Spring Break Guatemala!

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

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.

Beth's Birthday: Sweet Twenty-Seven!

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!

Panajachel's Best Kept Secret EXPOSED

Oh, Panajachel, why must you be so coy? You are a little Guatemalan shopping town, constantly humbled by Lake Atitlan and its surrounding volcanoes. Guidebooks will tell us to pass you by for nearby indigeneous villages on the lake, and to treat you only as a launch pad for better places to spend time. But Pana, you must stand up for yourself as a respectable tourist destination! No? You don't want to brag on yourself? Okay, we will do it for you!

Pana: not just for shopping anymore!

Upon our return from an exciting summer in Europe, we had the pleasure of hosting a family friend from Neosho (one of my Mom's best friends and former neighbor), Tammy! Tammy's visit helped us to get a second Guatemalan wind, falling in love with the country all over again. We hiked Volcano Pacaya, spent a few days in Antigua, and spent some time along Lago Atitlan in the small lakeside town of Panajachel.

Spider Monkeys weren't the only ones
swinging through the tree tops at the Nature Reserve

Yes, Panajachel is worth the visit, and worth a stay! We discovered one of Guatemala's best kept secrets while there...the Nature Reserve. The nature reserve has everything you need to keep you busy, awe-inspired, happy, and maybe just a little bit scared, too! It has hiking, waterfalls, suspension bridges as part of the hikes, excellent flora and fauna, splendid views of the lake and volcanoes, a viewing platfform to watch (and feed!) spider monkeys, a butterfly garden, and best of all (drum roll, please:) Zip Lines!

The little person in red pants zipping across mountain sides is Tammy!

Coming in from a zip line

Before this week, James nor I had ever gone zip lining, and didn't necessarily think Guatemala's zip lines would be good enough or safe enough to try, but when we got the recommendation from the hotel owner at Posada Los Encuentros that the zip lines were awesome and US/EU certified safe, we were excited to try them, and even more excited that Tammy wanted to try them, too!

James (far left) looking at a waterfall from a suspension bridge

Well, it was amaaazing. There were 8 zip lines in all, of different inclines, speeds, and heights above the tree canopy. We had two guides with us who kept us safe and happy, so all we had to do was get hooked in and told when to go swinging across the mountain sides! It was truly exhilarating to be flying over the tree canopy and looking out across the lake at the volcanoes! Wow!

Our view from the mountain side, which opened up
to see the volcanoes as we zipped across

This definitely ranks as one of the coolest things we've ever done in Guatemala! We will be spreading the word that Panajachel has more than just shopping and boats to other towns on the lake!

Watch the entire process of Beth getting hooked in and zip lining!

Supermercado Sweep

Of the many, many cultural aspect of Guatemala I love, one of my favorites is going to the Market (mercado or mercadito). While I have not been seriously shopping to a mall in nearly a year (other than Christmas in the U.S., and European stores), I have come to love going to Guatemalan mercados! There are many things I love about market shopping, and I just had to share them.

Textiles

At first, James and I both found the bright and patterned cloth from Guatemala a bit tacky or overly colorful for our polite color choices in our home. Before becoming a fan of the Guate textiles, I more enjoyed soft colors like light green, tan, or white. Putting something wildlycolorful on the table or wall seemed too bold. Now that I have seen all that goes in to creating these textiles, I am in love with them all, and love looking at them at the markets! Not a mercadito trip goes by without discovering a new beloved pattern, color choice, or item covered in the textile that I would like to own.

Everything can be purchased with some sort of textile on it: purses, CD cases, headbands, photo frames, notepad covers, shoes, belts, etc. Whatever you would like, you can get. And if you can't find it, you can just buy the cloth yourself and make it at home! Our good friend Kari loves to sew, and she is currently in the process of making us something out of colorful cloth we recently purchased.

In the States, it seems everything is becoming so similar...you can go to Kansas City, Little Rock, Chicago, or Joplin and find the same stuff in the same stores or restaurants. Kohl's, Wal-Mart, Target, Gap, Starbucks, Applebees. Borrrinnng! In Guatemala, each indigenous group and/or department (sort of like a state) has their own textile design and colors that they wear and use in their decorating. At the mercado, you can see and buy from all of the different geographical areas and indigenous groups that are very distinct and therefore very fun to look at and choose from when you shop! For example, my favorite department's designs/colors is the Todos Santos part of Guatemala. I love the bright blues, pinks, and purples, and the stripes/geometrical designs.

Bargaining

Part of the fun of the market is knowing that you can bargain on everything. Everything! James and I have been here long enough to know what a fair price is for different items, and so we are good at getting that price. It's fun to use our Spanish to bargain, and fun to shop around and get the best deal possible at the market. It's also fun to get even better deals based on the more you buy at one stand. Wouldn't it be nice in the grocery store or mall if, when you bought more you got everything at a better price? It's fun at the market!

I was trying my hand at selling this bright
blue fabric...I think the owner was much
better at his craft, but it was fun to try!

Myriad of Markets

Not booths sell the same items, either....

Spices & Peppers



Flowers

Fabric

Leather Goods

Masks

Wooden Toys

Beans
(protected by statues of saints no less)

Fruit & Veg

The Sightings

Every visit to the market is different. You are bound to see something you have never seen before, and may never see again; market visits never fail to create an adventure! Some of my favorite sightings are the following:

Dyed/colored baby chickens being sold like goldfish. When a Guatemalan buys one, the chick gets put in a small plastic baggie and tied up to be taken home. We never quiet figured out why the chicks were dyed different colors.

The blind man with a clairvoyant snake:
He can tell you the date you'll die or what you are eating for lunch.

Use your imagination here!

Half a side of a cow hanging upside down at a butcher's stand. No refrigeration necessary. Barf bag not included. [No picture included. You're welcome.]

An entire stand dedicated to selling fried food.
We can't believe there are that many foods that can be eaten fried!

Women walking around with anything you can imagine on their heads.
A classic: enough taquitos to feed an army

Something for Everyone

The main cathedral at the Zone 1 Guatemala City market square

Que rico!
Lunching at a market food stand
(some things are worth the risk!)

One of the best parts about going to the market is that (whether you were planning on it or not) you will buy something. If you are like me and don't like to walk away from your shopping experience empty-handed, you will also love the market. Even if you only have a few quetzales, you can find something to purchase. Each time I leave the market, I look to add to my growing collection of Guatemalan memories of the market! It's a really fun way to shop and see the creative and colorful talent that Guatemalans have to offer!