from the film on display.
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Afternoon at the pool.
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This doesn't cover everything we did. Somehow we managed to pack in a lot of activities without seeming too rushed or busy. We can't thank the Forehands enough for showing us such a good time and being such thoughtful, kind, and fun hosts! And thanks to Twink for being such a sweet dog.

Friendly Friends

2009-07-04T09:16:00.000-07:00

While we have only been back in the States for roughly two weeks, we have thus far managed to pack in some great time with great friends! We saw James' parents and attended our friend Emily's wedding our first day back (a hearty congrats to Emily and Scott Smith!) but we'll post pics of that later when they're available.

We've been enjoying catching up with people we have missed dearly, friends and family alike.

Our friend Cara came to Neosho from Lawrence to visit.

We went to visit our friends in Lawrence for a fun evening. We played Bocci ball and had a BBQ. Thanks for hosting, Kim and Chad!

Our friends Jake and Amber ('The Jamber') visited from D.C.

If only they were moving back, too!

Prius People

2009-07-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it had to happen. Upon returning to America, we had to buy at least one car to get around in! We know that I will be commuting to and from Overland Park from Lawrence daily, so we knew we'd need a car with great gas mileage.

While we were test driving a Civic at a car lot, nearby we spotted a 2006 Toyota Prius which is a hybrid car. Well, to make a short story long, we test drove it and loved it, and since it's gets roughly 45 miles per gallon and was very reasonably priced (not to mention good for the environment of course), we decided to bite the bullet and buy it!

There are lots of great features on it that impress us. Some favorites include: GPS mapping system, a video camera for when you are reversing, a digital dashboard, steering wheel buttons for volume, map, bluetooth phone capabilities, and temperature guages, and being able to watch your gas/energy consumption by the second!

Because it runs on battery when it's at low speeds or at a stop, it is eerie to both of us because we're so used to hearing an engine idle! It's also a weird mentality to drive at high speeds or blast the AC without feeling guilty about what you're doing to your gas mileage. Oh, and a fun feature is the fact that you don't use a key to enter or drive the car. You just push the On button on the dashboard and it turns on, etc.

Even though we do love the car, neither of us can get the Southpark Smug Alert! episode out of our head. Here's a brief synopsis of the plot:

Kyle's father Gerald buys a new hybrid car, a Pious (based on the Toyota Prius:), and drives around showing it off to everyone. He begins an unwelcomed campaign to convert the other townspeople to environmentally friendly vehicles. This behavior annoys his friend Randy, who complains that Gerald now preachy, talks with his eyes closed. Deciding that they cannot live among such backward, unsophisticated folk, Gerald decides to move his family to San Francisco.

After the Broflovskis leave, Stan writes a repetitive song about the importance of hybrid cars, which finds its way onto the radio and, incredibly, causes everyone to drive hybrids — and act as smugly as Gerald. Stan is criticized for what he has done: although smog rates are down, people who drive hybrids create a toxic gas in the air called "smug", and South Park now has the second-highest levels in the country, after San Francisco.

The cloud of smug forms over South Park and begins to combine with that of San Francisco, which creates "the perfect storm of self-satisfaction", which will heavily damage South Park and completely destroy San Francisco.

Kyle points out that hybrids really are a good thing; the people who drive them should just not be smug about it, or act as if they are above everybody else. The people, however, are not ready to drive them without being smug — "it's simply asking too much" — so they return to SUVs and other high-fuel-consumption vehicles.

Anyways, we both thought that was a hilarious episode, and while we are very happy to have a car with so many cool features and high gas mileage for my commute, we promise not to get pious about our Prius. Our good friend Chad had a great idea to make a bumper sticker for the car that says "My other car is a Hummer" just for laughs. :)

An afternoon at the Little Yeoman Brewery

2009-06-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Beth and I spent the afternoon today visiting the micro micro brewery, Little Yeoman, in Cabool, Mo. I used to buy a six-pack now and again from this brewery back in college, but hadn't seen it on shelves for a few years now, assuming it was defunct. Apparently the brewery was sold from the original owner in Mountain Grove, Mo., to a family friend in Cabool. The new owner no longer distributes the beer (because apparently the distributor makes more money on the beer than he does), so you can only get it by visiting the small brewery located on his family farm.

Chad, the owner, was extremely friendly and immediately sat down with us to chat and enjoy one of his beers (a dry-hopped American pale ale...very good!). After chatting for a while outside under a tent, Beth and I brought our chairs inside the small building housing the brewing equipment to watch him and his two assistants transfer a cream ale from the fermenter into bottles. Afterwards, we bought a few of his bottled beers to enjoy. His prices were extremely reasonable and definitley worth the money.

It was a fun outing, and we'd love to go back with anyone interested.

Spoiled

2009-06-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

Now that James and I are officially living in the U.S. again (though we have no official living residence), we are feeling pretty spoiled by the normalities and banalities of life. I feel a bit like Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when she sings her song "I Want it Now" because it all seems so--possible! You can ask for--and find--just about anything you want in America. The availability of choices is staggering.

There are luxuries that we never really appreciated until having lived a developing country, and we both still have the feeling that everything is so temporary, like it has been over the last two short Christmas breaks. We are trying to break ourselves of the mentality that we have to "stock up" on things, or that "this is the last time" we eat certain foods, etc.

Happy to be Home!

Some of the small stuff we've been loving:

Air Conditioning
Healthy food options at the supermarket
Using a dishwasher (this one is short-lived. We won't have one in Lawrence come August...)
Watching English-only TV with muchos channels
Walking around outdoors and feeling 100% safe (and hot -- it's humid in Missouri!)
Quickly filling up the coffee pot from the sink
Going to a gym where people are polite and clean, with cold water from the water fountains
Driving on wide roads with other rule-abiding citizens. No window-tint needed! No locked doors!
The long, sunny summer days. No sunset until after 8pm! (instead of 6 pm year-round in Guate)
Wearing our wedding bands and my engagement ring. We've missed our nice jewelery that means so much to us.
Understanding every interaction we partake in (in English) and understanding what others around us are saying, too!
The predictability and orderliness of life in America. People stand in a line. They wait their turn. They drive in one lane. Imagine!
Having the family cats to help us grieve giving away Rafa: Gabby, Dooley, and our cat, Mia
Making phone calls to friends and family that are domestic (read: cheap) instead of international.
Going shopping without wondering how much everything is going to weigh in a suitcase!!

For now, it still seems like this is "vacation" instead of just what life will be like from now on...Either way, we will take it!

If you are wondering, the blog will go on, but it will likely take the form of our friend Kim's LuceChatter, a blog more about daily life and State-side observations and MUCH less about Guatemala.

Congratulations to Scott and Emily Smith!
We attended their beautiful wedding the day we flew in.

In Love

2009-06-14T06:54:00.001-07:00

10 More Days in Guat-ay

2009-06-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe it has already been two years, but we head back to live in the States in 10 days! So, in honor of the 10-day countdown, here are some Top 10 Lists for Guatemala. They are written with a sense of humor, and we have absolutely loved living here even despite some drawbacks.

Top 10 Questions We've Stopped Asking
because there are no good answers

10. Are there really 4 people on that motorcycle, including two children under the age of 5?!
9. Why don't slow drivers get in the far right lane?
8. Did you feel that? Was that an earthquake?
7. Can we flush the toilet paper here?
6. Which volcano is that anyway?
5. Is that guy telling us we CAN go through this intersection or is his weird hand signal telling us we can't?
4. Why aren't the roads paved to get to the two of the largest tourist attractions in the country (Pacaya, the Lake)?
3. Is it safe or not safe to [name any activity here]?
2. Will it rain today?
1. Why does no one in this country have change to break a Q100 bill?

Top 10 Favorite Foods We've Eaten in Guatemala

10. Crepes (Guatemalans seem to love them!)
9. Torta Chilena pie (layers of caramel and pie crust)
8. Coffee coffee coffee
7. Macademia nuts
6. Emna's Cilantro-Lentil Soup
5. Hacienda Real Refried Black Beans
4. Fresh corn tortillas
3. Pineapple
2. Mangos
1. Avocados

Top 10 Most Frustrating Parts of Living in Guatemala

10. The entire banking process and banker interactions
9. Ability to communicate and understand at times
8. Government and police corruption
7. The classist/racist system against Mayans and poor people, including the way rich people treat their maids and others in servant-like roles
6. Lack of U.S. products we love
5. Lack of safety
4. Lack of clean public bathrooms
3. Lack of safe drinking water
2. The large size of the impoverished population
1. The driving, road conditions, construction patterns, and city layout

Top 10 Activities in Guatemala

10. Enjoying tanning on the patio in the (almost always) year-round perfect weather
9. Going to the spa and getting massages
8. Going to the VIP movie theatre at Oakland Mall
7. The Santiago Kite Festival
6. Climbing Volcano Pacaya
5. Going to the beach
4. Enjoying the Semuc Champey pools
3. Going to Antigua
2. Being at Lake Atitlan (but not driving to or from it)
1. Tikal, the Mayan temple site in Northern Guatemala

Top 10 Accomplishments in Guatemala

10. Learning how to drive here -- being defensive and aggressive at all times
9. Knowing the earthquake drill inside and out
8. Helping local people out
7. Beth's accomplishments at CAG
6. Being some of the tallest people in the country
5. Convincing people to come visit us :)
4. Stayin' Alive
3. Learning how to cook Guatemalan food
2. Learning to bargain at the market
1. Learning to Speak and Understand Spanish! Yeah!!!!

We really have enjoyed our time here in Guatemala, and we are so happy that we have had so many wonderful adventures and made so many good friends. Go Guatemala!

How Rafa Plays Fetch

2009-05-28T07:01:00.000-07:00

This morning while in the bathroom, the ever-curious Rafa surprised me by leaping from the sink to the top of the bathroom door for no apparent reason. I guess he just wanted to see what was up there, or possibly have a better vantage point for hunting me. I let him stay up there a while so I could get some pictures, and then I helped him down. But wanting to catch him on video making the jump, I figured I could lure him back with one of Beth's hair ties--his absolute favorite toy. He loves to play fetch with these, and when he's not playing with them, he hoards them in his food and water bowls. So, sure enough, after visibly placing the hair tie on top of the door, it was just a matter of seconds before he went after it. He surprised me again by making the leap back down to the floor and then later back across to the sink. Rafa went up and down five times before I thought he ought to take a rest. What a cool cat!

If you want to see more leaps, check out our YouTube page HERE.

p.s. Today is our 4-year wedding anniversary! I love you, Beth!

Picture Perfect Prom 2009

2009-05-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

As some of you may recall, CAG's community of teachers likes to have a good time! Unfortunately, we live in a city that tends to make that difficult, so we have to entertain ourselves by throwing theme parties.

Recently, we attended the second annual CAG Prom event.

While James and I were nominated but not elected prom king and queen, we certainly felt like royalty in this year's outfits! James and I were wearing hand-me-downs from last year's teachers. Most people this year (including James and I) went for an 80's theme, including color coordination.

Lots of our friends also had great looks.

Charlotte, having pilfered the Queen's crown

Cara and Sam

James and our friend, Reid. Who looks more rad?

This year's Prom King and Queen, the Olsens!

Catie, donning Spanish flair

3 hot hair-dos, coming your way!

That's how we get our hair to hold it's fabulous form!

James and last year's Prom Queen, Kelly

All the single (and not single) ladies!

Fastest Gams in the West

2009-05-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

This may seem impossible to believe, but I won a running race last week! It has never happened before, nor will it ever happen again, but the fact it could even happen ONCE is amazing and exciting!

While I have been running since 2003, I am not what you could ever qualify as fast. I'm not that into distance running like my friends Linden and Jake, or distance walking like my friend Kim, but I do enjoy a good run for the physical and mental benefits of vigorous exercise. Since the Chicago Marathon over 5 years ago, I haven't really gone back to long distance running, never really running more than 3-5 miles at a time.

Recently I started training for a half-marathon (13.1 miles) in Coban, Guatemala, that would have been May 17. Unbelieveably, the half-marathon was CANCELLED due to SWINE FLU. It is still totally beyond my how a runner with the illness would show up to run 13.1 miles with serious influenza. Not only that, but it's an OPEN AIR race! Where are people in close quarters?! They would be running! Furthermore, there's only been like 1 documented case in the whole country, a little Mexican girl. I still cannot believe it. Oh well, the point is, I have been training for long distance runs lately, which apparently helped me.

So I was at the gym on a Friday afternoon, and a female personal trainer at the gym approached me to ask if I would be interested in running in a race for mujeres fuertes (strong women) in honor of Mother's Day, but on Saturday. It is important to note that this entire conversation occurred in Spanish, not English, so I thought I was getting myself into a little race for ladies, so of course, I said yes, and signed up.

Later, I talked to a girlfriend who was told about the race -- in English. It turns out the race was a "Last Woman Running" kind of competition, in which women would run until they couldn't any more, and the last woman still running would be the winner. A bit different from the friendly, small competition I had understood this to be!

Remember, we're in Guatemala, and women running outside in a small race is not recommended for safety reasons. So, the race was on treadmills at the gym, which was good news to me, because I frankly find outdoors long-distance running to be hard on my knees (hills, concrete), and a little boring, too. So, I was still excited to do the race because I wasn't going to get to compete in the long-distance race I was planning on in Coban, and this seemed like a great substitute to put that training to use! Plus, it didn't involve traveling 4 hours away, just for a race...

"Animo, Beth!"
("Go Beth!")

Rules: You couldn't drop your speed below 5.0 mph (7.0 kph on Guate treadmills b/c they're on the metric system here :), and there was a judge watching you to make sure you were running. You could take one 1-minute stretch break in the two hours. The race would be stopped at 2 hours if there was more than one woman still running (still not sure why they stopped it at 2 hours). At the end of 2 hours, if there was more than one woman running, the race would be judged by each woman's total distance.

James made me a cute little sign that said "I'm running for my mom, Jackie" in Spanish, to put on the treadmill, since the race was in honor of Mothers' Day.

So, Saturday morning, I ran against 7 other women for the title. I brought James' little video player and watched episodes of a guilty pleasure HBO series of mine, Big Love. I got lost in the shows, and time went by really fast! There were still 4 of us running at the end of the 2 hours, and I had run the farthest, 20 km! I started a little early, and did a 1.5 mile warm-up before the race, bringing my grand total to 13.4 miles, a half-marathon! So there was a little ceremony and I got a certificate and a free month's membership for June.

Since I will never be in a race with only 7 participants who all have shorter legs than me ever again, I will go ahead and count this as a stroke of good luck, and I am nonetheless proud of winning. But we all know what they say about being in the land of blind men... ;)

The Gatorade sponsor guy, and those of us who ran the full 2 hours
I got Primer Lugar! (first place) and defended my Mom's honor

Sonpopos de Mayo!

2009-05-11T07:06:00.000-07:00

It is finally the day for sonpopos!

(pronounced sone-POH-pohs, and "de Mayo" means "of May")

A sonpopo

Sonpopos are these large ant-like creatures with wings that fly around. But it is a special day. Why? Sonpopos only come out for ONE day. They live, mate, fly, and die. They also lose their wings throughout the day. They will fight each other, so the kids like to put 2 in a mason jar and bet on which giant ant will win. Sort of macabre, but better than dog fighting.

A cute story from a teacher friend at school...when her son was small, he saw the sonpopos in the morning with wings, and then again in the afternoon as the wings start to fall off. He told his mom, "Look! The ants are getting undressed!"

A sonpopo who has already lost its wings

A less cute story...the indigenous people around here collect the sonpopos, fry them up, and put them on tortillas and eat them. One of my friends here (from the U.S.) took part in this 'feast' in Mexico (where they call them cunus, not sonpopos). He said they tasted a bit 'spicy' from the poison in their bodies, and the flavor stayed in his mouth for about a day. [TMI moment: when the exoskeleton from their bodies got stuck in between his teeth he likened it to popocorn kernels doing the same thing...GROSS!]

Anyways, it's sort of a special day to see, knowing these little guys won't be here tomorrow.

Not a single one.

Fun with the Forehands!

2009-05-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

Beth and I were fortunate enough to have our two good friends, Mandi and Aaron Forehand, come visit us two weeks ago. We all became friends while living in Lawrence, and shortly after we moved to Guatemala, they moved to Los Angeles. So it was especially nice to spend a week with them since we won't get to see them very often any more. We had a really fun time and wished we could have had more time together.

They flew in on Tuesday, June 28, in the afternoon. That evening we had a tasty dinner of Guatemalan specialties at the Hacienda Real restaurant in Zona Viva (the nightlife zone of the city). They were exhausted from traveling all day, plus Beth had to go to work the next day, so we called it fairly early that night.

On Wednesday, we slept late and took our time getting around. Mid-morning I took Aaron and Mandi down to Zone 1 to see the National Palace and go shopping in the market. They enjoyed exploring the wares, buying a few souvenirs, and perusing the colorful food market where we bought fresh mango, pineapple, strawberries, and bananas for smoothies later in the day.

After the market, we drove to Beth's school to have lunch with her at the cafe on adjoining University's campus. We all had crepes with various tasty fillings. Afterward we showed them around the expansive, pretty campus.

That night we lived it up by going to our first VIP movie showing! A new mall in the city has a special movie theater that charges double the normal ticket price, but you get to enjoy sitting in large leather recliners, order dinner from a full menu, as well as drinks, and of course candy and popcorn. It was the most comfortable movie viewing any of us had ever seen. And best of all, the tickets only cost $8! Oh, and we saw the new X-Men origens movie, which was entertaining but not as memorable as the experience.

Beth had off from school Thursday and Friday, so we got up early Thursday to head south to the coast where we stayed a night at the Cayman Suites. It was an easy drive, and we got there early enough in the day to enjoy the place all to ourselves until late afternoon. We spent the whole day by the pool and really enjoyed the time together. That night we ordered room service to get away from the bugs and heat as well as to watch Harry Potter 4 (they're big fans like Beth and me).

The next day we got up early and were at the pool from 7 a.m. till nearly 1 p.m. getting in as much sun and water as we could before leaving. Once back in Guatemala City, we took our time cleaning up and repacking our bags for two days in Antigua. That evening in Antigua we did some light shopping and exploring before having dinner at the Mexican restaurant, Fridas.

The following morning we had a wonderful breakfast at Cafe Condessa, one of our favorite places to eat in the town. Afterwards, we explored the local and artisan markets. After noon, Aaron and I tried catching a shuttle to a nearby coffee farm to take a tour, but it never came. So, he and I spent the afternoon snacking on chips and salsa at the Irish pub, reading our books while it rained in the afternoon, and then getting coffee later. All the while, Mandi and Beth were busy shopping and exploring the multitude of shops.

In the evening, the four of us went to Casa Santo Domingo for dinner. The Forehands seemed to really enjoy the food, ambience, and grounds of the amazing hotel.

On Sunday morning, we did a bit more last minute shopping, then drove over to Pacaya Volcano for a hike. We had good views again of flowing lava, and even enjoyed lava-toasted marshmellows! After the tiring hike, we drove up to the Santa Terecita Spas at Amatitlan to relax in the thermal pools. Aaron and Mandi also got massages. Getting home that night took longer than normal due to a carnival taking place in Amatitlan, followed by heavy traffic into the city. Unfortunately, Beth came down suddenly with a bug that evening and ended up going to bed at 8 p.m. and missing the next day of school.

From Spa at Lago Amatitlan

Monday night was our last night together, and since we had nothing planned, we decided to go back and rewatch the Wolvering movie at the VIP theater. It was just as enjoyable as the first time around.

The next day we said our goodbyes, but had already made plans to come visit them this summer in L.A. The adventure wasn't over yet however. Mandi and Aaron arrived at the airport on time, but had somehow missed their flight by a full day! Somewhere along the way, we were all convinced they left on Tuesday, when in fact their ticket was booked for Monday. But thanks to the unbelievable generosity of a Mexican Air employee, they were able to fly back home for free and at the same time as their originally scheduled flight! Pretty amazing.

Thanks for coming to visit us, Mandi and Aaron!

Spring Break Guatemala!

2009-04-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

The week leading up to Easter, we were fortunate to have Beth's brother and sister, Tim and Robin, come spend the week with us. Here's a picture recap of our fun time together.

The trip was supposed to kick off with a hike up Pacaya Volcano, however, there had been too much seismic activity and the park was closed for fear of a large eruption. So, instead, we just spent the afternoon lounging at the spa in Amatitlan.

The next day we headed down to our favorite beach spot in El Salvador, Roca Sunzal. We all enjoyed the heat, the food and drinks, trying to surf, boogie-boarding, the pool, playing pool, tossing the Frisbee, sun bathing, and plenty of relaxing.

The next leg of our trip took us to Antigua, where we had fun sight-seeing and shopping, as well as enjoying an exciting sunset view of an erupting Fuego Volcano, followed by a fabulous dinner at Casa de Santo Domingo, courtesy of Steve and Jackie (THANK YOU!).

After Antigua, we drove over to the lakeside city Panajachel. From there, we took a boat over to the small village of San Marcos. We planned to stay two nights here, but do to parts of the hotel having no electricity (hence the candle light Trivial Pursuit photo), we bailed a day early and spent our second night on the lake back in Panajachel. There we enjoyed the active night life, shopping, and zip lining, as well as a comfortable stay at our hotel, Posada Los Encuentros.

After getting back from the lake, we spent our last night evening together eating at Frida's, a Mexican food restaurant.

Thank you, Tim and Robin, for coming to visit! We had a great time!

Recent Video Fun

2009-04-21T06:55:00.000-07:00

Beth's brother and sister, Tim and Robin, recently spent a week with us here in Guatemala. We had a blast together, and we'll be blogging more in depth about the trip soon, but for now, here are a few videos of fun things that went on while they were here.

While enjoying snacks and drinks before dinner on a rooftop bar in Antigua, we witnessed the volcano, Fuego, erupt into the darkening sky. This volcano blows off smoke frequently--multiple times an hour--but we have never seen lava spewing up into the air and down its side.

We spent an afternoon in Panajachel enjoying the ziplines. Here are a few videos of us on the lines.

Josh Ritchey: International Man of Festivity!

2009-04-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

For James' Golden Birthday in which he turned his age on the same date (28 on March 28th), as a surprise to him, one of his best friends from college in Oklahoma City flew in for a week in March! The surprise was really fun, but the week was even better!

Josh flew in on St. Patty's Day, so we went out to a downtown gringo-laden bar, Rattle 'n' Hum. We found out later the Guatemalans call the place Pan con Frijol (bread and beans) instead because they have a hard time pronouncing Rattle 'n' Hum, and the name has no real translation, anyway. HA!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Then the boys spent a few days at our favorite beach destination, Roca Sunzal, where James surfed on a surfboard for the first time! Congrats, James!

El Salvador

Once back from their relaxing weekday beachdays, we had a fun party at our house with three exciting competitions: a Mojito Making contest, a Guac Off, and we played a bar trivia game that Josh also heads up back in Tulsa where he's attending law school (and running trivia bar games!). It was a blast!

Party Pics

For the mojitos and guacamole entries, each one was judged on taste, creativity of name, and style of presentation. For example, I entered my "Holy Guacamole, that's hot!" but it didn't win. James and Josh entered "Guac and Roll" which was just guacamole on a bun, but they got points for creativity! There were mojitos ranging from mango mojitos to margaritos.

Our trophies, presented to the winners at the end of the night

For the team trivia game, we were on small teams, and there were 4-5 categories in which we had to answer as a team. For example, one category was Dead or Alive, and Josh put up a pictures of someone famous, and as a team, we had to name the celebrity (1 point) and say whether or not that person was dead or alive (1 point). It was harder than you'd think! It was honestly difficult to recall whether or not the actor was from Spartacus or Ben Hur, and then their current Living Status....?

We used a projector for the trivia

After such a celebratory night, it was hard to imagine having any more fun to top the evening, but we managed to! We spent the next day in Antigua bumming around, and then our friend Jean Ah met up with us to go hike Pacaya.

At Cafe Sky, a rooftop bar in Antigua

Listening to a Peruvian Flute Band at Sol Latino

It was a pretty intense climb, but once we got to the smoking volcano, it was worth it to watch the lava spilling down the side! Scary! One guy gunning for a Darwin Award was trying to roast a marshmellow on the end of a stick while standing on recently hardened lava, and we could see it glowing bright red below him! We tried to warn him, but he wouldn't listen. Luckily, nothing happened while we were around to see it.

Note the flowing red lava behind us

The climb is steep
Volcano Pacaya smoking away

For Josh's final evening in the city, we went to Jean Ah's for an impromptu Sushi Making (and sushi rolling) lesson and sunset dinner on her deck. It was VERY fun, and we didn't know how easy it could be to make sushi! Well, we call it sushi, but Jean Ah taught us that it's called kimbap in Korean.

Mama Jean Ah cooking up the ingredients for kimbap!

James was trying his luck at making a monster roll that was hard to even eat it was so big!

All in all, it was a successful and entertaining week that went way to fast! Thanks again to Josh Ritchey for visiting and helping to make James' birthday so special!

... And Feliz Cumpleaños to James, of course!

Rafa's Paw: Mystery Solved

2009-04-16T12:21:00.001-07:00

When Beth's brother and sister were visiting, we had to postpone our trip to the spa because James noticed that Rafa's paw suddenly looked extremely swollen. When we made an emergency trip to the vet's office, no bee stinger was found in his paw, so we thought we would never know what happened to him. For the rest of the day, James referred to Rafa as his "Hellboy Kitty."

Since we didn't take pictures of Rafa, here's a picture of Hellboy so you can imagine Rafa's gigantic paw.

...Until James found this dead little "friend" on our patio yesterday....Mystery Solved!

If Tim and Robin would have known at the time there was a scorpion lurking nearby, we doubt they would've slept as well, or agreed to be in the apartment, for that matter! Interestingly enough, we abandoned a second night at the eco-lodge on the lake, in favor of staying in a different city and different hotel. Why? After spending one night in our rooms at the lodge, we had breakfast with a nice Irish girl who had stayed in the same room Tim and Robin had just spent the night in. The previous night when she stayed there, she had put on her pants, only to get stung by the scorpion that had crawled inside of them! She had a numbing and swelling reaction (probably like Rafa) for several hours, but it wasn't life-threatening. That, combined with the 2-3 inch spider that was on my pillow before bed in a room with no electricity, was enough to convince us that moving hotels to the nice one in Panajachel would be a wise move!

As you can see, Rafa is doing great now and still very relaxed outside.

LAVA!

2009-03-31T06:41:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple quick clips we took of some flowing lava from our recent hike up Volcan Pacaya. (Sorry for the low quality; we forgot to change to a higher setting on our camera!)

There are a number of really great videos of Pacaya posted by other people on Youtube, so if you're interested, check 'em out!

Also, you can check out Jean Ah's pictures from our hike that day here.

Guatemala's Natural Waterpark: Semuc Champey

2009-03-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

By now, Beth and I have visited most of the places in Guatemala we've wanted to. However, one place remained on the list longer than it should have, and we finally made it there two weekends ago. Semuc Champey is a beautiful, natural wonder waterpark out in the middle of no where (just outside of Lanquin, which is a long, rugged ride from Coban).

After staying the night in the wonderful Casa D'Acuña in Coban, we boarded a shuttle early Saturday morning and made the long drive to the park. We arrived midday and immediately got into the pools to cool off and enjoy swimming in the clear and vibrant aqua water. After some initial lounging in the water, our guide took us on an exciting and fun tour down the pools, which included jumping off some high ledges into deep waters, climbding down a rope ladder next to a waterfall, entering a heavily dripping cave to admire the space and rushing waters below, and finally to descending a large, sloping rock to jump off into rushing waters at the end! Fun, exciting, and dangerous!? You bet! Only in Guatemala, as we say...

After our tour through the pools, we went on a nearly straight up-hill hike to a mirador, or, lookout point, to admire the natural formation from above. It was incredible to see it from this height.

Following the hike, we cooled off again with more swimming, then had a late lunch, and swam a bit more before leaving the area. But our day wasn't over yet...

From Semuc, we drove a short distance to one of four giant caves in the area. This cave was unique in that it was incredibly spacious, with open areas that reached 40' high or more in places. We entered at dusk and slowly made out way through the slippery and humid cave, stopping at various points for our guide to explain how the Mayans still use the space today, point out interestingly-shaped structures, or giant insects that look like a hybrids between a scorpion and a spider!

To conclude the tour, we trekked back to the mouth of the cave. By now, it was completely dark outside, and time for the bats to come out. Yes, the bats. Some 2 million of them!

So, we stood right near the opening and in the path of all the bats heading out to feast on insects! It was so amazing to see them streaming out and around us. I felt like Bruce Wayne becoming Batman as they streamed around me me. It was so amazing to be right in their way and never have one run in to me as they deftly echo-located out of the way. I loved it! Beth on the other hand was beginning to panic and not enjoying the experience whatsoever. The creepy insects put her on edge, but then having to sit in darkness (yes, they turned out the cave lights) while millions of bats flew around her was just too much. Thankfully we left just before she had a total nervous breakdown.

It was an incredibly full, fun, and memorable day. I doubt we'll go back before June since it's so far out of the way, but Beth and I both rank it as one of the highlights of our travels in Guatemala.

(Check out the video below to see the bats!)

Beth's Birthday: Sweet Twenty-Seven!

2009-03-17T07:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't think anything could top last year's birthday spent on the beach in El Salvador. But then again, I didn't think so many things would go so wonderfully well on my birthday, which is how all birthdays should go! Also, Happy Birthday to my twin brother, Tim Kenny!

The day started inherently wonderful because it was the last day of a 3-day weekend from school, so I got to sleep in and spend a relaxing morning at home. James made me breakfast, gave me flowers, and we had fresh pineapple and my favorite coffee-dipping cookies, champurradas.

Then I got two surprise visits from close friends, Charlotte (a teacher from school) and Patricia, our awesome Spanish tutor and friend! Charlotte gave me some great bracelets from Panajachel and Patricia brought me flowers, too!

James and I spent the next part of the day at the Zone 1 Market, one of my favorite places to go for shopping! James was very patient with me as I stopped at all of the stalls, wanting to spend my birthday money wisely. I purchased some new clothing and jewelery of course!

We took our chances on some favorite typical Guatemalan food, tostadas (round, flat, fried tortillas topped with fresh guacamole, onions, and cheese) and huge portions of fresh mango, my new favorite fruit thanks to Erika!

Then we picked up the most amazing care package of all time from our best friends, Rob and Linden Mueller (the ones we spent the summer with who are living in Germany--lucky ducks!). They truly, truly have outdone themselves. I would have been happy with a card, but for our birthdays (James' is coming up soon --March 28), here is what we received all the way from Germany. Be prepared, and watch your jaw drop and your mouth water!

The King of all Care Packages included:

- It started with a hilarious letter written by Rob, including threats against any crooked customs agent who would dare to pilfer even a single pretzel

- A container of ready-to-bake German rolls, so we can re-live fresh German bread in the morning!

- A package of ready-to-bake German olive ciabatta bread

- A long, grainy ready-to-bake German baguette stang

- An entire liter of the local beer from our favorite brewery in Giessen, their hometown

- Almost a liter (a 750 mL container) of Nutella (the jar is about the size of my head)

- Two Kinder eggs (a molded white and milk chocolate egg with a toy in the middle)

- A package of Mozartkugeln, these delicious balls of marzipan coated in chocolate and hazelnut

- A Milka brand candy bar, Feuer flavored (chili and chocolate, I think) -- not to be confused with "Mein führer"

-A large PACK -- not just one, but a PACK! of Kinder Riegel (white and milk chocolate candy bars. Soooo delightful! Rob and I both love love love these! Thanks, Rob!)

-Two bags of delicious, butter, thin-sticked pretzels (Ja! brand)

-A POUND of cappuccino chocolate coffee mix to go with your coffee

-A Rittersport candy bar, Ramazzotti flavored (a liqueur of some type, I think)

- A butter stick-sized bar of pure marzipan (which I will be cutting up and dipping in melted dark chocolate, of course)

- A package of Nusseken, which I gather are chocolate German pastries, they look almost like baklava...

-A large PACK (again, not just one, but a whole stinking PACK!!) of Kinder Bueno candy bars, our absolute favorites!

Now, what made this care package so incredibly caring was not just the awesome, incredible, delicious, perfect, mouth-watering, long-lasting contents, but it was clear that lots of love and indeed great amounts of thought went into preparing and sending this to us. Rob and Linden clearly listened and remembered all of our favorite treats that we enjoyed while in Germany (and as you can see, the list is long!). They took the time to go out and buy it all, which was very, very generous to do, and then they took the effort of packing it in really well (a whole liter container of beer made it unscathed), and sending it in plenty of time for us to received it on my birthday!

We cannot thank Rob and Linden enough for their unending generosity and thoughtfulness to make our birthdays so SPECIAL! It is a care package we will be enjoying for months to come...if we can pace ourselves, that is! WOW! Thank you again, Marvelous Muellers! We love you both!

After coming down off of the sugar high from the care package goodies, we hosted a low-key Happy Hour out on our patio. Friends came over to relax before the start of the next work week, and it was a great time!

I got a great collage from our friends Mike and Wendy!

James bought a blank white human-shaped piñata from the Zone 1 market and decorated it in James Style, which is to say, somewhat disturbing and yet downright hilarious! He turned the blank canvas into the masterpiece known as "Stripper Cat."

Stripper Cat and her fancy tattoo

Only James, right?! It had all the details you'd expect, including a 'James' tattoo and a back tattoo of a butterfly. Ha! At the end of the night, James spun me around 27 dizzying times, and I whacked away at Stripper Cat until I tired. Then our friends had fun destroying her, too!

27 spins will make anyone's head hurt!

After the destruction, nothing was left but her boots

When our friends left, we headed over to a neighbor's house for a short visit and BBQ to end the night.

Thanks for the flowers, Kris!

What a great day! It was relaxing, full of lots of little and grand surprises, and fun as a birthday should be! Thanks to all who made it so fantastic!

Let Me Entertain You

2009-03-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

While we haven't been up to anything of importance lately, we have been doing and seeing lots of fun little things with our spare time! Such as....

Competitions...

Dance Off

Leg Off

Beer Off
(don't worry - just a blind beer tasting of Brahva, Gallo, and Dorada Ice...James was only sipping on these! He won, by the way!)

Game Night

Being Active...

Zip Lining

Measuring the height of volcanoes

Being Lazy

Stop! Hammock Time!

U Can't Touch This

Nap time

Central American Celebrations

Cuban music with Franco!

Cuban Contraband

Antigua Religious Processional

Watching Rafa Grow!

He's getting so big!

Fun Times with Visiting Friends

2009-02-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

Arriving in San Marcos

Last week our good friends and former neighbors, the Kirklands, came to see us along with their two new friends, Phil and Rel, from San Diego. We had a blast traveling around Guatemala and showing them some of our favorite spots.

We started off the trip with two days at Lago Atitlán. We spent the first day in our favorite spot, San Marcos, at our favorite hotel, Aaculaax. Thankfully they liked it as much as we did and were equally impressed by the unique and creative rooms! Likewise, they seemed to enjoy all the
food!

Breakfast at Aaculaax

Lunch at Moonfish Cafe

The view from Phil and Rel's room

Matt & Erika just hanging out...

The second day we boated it over to Panajachel for an afternoon of zip-lining, swimming and sun-bathing, and then some shopping. More photos from Matt HERE.

The fearless crew

Walking around Pana

Looks rough, doesn't it?

We came back to Guatemala City Tuesday afternoon and had a nice pasta dinner together that evening. On Wednesday, I took our guests to Volcan Pacaya for a hike and an upclose look at some lava! (Unfortunately, Beth had to work that day, so she couldn't join us.) Everyone was pretty excited by the active volcano, and we were all pretty worn out after the tough hike. Check out Matt's photos of the hike HERE! And definitely don't miss the short video HERE!

On the way back to the city, we dropped off Phil and Rel in Antigua as they were planning to spend the next two days volunteering at an orphanage run by one of their friends.

Thursday was our down day, so we had a later morning and then joined Beth at school for a tour of the campus and lunch together outside. I spent the afternoon working while the Kirklands took it easy. That evening, we all enjoyed another dinner at home and watched LOST, The Office, and 30 Rock.

Friday I took Matt and Erika down to the historic Zone 1 for a view of the central plaza and a bit of shopping in the market. We finished with a true Guatemalan lunch down in the market at one of the restaurant stalls. In the afternoon, we picked up Beth from school and headed over to Antigua for our final night together.

After checking in to our hotel, we strolled over to a restaurant for happy hour snacks and drinks to watch the sun set amongst the volcanos. Then we met back up with Phil and Rel and had dinner at a small rooftop restaurant. Afterwards, we went to the nicest place in Antigua, Casa Santo Domingo, for dessert. By then we were all pretty stuffed and sleepy and called it a night around 10 p.m.

The next day we had a delicious breakfast at our favorite place, Rainbown Cafe. Then we spent the rest of the morning sight-seeing and shopping. Throughout the day, Volcan Fugeo was extremely active. At one point, while the Kirklands were exploring some ruins, Beth and sat in the shade and watched the volcano erupt and spout out large streams of smoke four times in a half hour.

At noon we headed back to the city to go to airport. It was sad to say goodbye, but we're planning to visit Matt and Erika in San Diego this July. We had such a fun time with Matt, Erika, Phil, and Rel. Thank you for visiting us!

Pacaya Porter: Success!

2009-02-20T12:07:00.000-08:00

I just sampled the first Pacaya Porter with my good friend Matt, and I can happily say the beer turned out successfully! It's even a little early to be sampling it (I should have waited at minimum till next Wednesday), but it's already tasting good. It came out the right color with a tan head, has a pleasant dark, fruity smell, the body is nice with a subtle carbonation (hoping this will improve a little more over the coming weeks) and the flavor is surprisingly good. I really had low expectations for my first beer and this one far exceeded them. I'm very happy right now.

Three Days at the Beach

2009-02-14T06:18:00.001-08:00

Last year Beth and I fell in love with Sunzal, a beach and little surfing community in El Salvador. I think we went four times between January and June. But when we came back from summer break in 2008, for some reason we never got around to going again before Christmas. We finally made it back this past long weekend and immediately fell in love with the place all over again.

Friday morning we caravanned with a group of teachers (12 at the time, though 3 more met us at the beach later) to the beach. One of the reasons we like going so much is that it's the easiest drive to make of any of our usual destinations. The road out of the city is much better, and the highways in El Salvador are leaps and bounds better than Guatemala's, not to mention it's quite scenic.

Of course, there really isn't much to report of our time at the beach. We did a whole lot of swimming, reading, eating ceviche (like a shrimp salad) and pupusas (stuffed tortillas), drinking fruit smoothies, and just hanging out with our friends. We spent our mornings over at a nearby small hotel/restauarant overlooking the ocean, our afternoons boogie boarding, watching the surfers (in absolute amazement -- it looks so hard and intimidating!), and the evenings playing pool and playing music.

Breakfast at Miramar -- the greatest view in Sunzal

Gimme a B-E-A-C-H!

Playing pool on the beach

Don't worry - I cleared the table, then sunk the 8-ball in the wrong pocket -- and scratched!

Beth, Jean Ah, and Wendy

James and Mike

Wishing sunset wasn't over

We had several musicians with us: Mike, Andy, (guitarists) David (guitarist/keyboardist) and Reid (banjo-ist). And we struck gold by inviting a nice surfer fellow to join us. Stephen was a Talent. He could pick up the guitar or banjo and pull sound out of it that you didn't think was previously possible. He also knew tons of Beatles' songs, and Beth was in her element, singing along to every song he played. She said it reminded her of being at home around her Dad and her dad's musical friends.

Mike on the guitar and Reid strumming the banjo

Stephen! Surfer and Guitarist Virtuoso -- we all wondered what he was doing on a beach and not in a band

My favorite song he played and sung:
Something in the Way She Moves by James Taylor

The bad news? It looks as if many of us got food poisoning/bacterial infection on some level. James and I had rumbly tummies for a few days, but some of our friends were much sicker, and one friend ended up going to the doctor and finding out she had e-Coli bacterial poisoning.

Warning: Pupusas may be hazardous to your health! But don't let that stop you. :)

.....but wasn't it all worth it in the end, to spend three days at the beach?

Bottling Night at Mildren Brew. Co.

2009-02-12T06:03:00.000-08:00

After anxiously waiting and waiting the last two-and-a-half weeks, my beer was finally ready to be bottled. Last night after Spanish class, the ever-helpful Beth assisted me in the process. I really would have been lost at a couple points in the brewing process if it weren't for her mathematical skills. Since I ended up with less beer than I had anticipated, I had to adjust the quantity of the priming sugar we mixed in last night. I would have just eyeballed it if I were on my own, but Beth actually guided me in measuring it all out and doing the proper conversions.

So, I boiled the sugar in a little bit of water and then poured it into an empty and sanitized water jug. The reason for adding the sugar is to give the yeast in the beer a little more to eat on while in the bottle which will create a natural carbonation and up the alcohol percentage a bit. While the sugar was boiling, I dipped all my clean, empty bottles into the sanitized water solution to prepare them for the beer. Next I siphoned out the beer from the fermenter into the jug with the sugar. I gently swirled the sugar into the beer (careful not to swirl too hard as oxygenating the beer can hurt the flavor) and then prepared to begin bottling and capping.

Siphoning the beer

My brew kit came with this neat bottling wand and it's just a narrow tube of plastic with a little tip on the end that when pressed down will release the beer (it's connected to the siphon). So I just put it into the bottle, press down, and the beer starts flowing. When the bottle's full, I pull up and the flow is cut off. Beth set out the empty bottles for me to fill and kindly capped the full ones. She did a great job and I really appreciate her getting into this hobby with me.

Filling the bottles

Once all the bottles were filled and capped, I counted up 31 12-oz. bottles and 1 22-oz. bottle. Not bad! Especially since I ended up with about 40% less than I should have. Now I'm supposed to wait another two weeks before drinking them. But, I'll probably try one in about 10 days as I'd like to have our soon-to-arrive guests, Matt and Erika, try it. I'll be sure to follow up on the flavor.

Capping the bottles

Mildren Brewing up and running!

2009-01-26T06:13:00.000-08:00

This past Christmas, Beth's parents got me a brewer starter kit from Bachus & Barleycorn in Kansas City. I've had some interest in doing homebrewing for a few years now, but living in craft beer-starved Guatemala for the past year-and-a-half was the impetus I needed to begin making my own beer. I brought back two ingredient packs, one of which was a gift from my good friend, Adam (who is also beginning to homebrew), and each one will yield around 5 gallons of beer (45 or more 12 oz. bottles of beer).

On Saturday, I started to make an English porter, which is a black beer with strong malt flavors and low hop bitterness--an easy-drinking ale. I'm calling it "Pacaya Porter," in honor of the active and black cooled-magma volcano, Pacaya. Using instructions provided by the homebrew shop as well as information from my copy of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, I started to brew!

First I steeped a bag of pre-cracked grains in the water as I slowly brought it up to a temp of 170F.

Then I brought it to a boil, added the two cans of malt extract and hops and boiled it all for 45 minutes, checking often so as not to have a messy, sticky boil-over.

In the final 15 minutes I added more hops and a little Irish moss for additional flavoring and aroma. After an hour of boiling, I allowed the pot to cool for 30 minutes before then submerging it in a sink of ice to bring the temp down rapidly. Everything went surprisingly smooth, but then here's where things got messy...

I was supposed to transfer the "wort" (cooked ingredients) to my fermenter (in this case, a 5-gallon water jug). The trouble was that I needed to strain it as it went in. But since it was passing through a narrow neck, it was hard to accurately pour into the opening, as well, the strainer kept filling up and the wort spilled off the sides. In the end, I spilled a lot of valuable wort and made a BIG mess. Beth and I were pretty flustered, but we eventually got it all transfered over. We then had to calculate how much wort was lost and recalculate how much water to add to it. In the end, I went from making a 5-gallon batch to 3! Oh well. It's part of the learning process and everyone says something will go wrong during your first few batches.

After the water was added, I added the liquid yeast (which eats the malt sugars and converts them to alcohol), and attached the airlock (which allows the carbon dioxide to expel while keeping out all air-born bacteria and wild yeasts that could ruin the beer).

After sitting in the dark in our closet over night, I checked the fermenter and could see "kraeusen" forming on the top. This is a result of active yeast and a good sign!

The beer needs to sit for another two weeks to ferment. My next step will be to siphon out the liquid into another container and then add a sugary concoction to it. I do this right before I bottle the beer so that the yeast has more sugar to munch on while in the bottle so that it will create a natural carbonation. After sitting in the bottles for another week or two, the beer should be ready (assuming everything went accordingly!). I'll definitely post a follow-up to let you all know how it went.

- - - -

After a long afternoon of brewing, Beth and I were treated to a gorgeous sunset and BBQ dinner at our friend Kris' place.

Holiday Break and White Elephant 1, 2, and 3

2009-01-24T07:42:00.000-08:00

Holiday break in the U.S. was long, relaxing, and satisfying! We flew in December 10 in order to be able to make the famous annual Pennington and Company Christmas party (the company James does freelance work for).

The P & C gang

This was a fun time not only because James got to reconnect to coworkers that he hopes to work with again in July, but also because we got to see so many close friends! P & C is such a great place to work, and many times they allow their employees to work remotely. On the other hand, this means many of our closest friends have moved away and won't be there when we return. But they all made it back for the Christmas party, and it felt as if nothing had changed!

NEOSHO After a few days in Lawrence spending time with close friends, we then spent 10 long days of luxury in Neosho, Missouri, where Mom and Dad Kenny (Beth's parents) had recently built a new house and got a new baby pet pug, Mitzi! The house was awesome and comfortable, and watching TV on a giant HDTV was surreal.

The Kenny Family

Christmas Eve-Eve Evening

John, Paul, Ringo, and George

Tim, Natalie, Robin, and James

We spent our days playing video games with Beth's brother and sister, reading, eating Cheez Its, sitting in the hot tub, and drinking good beer, of course! Christmas in Neosho was magical, fun, and we celebrated with presents in the evening, a new tradition for the Kennys. James' big gift was a beer-making kit, which we dragged back to Guatemala. We hope it will turn out well!

WEST PLAINS After 10 great days, we went to West Plains to spend 10 more great days with Mom and Dad Mildren (James' parents)...and our cat, Mia! Again, there is not much to report since we just did so much relaxing! Christmas Day at the Mildren house is a fun time, and we especially enjoyed Mom Mildren's cookie-baking.

The Mildren Family

Mark, Lynda, Gabby, James

Our beloved Mia

Our beloved Lynda

SPRINGFIELD New Years Eve was celebrated in Springfield, Missouri, with some more close friends, the Pypers, and our friends Adam and Molly.

Adam, Stan, James

Happy 2009!

KC Then, to end the visit, we spent a few days in Kansas City relaxing with more friends. It was a great break!...but did we mention it was freezing cold?

Friends in Kansas City

************************************

3 White Elephant Parties

6 ridiculous gifts

James' contribution poster to our Guate party

While we were home, we had two white elephant parties, where everyone brings an already-owned gift they don't want anymore and then you trade, steal, and end up with, well, who knows! :) Then back here in Guate, we hosted one. We love white elephant parties because we get to be creative and funny and get rid of our junk we don't want anymore. It's also fun to see what others have been hiding in their house all year!

Side note: The BEST white elephant gift we have ever received was the squirrel toilet paper cover from Jake and Amber, from Amber's grandmother (2007).

White Elephant I: Journey Group Party

Dillon, Cara, Kristin, Pat

Lucky Pat!

I hit the jackpot

This gift was so bad it deserved the fireplace!

White Elephant II: P & C Christmas Party

Aaron is excited about his new mask!

Robert scored the Gallo

Isn't everyone looking to add to their VHS collection?

Mandi can rock that hat in L.A. for 2009

White Elephant III: Guatemala CAG Teacher Party

So many great gifts!

I think Mike brings a mustache to every party...

James has been needing a new cell phone purse

Poor Mike. He just got stamps.

Nina got a "hippy kit" of incense

We can't wait for Christmas 2009!

We're back! But it wasn't easy.

2009-01-07T06:27:00.000-08:00

Beth and I finally made it back to Guatemala yesterday afternoon and soon we'll have some posts about our Christmas vacation. For now I will share our nightmare of an experience getting home...

So, Beth and I booked some pretty terrible times to fly home and return to Guatemala for Christmas break because we were able to save $1,000! On Monday evening we flew out of Kansas City on time at 6 p.m. We arrived in Chicago with no troubles and immediately met up with Beth's sister Robin. She was nice enough to come pick us up and then drop us back off at the airport just for dinner. Our flight from Chicago to Guatemala City wasn't schedule to take off until 2 a.m., so it was great just to get out of the airport for a couple hours.

After dinner, we came back to the airport and checked in at 10. We found our gate and just hung out, watching some TV shows on my MP3 player, reading, and eventually napping from midnight till 1:15 or so. Boarding began on time probably around 1:45, but then suddenly an announcement came on alerting us that the pilot had been rushed to the hospital. We would not be able to leave until he was released from the hospital. So, not only were we at the mercy of the hospital and doctors' schedules, but then we were supposed to have a pilot just discharged from the hospital fly us back? That didn't sound too appealing.

So, the hours dragged on and on, with no updates or any idea of when we could leave. All I could do was try and sleep away the night. Curled up on the floor using a backpack full of books for a pillow, I managed to sleep off and on. Beth was too worked up to sleep for hours, and both of us were cold, and neither of us had a heavy jacket to keep warm in.

Once stores reopened at 6 a.m., Beth bought some Tylenol PM which helped us both sleep better for the next couple hours. Finally at 9 a.m. we were told we would board at 10 a.m.--eight hours later! We did board at 10, but we never took off until 11:15 as the plane and runway had to be cleared of snow and ice.

The flight home took 4 hours and 15 minutes and it was the longest feeling flight of our lives! Time just crept by, even with napping here and there. In addition, the plane was hot, multiple babies were crying at various times, and two people sitting directly behind us threw up during a bout of turbulence (which we had a lot of throughout the flight).

We finally got in to Guatemala City around 3:45 or so. We had been traveling for nearly 24 hours. Thankfully all our luggage arrived and we were able to get home with no problems to a clean, quite, and comfortable apartment. We slept great last night.

Beautiful Brussels

2008-12-06T06:13:00.000-08:00

There are still several place in Europe we visited that we have yet to blog about, and we've been looking forward to sharing about Brussels, Belgium, since we left the place! Before we left for Brussels, we had read that if you only have a few days in Belgium you shout hit Brugges or Ghent for their Middle Ages charm, but we disagree! We found Brussels to be clean, multi-cultural, charming, and full of great places and historical sites.

Brussels is the capital of Europe, and hosts the main institutions of the EU and NATO, so you are bound to see people from all across Europe there, even if they are just working. You will also hear many languages when you are there! Even the locals can't decide, and both Dutch and French are needed to get by (mainly French according to our friend from Brussels, David).

Architecture

Brussels, like most major cities in Europe, has seen its fair share of destruction and war. In 1695, French troops bombarded Brussels with artillery. Together with the resulting fire, it was most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels. The Grand Place was destroyed, along with 4,000 buildings. The reconstruction of the city center, effected during subsequent years, profoundly changed the appearance of the city and left numerous traces still visible today. It was also bombed by the German Luftwaffe between 1940 and 1945.

It has obviously rebuilt some extremely wonderful buildings, and we enjoyed the wide span of design the buildings represented. From medieval to modern, we loved this city!

Grand Place (above)
Guild Houses
and the city center

The King's House (above)
Het Broodhuis

Hotel de Ville (above)
Town Hall
Stadhuis

St. Michael and Gudula Cathedral

Royal Palace

Cinquantenaire triumphal arc

A view from the top of the arc

Cinquantenaire park
We loved this picturesque park

Atomium
built for the 1958 World Fair
We didn't make it to this site in person, but it was visible from the top of the Arch

EU Headquarters

Food 'n Fun

Manneken Pis
A whimsical symbol of the city

Of course our stop in Brussels was not just for its superb art museums, parks, and other field-trip-friendly qualities (which we cannot say enough about! Brussels was right up our alley in terms of art, history, and culture). Brussels is also known for its local waffle, its chocolate, its french fries and its numerous types of beers. As you can probably guess, the Brussel sprout was first cultivated in Brussels, hence its name.

Between my love of quality chocolate and James' love of quality beer, as we were admiring all of these gorgeous sites we did it with chocolate in mouth or beer in hand! Warning: Brussels is not a tourist destination for those looking to lose weight--or maintain it--and they will suffer immensely should they visit this haven of gastronomical delights. Luckily our goal was to gain weight, because that meant we were getting our fill of chocolate or beer. Or waffles. Or fries.

This must be what heaven looks like

It is worth mentioning that Délirium Café is located in Brussels. The signature beer is the Delirium Tremens, which is where the bar derived its name. The Délirium Café is notable because it offers a beer list of over 2,000 beers, a Guiness world record! We were not disappointed. When we visited, the place was packed and there was a local band rocking out -- in French! It was a great cultural moment--smoky, but cultural.

Of all the traditional and unique Belgian-style beers, I also discovered the kriek ("creek") beer. It's fermented with sour cherries, and it is (warning, pun ahead) berry beery!

A Framboise Beer
Similar to the kriek, but with raspberries

Lake Addiction

2008-11-30T06:46:00.000-08:00

This week I got very sick from a bacteria infection and ended up in the hospital. It wasn't anything long-lasting and the good doctors were immensely helpful. But sadly because I was on a restricted diet and still not 100%, James and I had to stay in Guatemala City instead of going on a fun 4-day Thanksgiving Day weekend trip to Semuc Champey.

In order to boost my spirits (and since there is nothing going on worth blogging about unless you count The Price is Right and games of Scrabble), I've decided to post some pictures of the previous two long weekends in which we have gone with friends to Aaculaax, an eco-lodge on Lake Atitlan.

September

The lake

The group

Path to Aaculaax

Room at Aaculaax

Lake swimming!

Couple Jump

Actual color of the water

Kari at Moonfish Cafe

October

Horseback riding around part of the lake

Yee Haw!

Playing Guesstures

Jungle Party

NOFX's first ever Barbershop Quartet

Goat-amala

2008-11-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

Yes, in the middle of the largest city in Central America,
you can still get your vitamin D the old-fashioned way.

Straight from a goat.

Herding the goats to the market down the street

Getting the milk straight into the drinking cup

Serving it to Mom and Son

Cheers!

Kite Festival in Santiago

2008-11-16T17:14:00.000-08:00

On November 1, All Saints' Day (El Dia de Todos los Santos), we went to Santiago, Sacatepequez in Guatemala to celebrate relatives and loved ones passed before us in the Kite Festival.

At the Kite Festival, Guatemalans create giant kites (barriletes) to be flown, sending prayers and good wishes to their beloved in Heaven, and to ward off evil spirits. This is a communication with the Dead, and a way to celebrate the better life waiting for us all after death. The kites in Santiago are famously gigantic, intricate, and professionally done. It was definitely one of the most amazing cultural events we've had the pleasure of experiencing!

Yes, it is impossible for James to "blend in"

It is also impossible to pass up fresh blue corn tortillas! Mmmm!

Basically, they take the large kites up on top of an above-ground grave or the cemetery moselium, wait for a large gust of wind, and hope for the best. Some kites make it up several hundred feet, while others may barely make it off the ground before crashing down. When you were walking you had to be careful that a kite didn't come dive-bombing out of the sky or that you weren't stepping on the kite string being pulled by a small group of young men keeping the kites up!

We were very surprised to see a cemetery be so full of, well, life!

Everywhere people and families were laughing and busy decorating; graves were adorned happily with flowers, food and water, and relatives perched on them for a better view. It was such a festive and fun atmosphere that one couldn't be sad for very long, even with concerted effort!

The best way to experience this festival is with less verbiage and more footage! Enjoy this day in pictures, please!

Decorating Family Graves (and hanging out on them)

More convenient than a park bench

Very quaint graves!

Making the Kites

Kites are made of thin tissue/gift paper
They have bamboo backbones
They are bound together with rope, tape, and newspaper

These are some of the smaller kites

It seemed like the men were in charge of making and flying the kites
The women were in charge of grave decoration and adoration

This is one of the GIANT kites (2 stories tall, at least!)
We heard mixed reviews as to whether or not they actually try to fly these
By the end of the day there are five giant kites standing! WOW!

Three of the Five giant kites up already

Flying the Kites

At one point we counted 12+ kites going
If you can imagine how huge these kites were,
you can also tell how high they are by how small they appear in the sky

They were all so beautiful and well designed

Waiting for the wind...

Giant kites get stuck in trees, too!

It's harder than it looks to keep them in the air!

Winners of a local beauty pageant

We enjoyed some crazy corn (elote loco) at the end of the day

Going to the Movies in Guatemala

2008-11-11T04:27:00.000-08:00

Last night James and I went to see the new James Bond movie at a nice movie theater, and we were once again torn between the advantages and disadvantages of public movie watching here in Guate. It's just not the same as Kansas.

Pros

It is so inexpensive compared to the States! All totalled, we spent less than $13 for a new release evening showing and a large popcorn and 2 drinks.
We get to practice our Spanish since every movie is subtitled
Going to the movies obviously makes a movie more exciting with the great and full sound, giant screen, and dark theater

Cons

People are obnoxiously loud. They talk at full volume constantly. In fact, we try to sit closer to the front to avoid listening to people talk throughout the entire film
People bring their kids. Now unfortunately people do that in the States, too, but when the kids are too young to read the subtitles, Mom and Dad are translating (out loud of course) and trying to keep their kids entertained through the whole flick when the little ones become bored. Who wouldn't -- dragged to a foreign film at the age of 7?
People answer their cell phones without a second thought. When we went to see the new Batman the lady beside us took FOUR phone calls! See Con #1. Talked at normal volume and didn't use an inside voice

Usually the Cons outweigh the Pros for us. Our compromise is to only see action flicks where talkative people won't annoy us so much.

Halloween..Will We Ever Grow Up?

2008-11-08T04:41:00.000-08:00

Zombie Beth

Halloween this year was rather low-key since I had been battling a cold. I didn't want to put the time or energy into a crazy costume, so nothing dead or gory (sorry, James!).

In case you don't know my family history, Halloween is my favorite holiday! Growing up my Dad was the best Dad on the block because he would take us trick-or-treating to our heart's content! Sometimes a bit more so, since I have a few memories of aching hands from the overflowing, cheap plastic pumpkin candy holder, and of crying because my feet hurt or I was tired. But as a young soldier learning my craft, these were important lessons of endurance and the eventual Payoff. One year (we were older, probably too old, but oh well!) we each sacked up to 14 lbs. of candy! The other great thing about my parents is that they let us eat as MUCH candy as we wanted, when we wanted. Thank you Mom and Dad for not being lame health freaks! I remember gorging and feeling full, happy, and cramped from all the overeating on Halloween night. Of course Dad always took his finder's fee in the form of chocolate, though we tried to pass off those orange- and black-wrapped taffies that no one liked, but it never worked.

That being said, James and I try hard to follow my Dad's philosophy of never fully growing up, and of being child-like but not necessarily childish. This ethos manifests itself on Halloween, when we do our best to go in creative costumes!

Big Pimpkin

"Book Characters" was the theme for the Early Childhood section, and I went as a respectable Sherlock Holmes even though the kids were clueless and had never heard of him. Walking around with a pipe on school campus was fun, though! ha!

Sir Conan Arthur Doyle would have been proud!

Evening Party Explanation...

One of the main problems we have at out school is encouraging students to take responsibility for themselves, their actions, and hardest of all, their things. Many students at school have their own maid ("muchacha") who takes responsibility for the student, often acting in lieu of a parent, too often in lieu of the student! When I watch students get picked up from school by their maids, it's hard to watch, because I see these full-grown, able-bodied teenage boys (and everyone younger, obviously) become helpless as a toddler. They immediately hand off their lunchbox (usually the size of a small suitcase), backpack, jacket, and any school projects or posters to their muchacha.

We ain't looked so purdy since our wedd'n day!

So for the actual Halloween adult party we went to, James and I went as a CAG kid and his maid. Notice how proud and empty handed James is? And how I'm following behind carrying everything? Well, it might not be quite as hilarious to someone outside the school, but for us CAG teachers it was a riot! And the uni-brows? Just for fun, just for fun! Kids and maids don't really have them....We had to add something ridiculous to the costumes, right?! James had all the details, including the iPod earbuds, pubescent mustache, and Euro-faux-hawk!

Action Shot!
This is more what it looks like in real life...
A scared, overwhelmed muchacha trailing a confident kid

There were some other fun moments surrounding Halloween this year, too!

A Rocky Picture Horror Show viewing (our first!)

Charlotte

Kris
(does his outfit look familiar?)

A Halloween Kitty

A Pumpkin Carving Party

Ghent & the Summer Festival

2008-10-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

Beth and I are still blogging here and there about our trip to Europe this summer. This post is about my favorite city, Ghent, Belgium.

July 26, 27
After spending two fun days in Brussels (later blog), we took a 45-minute train ride to the nearby town of Ghent. From our understanding, most tourists go to Brugges when looking for a smaller city experience to Brussels. Luckily, we had the personal tip to visit Ghent from two teachers at Beth's school who lived in Brussels for 12 or so years. They thought Brugges was too touristy and Ghent was still relatively undiscovered. We're so glad we took their advice as it turned out to be a highlight of our trip.

Our timing to visit Ghent couldn't have been better as it coincided with their annual summer festival. This festival is actually the largest open-air festival in Europe, drawing 1.5 million people. Ironically, this time of the year makes it very touristy, but the festival just added to our experience of Ghent being a lively city. During the week, there are numerous musical performances throughout the city center (from hip hop to soul to rock to r&b and on) going on at all times, street perfomers of all types (mimes, break dancers, solo and group musicians, artists, comedians, magicians), carnival rides, and loads of good food and beer tents. Best of all, all the entertainment is free! We watched an incredible concert late one night of a local Ghent girl who has become a famous soul singer with a seven-piece big band. There was a huge crowd of people watching the performance which went on past midnight. Beth and I were amazed each night as we headed off to bed (1:30 a.m. or so) how many thousands upon thousands of people still going strong. The festival really never stops.

Super talented and fun Gypsy band

Ghent looks great at night!

The old castle

During the days we enjoyed exploring the city, marvelling at the 17th century architecture and the 8th century castle (which warded off vikings!), meandering through the miriad of interesting shops and galleries, touring the massive and beautiful churches, taking a Duvel boat ride (drink a Duvel while you travel!) throughout the city along it's two rivers (which divide up the city center and give it a lot of character, much like the canals of Amsterdam), stopping off at various tents for snacks and drinks to people-watch, and discovering all kinds of entertainments scattered about.

There's a big carnival ride jutting up in front of the churches.

Typical city streets near the center

At one point during our boat ride, we passed underneath a live concert!

The festival really made the experience for us in Ghent, but I think it would still be a great city to spend a few days in any other time of the year. We really hope to go back one day.

Some especially memorable buildings

Eye Has a Callous

2008-10-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

Not quite the take-home souvenir from Guatemala I've always wanted....

I have developed an eye callous (scientific name: pinguecula). The ophthalmologist said people get eye callouses due to UV exposure (think 5,000 ft. closer to the sun than Kansas!), dust, pollution, and wind. Hm. You mean, due to living in Guatemala? He also said that they are more common than you would think! The good news is that it's just a cosmetic issue and doesn't harm your eyesight unless it goes untreated. And mine is not even that noticeable -- James didn't see it until I pointed it out to him. The good doctor also said they don't go away...they are sort of like freckles in that once you have it, it's there to stay, but you can lesson its growth and irritation..... So I'm on a steady diet of eye drops, UV protective sunglasses, and enclosed vehicles when in the city.

Not my eye, but it looks very similar

Linden "Marathoner" Mueller

2008-09-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

The Mildrens would like to give a hearty congratulations to

Linden Mueller
Marathoner Extraordinaire!

Linden completed her first-ever marathon in Berlin, Germany in under 5 hours!

We are so proud of her!

If you'd like to congratulate Linden yourself, go to her blog and post a comment.

Sidenote: We'd also like to thank Rob for being there and running most of Linden's training runs with her, for giving her daily emotional support, and for believing in all of Linden's goals and dreams. We love you, and we are proud of you, too!!!

New Apartment, New Kitty!

2008-09-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

Rafa, our new Kitty!!

Before going into the more exciting part of the blog (scroll down if you just can't wait for Cute Overload-worthy photos) we moved into a new apartment over the summer, and boy do we like it!

It may not be as fancy or bright as our first apartment which we definitely definitely miss, but it has several benefits that make it worth the move:

It is on the ground floor, diminishing the constant shaking feeling from any and all earthquakes!
It is in a safer area of the zone we live in, and there is even a neighborhood watch! This is not your typical small-town watch, either. There are guys with guns who drive around on motorcycles and stand on street corners to make sure everything stays safe. Nice!
We have a patio that we can hang out on!
It came with three incredibly comfortable couches that beg you to be lazy :)
Rent is lower here, so we are able to save some money as well.

The Living Room area

The Entrance area and Dining area

The very spacious bedroom

The Kitchen

The Spare Bedroom/Office with a huge window looking out to the patio

A bathroom

The Patio!
Complete with an avocado tree growing into our area

Second (and much more importantly) we temporarily adopted a kitten! He is from our friend Patricia's friend, Manolo, and we got him when he was only 4 weeks old. He's so small and adorable, and we have certainly missed the companionship of a pet. We are pretty sure we are going to name him Rafael ("Rafa" for short) after our favorite tennis player, the Spanish Rafael Nadal. We like the name also because when we call his name we get to roll our R's -- "Rrrrrrrrrrafa!"

Bone Chapel and Beyond: Capturing Kutná Hora

2008-09-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, this odd sight is explainable!

During our time in the Czech Republic, we took a day trip from Prague to the small, quaint town of Kutná Hora which packed in the landmarks for such an unassuming place!

Bone Chapel

Don't judge a chapel by its cloisters!

At the top of the sight-seeing list (and the main reason for visiting the town) was the Sedlec Ossuary, or more simply put, the Bone Chapel! The chapel and surrounding cemetery date back to the 1300s, but the redecorated interior of bones was added in the 1700s. According to the city's website,

Remarkable masterpieces include a massive chandelier, a cross, chalices, a monstrance or Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms. According to estimates, bones of approximately 40,000 people were used to decorate the chapel, creating this unique ossuary – a reminder of the transience of human life and the inevitability of death.

Needless to say, it was a truly awesome and unique sight!

The IHS monogram of the name of Jesus name

One of several bone chalices

The Schwarzenberg coat-of-arms

Chapel arches were tastefully done in skull-and-bones style

A close-up of one of the many free-standing stacks of bones

This chandelier is said to contain every bone in the human body -- and then some!

The chandelier was above several angel-topped skulled columns

Cathedral of St. Barbara

This cathedral was one of the most amazing structures we saw while in Europe!

The cathedral was designed by Peter Parler, the same man who designed the famous S t. Vitus' Cathedral in Prague on the banks of the Vltava River. The Cathedral of St. Barbara was constructed extremely quickly -- 150 years -- in comparison to St. Vitus (900+ years). It is the Cathedral of St. Barbara, the patron saint of miners since the city was originally founded and flourished with its silver mines. The stone used was also from the mines, and the stained glass art depicts hard labor and mining scenes. There is even a Miners' Chapel.

Frankly we were more impressed by this cathedral than St. Vitus in Prague due to its massive size, plethora of gothic spires, and the view cleanly competed with the city of Prague, as it looked out over the city of Kutná Hora and surrounding lush valley.

Does this look familiar? It should! The same famous Bohemian architect, Peter Parler, designed the cathedral and the statue-laden path on the way to the church, much like his design of St. Charles' bridge on the way to St. Vitus' Cathedral in Prague.

A side view of St. Barbara with the spires in all their gothic glory

The equally impressive back of the cathedral, which houses the nave

A view of Kutná Hora from the cathedral, including the view on another church in town

Plague Column

According to the city's website, the Plague Column is the "Baroque Jewel" of Kutná Hora.

The Plague Column was created between 1713 and 1715 as a reaction to plague epidemic that struck Kutná Hora in 1713 and left thousands of victims behind.

Click on the image for a better look at this Baroque jewel

Stone Fountain

According to the city's website,

The Stone Fountain was the town's burghers’ wordless tribute to water. That is to say water was always lacking in Kutná Hora, therefore bringing a rich spring through a system of wooden pipes right into the heart of the town was a creditable effort. The Stone Fountain was built in 1495. This polygonal structure that was originally decorated by a number of statues stands at a beautiful location on a small square surrounded by a splendid complex of burgher houses.

All in all, our impression of Kutná Hora was a small town that packed a big punch! We would have been satisfied with just the Bone Chapel, but we were pleasantly surprised with all the other sights that awaited us. This is not a city to miss!

The Creepies and the Crawlies

2008-09-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

This week I saw some new itsy bitsy creatures that go up the water spout...

A crazy caterpillar....

Its spikes are supposedly poisonous!

It was about 5 inches long and very healthy

A small scorpion in a friend's room at an eco-lodge at the Lake

A nest of daddy long leg spiders!

James after being bitten 25+ times by a swarm of ants!

***

Good night

sleep tight

don't let the bed bugs bite!

Visiting the Pilsner Urquell brewery in Plzen, Czech Republic

2008-09-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

July 19, 2008

We spent ALL of Friday, July 18, walking around Prague, so we took Saturday a little easier and headed over by train to the town of Plzen for some relaxed exploring. Plzen was a town I wanted to visit ever since I saw it featured on the old PBS series "The Beer Hunter" because it's home to one of the most influential and famous breweries, the Pilsner Urquell Brewery. It's influential because the style of beer known as "pilsner" or "pils" originated here, and more than two-thirds of all beer produced in the world owe their inspiration to the Plzen original. Budweiser/Miller/Coors/Corona--their beers are all pilsner style, though lighter and watered down compared to the original.

Quick history on the brewery and beer

The city of Plzen traces it's connection with beer all the way back to 1295 when its founder King Wenceslaus II granted a brewing license to 257 city houses, allowing them to malt, brew, and serve beer. Sadly, for the next 700 years the beer produced was lackluster and the city struggled to keep up with competition. In 1839, the residents had had enough and dramatically emptied 36 barrells of undrinkable beer in front of city hall. This spurred the town authorities to combine forces and build a modern brewery. In 1842 the Mestansky pivovar (Burgess' brewery) opened its gates and welcomed their first brewer, Josef Groll. Later that year, and before his 30th birthday, Josef succeeded in producing the first golden, crisp, and delicious bottom-fermented beer--Pilsen lager. The renown of Pilsen beer quickly spread beyond the Bohemian borders, and the rest is history!

When we arrived in Plzen, we made our way to the city center, which was a short walk from the train station. The main square was expansive and lined with lovely old buildings that are well-maintained; a large, old church and tall clock tower provide the main focal point. We climbed the narrow and steep stairs to the top for the best view of the city.

After briefly exploring the city center, we made our way to the brewery in time for the 12:45 English-speaking tour. Walking up to Pilsner Urquell, the famous gates greeted us into the impressive grounds that house the original and new factories, visitors center, brewing museum, bottling center, water tower, and gift shop. The brewery is a big tourist draw, and we witnessed full groups of Germans and Japanese taking tours. Our group was around 20 people, and our guide was a local Plzener in his late 20s.

The Tour

The tour was impressive, informative, and fun, and not just for me, but for Rob, Linden, and Beth, too. It started off in a spacious theater with a well-made short film about the brewery's history. Next we walked outside to hear explanations of all the buildings, with the oldest dating back to 1849. We then went into the old brewery-now-historical museum, riding up the largest elevator in Czech Republic (*an odd fact*) and entered another theater. This one was unique in that we all stood on a revolving platform in front of screen that wrapped around 3/4 of the room. We watched another film, this one explaining the origin and process of making the Pilsner Urquell beer. It was really cool! They utilized the screen and rotating platform to present the info in a really engaging way.

Bottling line (and a cool shot using the color accent mode on the camera)

We then went on to a room with information and samples of the special barley, malt, water, hops, and yeast that go into making the beer. You could touch and taste everything. That was followed by a walk-through of a room housing the old copper mashes (which mix the ingredients when making beer) before making our way into the new brew room. The new facility is state-of-the-art and totally computer-controlled, not to mention very warm and smelling like hay! Only five people at a time are needed to oversee the process of making all the beer during this stage of production.

Linden playing with the barley.

The Cellars

The last leg of the tour was the best. We got to see their underground cellars which were hewn out of the sandstone beneath the brewery and stretch to the unbelievable length of five and a half miles. The ceilings feature a unique cooling method by suspending blocks of ice overhead. The place felt like a cold, murky labrinth, with halls splitting off everywhere and full of gigantic barrels. Despite the brewery's upgrade to an ultra modern factory, beer is still produced in a small section of the cellars using a variety of wooden containers that follow the traditional method of open-air fermentation (no lid on the barrel). This beer, while offered for tasting to the visitors as a special part of the tour, is also used to make constant comparisons of the taste and quality of the beer produced using the traditional method and the modern method.

Our guide explains to us the map of the cellars.

Linden looking up at the suspended cooling units while Rob and I marvel at the size of the barrels.

Open-air fermentation in progress. The scum on top doesn't look too appealing, but what eventually pours out sure does.

The Beer

Tasting the fresh and unfiltered beer straight out of the holding barrel was the highlight of the tour. Compared to the bottled variety you can pick up in stores, this one was cloudy (due to it being unfiltered), brighter and more orange than golden yellow, had a noticeably stronger and fresher aroma and flavor, and had a fuller, softer body. Mmmmm! Following the tour, we chatted with our guide about a good place to eat in town and have another beer. We were surprised and delighted to learn of the Na Parkanu restaurant, the only other place that serves the traditional beer we just sampled. So, following our hearty Czech lunch and more sight-seeing, we played cards and enjoyed one more round before catching our train back to Prague.

Brewery worker pouring us our beers straight from the barrel.

Linden, Rob, James, and Beth enjoying their beers underneath the brewery.

Tasty, traditional Czech food and beer

The restaurant where we enjoyed more of the special beer.

Guatejava

2008-09-06T06:42:00.000-07:00

~ Cup of Joe ~ Rocket Fuel ~ Jitter Juice ~ Morning Mojo ~ Jolting Java ~

Whatever you want to call it, coffee is an undeniable yet unabashed joy (vice?) for James, our friend Tammy, and me! We are in luck. Guatemala produces some of the finest coffees in the world, so visiting a the Azotea coffee plantation (finca) and museum recently seemed like the perfect way to spend an afternoon during her visit!

Coffee is a bush plant that can grow up to 8 ft. high, and its berries and leaves contain about 2% caffeine. It was "discovered" in Ethiopia when a goat herder noticed his flock became excited when they ate leaves and berries from a certain bush. From Ethiopia, coffee production spread to Arabian countries, then to Europe, and arrived in the Americas in the 1700s.

Un-ripe coffee berries They usually ripen and are harvested Dec. - March

Ripened beans (termed cherries) from last November at Atitlan

Why We Love Guate Java

Guatemala coffee is considered so tasty because of the unique environment it is grown in. Rich volcanic soil, low humidity, high altitude (5,000 ft) and temperate weather all combine to produce excellent beans and therefore excellent coffee! MMmmmm!

A coffee plantation (finca)

The modern-day coffee planting process in Gualtemala usually involves both growing and cultivating the actual coffee plant as well as the trees used to provide shade for the best growing conditions. While there are many different types of coffee beans grown in the world, most Guatemalan coffee is referred to as "shade-grown, high-altitude coffee." The coffee bush that yields the coffee beans (we say beans but they are actually berries) is low (again, usually no more than 6-8 ft. high) and grown in the "understory" beneath a shady tree canopy, which provides for the best growing conditions, and therefore, best coffee! There are actually 8 different growing regions in Guatemala.

The smaller coffee plants are in rows
They are "shade grown" based on the taller trees providing the canopy above

So, what do we drink here in Guatemala? Well, rumor has it that all of the "good" coffee is exported out of the country and sold to conglomerates like Starbucks or Nescafe and the Guatemalans are left with the dregs. While on one level we believe this (it really is hard to find high quality coffee at grocery stores), it's possible to get locally grown coffee. For example, we bought Azotea coffee (which only sells its coffee in Guatemala and does not export any of it) and coffee from the highlands of the Panajachel Nature Reserve.

We bought our own coffee plant from Azotea!

The problem does not necessarily seem to be local bean quality but rather the storage and packaging. It is hard to find coffee that is stored in vacuum-sealed packages, which retains a coffee bean's freshness, moisture, and flavor. In the end, when we run out of local finds like Azotea or the Starbucks coffee our wonderful friends and family send us in care packages (thank you, Mom Kenny!), we buy the espresso whole bean coffee from PriceSmart (like a Costco) because the beans seem to be the richest in flavor and body. Coffee is cheaper here in Guate than the States. Coffee beans typically costs $4/lb here, compared to nearly $11 for Starbucks Antigua coffee sold Stateside.

The locally produced Azotea coffee
Grown, planted, processed, and roasted right here at the finca!

Museo Del Cafe
Coffee Museum

We were very impressed by the coffee museum at La Azotea! Not only were the finca grounds (no pun intended) beautifully landscaped with tropical flora and fauna, but there was also a musical museum as well! The coffee museumhad exhibits about the history of coffee, the growing process, the processing of the bean from the plant to the roasted form, the marketing of coffee, and the roasting room (tostaduria).

The scent of fresh-roasted coffee is irrestible

Interesting Coffee Facts*

The world's top 10 coffee-producing nations, in order of amount produced, are Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Ivory Coast and Uganda.

The top 10 coffee-importing countries, in order of amount imported, are the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, Poland and the Netherlands.

The 3 biggest coffee drinking countries of the world consume 65% of world coffee consumption.

1 kilogram of roasted coffee requires 4,000-5,000 coffee beans.

The human body will usually absorb up to about 300 milligrams of caffeine (4 cups of coffee) at a given time. The rest is just cast off, providing no further stimulation.

Dark roasted coffees actually have less caffeine than medium roasts. The longer a coffee is raosted, the more caffeeine burns off during the process.

Out of each dollar a cup of coffee costs, $0.84 goes to the Importing country, and only $0.16 goes to the Exporting country.

Espresso has 1/3 of the caffeine of a regular cup of coffee.

* Coffee Facts are from the following websites: pbs.org, cocojava.com, and centroazotea.com

I am a Jelly Doughnut

2008-08-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you true Berliners you already know that this blog post title is from JFK's infamous attempt at German, declaring "Ich bin ein Berliner" instead of "Ich bin Berliner." Well, Team Mildren-Mueller would like to think of itself as a hybrid jelly doughnut (Mildren)-Berlin citizen (Mueller).

Since Rob is from Berlin (the former Eastern part), we stayed with his family while visiting, which was fantastic. Even though we couldn't understand any German, they took hospitality to a whole new level! Not only did his family offer us a comfortable and friendly stay, but Rob himself acted as an extremely knowledgeable, patient, and interested city ambassador. He answered our million+ questions about the city and its history, took us to see all the attractions, took us to the best authentic döner kebab restaurant in a Turkish neighborhood, and he offered a unique perspective of what politics and city life is like these days. We cannot thank him enough for being so fun and helpful! What a great friend and fun travel partner! Thank you, Rob!!

Rob Mueller
Our beloved best buddy & Berliner :)

Of our entire stay in Europe, Berlin was the most exciting, exhillarating, and eye-catching city of the trip. I am officially claiming it as my favorite city in the world, earning the title after only a short, touristy visit. We also got to visit several museums, which is always a treat in Europe, especially with such giant and profound collections found in Berlin. We saw some amazing collections of classic, modern, and post-modern art!

Rodin's original sculpture of The Thinker

Picasso piece from the Berggruen museum

Berlin gives off the feel of a well designed, cosmopolitan community looking forward to the next big movement in culture and design, while its physical and psychological reminders keep it constantly grounded to its past of opulence, injustice, divisiveness, and war. For those of you jelly doughnuts, there is more to Berlin than the wall that divided it from 1961-1989. [Info mainly from Berlin.de and other sites]

A perfect example of Berlin architecture:
A building that is past and posh!

Berlin was established as a trading center and was ruled for more than 500 years by the Hohenzollern family. Starting in 1740, Berlin became a center for the Enlightenment movement in Europe, and this was when many of Berlin's more eloquent and lasting pieces of architecture were constructed, under Friedrich the Great.

During the 1800s the city flourished as the nation's political, economic, and scientific capital, leading the way in industry, arts, science, business, and research, encouraged by Kaiser Wilhelm I. The first parts of the 20th century were dominated by WWI and WWII.

Hitler's rise to power ended the democratic Weimar Republic and brought the National Socialist takeover and all its horrors: war, concentration camps, massive destruction and occupation of Western Europe, genocide, and totalitarian rule. In 1943, large-scale bombing of Berlin occurred, followed in 1945 by the ravaging Battle for Berlin.

After the war ends on 8 May 1945, much of Berlin is nothing but rubble: 600,000 apartments have been destroyed, and only 2.8 million of the city’s original population of 4.3 million still live in the city. In accordance with an agreement signed by the Allies, the city is divided into four sectors and administered jointly by the occupying powers, the United States of America, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union.

An old map of Berlin boundaries, divided by the Wall

Although the intent was for the occupying powers to govern Germany together inside the agreed-upon borders, the advent of Cold War tension caused the French, British and American zones to be formed into the Federal Republic of Germany (and West Berlin) in 1949, excluding the Soviet zone, which then formed the German Democratic Republic (GDR; including East Berlin).

A Trabant ("Trabi"), the standard East German car
Supposedly green Trabants bring good luck!

West Germany developed into a western capitalist country with a social market economy and a democratic government. On the other side, East Germany established an authoritarian government with a Soviet-style planned economy. While West Germany became rich, many East Germans wanted to move to West Germany, so the East German government constructed the Berlin Wall to stop East Germans from fleeing, and the wall remained until 1989.

Red Town Hall
Served as East Berlin's town hall during the Cold War era

During the Wall's time, many East German monuments and buildings were constructed as symbols of the GDR's power and dominance, regardless of its citizens' poor living conditions and access to resources. However, the economic, political, and moral decline of the Soviet Union caused the Velvet (peaceful) Revolution in '89, and soon the Wall came down.

The Berlin Wall's old physical boundaries are still marked throughout the city
It was interesting to see that people lived completely
different lives depending on what side of the city they lived in!

Following the destruction of the Wall, construction in Berlin exploded, and a multitude of new architectural styles and building designs were tested and proliferated throughout the city. Our favorite modern buildings were the innovative designs surrounding Potsdamer Platz. In the 90s Berlin was given back to Germany from the Allied Powers, it regained the seat of the government, began holding congressional sessions at the newly re-designed Bundestag (formerly known as the Reichstag), and the Bradenburg gate was restored.

***

Okay, enough history! But the city's history is so important to its desire to be continually attempting to recreate a new name for itself as a sophisticated and forward-thinking international city capital. While on one hand it does not shy away from its past and publicly acknowledges Germany's past mistakes and struggles, it is also intent on recognition for its current progressive achievements in society. A fascinating city to say the least!

So what were our favorite parts of the city? Well, we walked most of it, and it seems impossible to narrow it down to only a few sightings! But for the sake of brevity....here are our Top 10 favorite attractions. We could have spent an entire day at each one!

Brandenburg Gate
For its simple beauty and political role

Potsdamer Platz
for its architecture and modern feel

Neptune's Fountain
for its awesome sculptures!

Neptune sits atop the fountain,
praised by animals and sirens beneath

The Bundestag (Reichstag)
for its old-meets-new/East-meets-West symbolism

You could walk up to the top of the glass dome,
which sits inside of the old Reichstag building

Berliner Dome
for its symmetrical and spiritual beauty

Pergamom Museum
for Ishtar Gate and its relief collection

Part of Ishtar Gate

Schloss Charlottenburg
for its astounding, sprawling palace gardens

Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche
for its representation of Berlin's bombing and subsequent recovery

The church did not get restored as a reminder of the bombing
The tower looks so incomplete!

Unter den Linden
for its vibrancy and historical buildings along the promenade
Equestrian Statue of Frederick the Great

The Berlin Bear never looked so frightening (or fun!)

James found a Bugatti store along the Unter de Linden

Checkpoint Charlie * Berlin Wall * East Side Gallery
For its (almost) unbelievable history of a separated city

Parts of the wall are displayed throughout the city

Checkpoint Charlie

A famous graffiti part of the East Side Gallery,
thee longest standing stretch of the Berlin Wall