More elaboration on chicken buses

Well, after I posted the chicken bus photo with my one-line description, my beautiful (among other positive adjectives) wife informed me that those who have not experienced such joy might need a little further explanation. Well, that is what a blog is for, right?

Chicken buses are basically old US school buses redesigned and definitely pimped out to make the ride more, um, exciting, to say the least. You can find more comfortable ways to travel, to be sure, but if you want to get to just about anywhere in Guatemala, or most of Central America, for that matter, you'll end up on a chicken bus. Fares are cheap, you get to know your seatmates VERY well, and you may just get a chicken or a kid in your lap (seriously!) It's really not as bad as it sounds, unless you're a real stickler for comfort.

Read here for a funny story about a chicken bus experience. http://www.atitlan.com/chickenbus/

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Chicken buses in La Mesilla, Guatemala.

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Door to my classroom at Hubbard

I've really enjoyed my current job teaching Spanish. I'm excited about going to Guatemala, more than I can say, but I know that I'm going to miss what I'm doing now. This is the door that Adina and I painted when I was going to start working there. I provided the blue background, but my wife's art skillz provided the rest.

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From a Peace Corps volunteer: Top 10 reasons Guatemala is awesome

Beveres is a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala who has compiled a list of Top 10 Reasons Guatemala is awesome!  Here is some of my favorites based on my Guatemala experiences:

Being called "bien gordita" (fat) is a compliment.

You never thought you'd look forward to having eggs, beans and fried plantains twice a day.

You thought the first time you stepped up on that shiny yellow school bus in kindergarten was going to be cool- little did you know you would be on that very same bus 18 years later, in a different country and totally pimped out- AND have to pay your fare to a guy who is probably better qualified for acrobatics than professionals. Not only that, but these buses rule the roads.

Catching a ride in the back of a truck when the bus hasn't come by for hours is just doing what you need to do- even if it's with livestock.

and the No. 1 reason why Guatemala is awesome...... 

1. "Fíjese que..." can be used as an excuse for pretty much ANYTHING." (this happened a LOT while translating for medical teams in San Raymundo!)

Read the rest of the post here

Amigurumi

According to Wikipedia, "Amigurumi (編み包み ?, lit. Knitted stuffed toy) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll.[1] Amigurumi are typically cute animals (such as bears, rabbits, cats, dogs, etc.), but can include inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features. Amigurumi can be either knitted or crocheted. In recent years crocheted amigurumi are more popular and more commonly seen."


I recently found the blog of someone who made these in Guatemala. I think they're really cute and they remind me of another crocheted animal that made an impact on me: the crocheted Care Bear Talia got when she had a multi-cystic kidney removed at Children's Hospital when she was only a few days away from being three months old. I remember all of the mental anguish I went through thinking of what could happen while she was in surgery and then seeing her tiny hand with the IV. When the nurse brought that to her, it was like someone gave me a much-needed hug and reminded me that in the middle of this hard time someone cared enough that they took the time to hand craft something to show their concern.

We are now blessed to have a happy, healthy daughter who is so active that we usually forget that she even had surgery. Yet, sometimes little things make me remember and I have to pause and consider and let that memory enhance my appreciation of the present.

Who would have thought that a cute little amigurumi could spark such memories?

I think my favorite on the blog was the one of the little purple elephant. She also has an Etsy account.

photo (2)

Cheapest way to send Talia to Guatemala!

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All packed and ready to go to Guatemala!

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Some pictures of our truck that we're bringing to Guatemala

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1998 Toyota 4Runner 5 spd 4x4

Guatemala Thoughts as a Mama

Moving abroad always makes one think about issues they might not normally consider under every day circumstances. Sometimes even ordinary things take on a whole new outlook. One of the blessings of moving to another country is that everything is different. One of the difficulties of moving to another country is that everything is different. As a father, Ben thinks of things differently than I do and is more concerned with different issues. As a mother, here are a few of the things that I consider:

Water: In Guatemala, water that is in any way consumed usually comes in one of these containers: http://www.living-water.org/2415d060.png
No problem there, except for Talia's tendency to put things in her mouth at bath time. Tub water, to my knowledge isn't purified/filtered. I'd like to find out if this is ever an issue and if so, how to resolve it.

Household cleaning products: This is not just an issue for Guatemala, but in the U.S. as well. Kids just have a bad habit of putting things in their mouth. Even if it has fallen on the floor. Because of this, I hesitate to use harsh chemicals in places that I know Talia might come in contact with... which is most of the places in our home! What's worse, though; harmful chemicals, or the germs they would clean? A nice balance to this equation that I've discovered is Thieves Oil. This has its own little history:

"As the bubonic plague decimated Europe in the year 1413, four thieves were captured and charged with robbing the dead and dying victims. When the thieves were tried, the magistrate offered leniency if they would reveal how they resisted contracting the infection as they performed their gruesome acts. They explained that they were perfumers and spice traders and told of a special concoction of aromatic herbs, including cloves and rosemary, that they rubbed on their hands, ears, and temples. " While the story is entertaining, this study holds more weight:

"Research conducted at Weber State University in cooperation with D. Gary Young, as well as other documented research, indicates that most viruses, fungi, and bacteria cannot live in the presence of many essential oils, especially those high in phenols, carcacrol, thymol, and terpenes. This, perhaps, offers a modern explanation why the Old Testament prophet Moses used aromatic substances to protect the Israelites from the plagues that decimated ancient Egypt. It may also help us understand why a notorious group of thieves, reputed to be spice traders and perfumers, was protected from the Black Plague as they robbed the bodies of the dead during the 15th century." (Essential Oils Desk Reference, 4th Edition, p6)

Besides this, it smells good and is available in Latin America!


Vitamins: This is another concern that doesn't necessarily change with ones country. I want to make sure Miss Priss gets enough of all of the ones she needs. Period.

Scrapbooking/Pictures: When one has a major change take place in his/her life, it's usually a good idea to visually document it. Especially if there is family wanting to see what's taking place! The issue is lugging around all of the stuff to have physical evidence of this record. A good way to do this that I've discovered is through scrapblog.com. I really enjoy their wide range of free digital scrap material and the easy-to-use software! (Just ask my husband. He introduced me to it, so he can't complain too much...) But what I think will come in really handy is the feature to print these blogs and then they'll ship them wherever you want... like to Grandma's and Grandpa's and other family members in the U.S. :D

Guatemalan Wares: Guatemalan's make some beautiful fabrics. This is demonstrated in their skirts, table clothes, and place mats just to name a few. Something I think about when I think of moving to Guatemala is a way to help hardworking people sale quality wares. Let me get this straight, I do not, in any way, consider myself a sales person. At all. But, if someone has something that is beautiful, useful and a good price, I'm definitely going to tell other people about it. Or at least give it as a gift. Or at least make it available on my website. Or something.

Orphanage involvement: Something I've always felt a burden for is adoption. Since as Christians we are very familiar with God's grace in the form of adoption of the gentiles, this makes this concept even more relevant and precious. Maybe it also has something to do with our visit to the Tupelo Children's Mansion when we were kids and sponsoring a girl from there with our own hard-earned money. In truth, I think God places a desire like this in your heart. All that to say that we'd eventually like to adopt a child or pair of children. Even if that never happens, I'd like to be involved with this work in Guatemala and give Talia the experience of sacrifice to help someone else and the life lesson of compassion.

Midwife/OBGYN: While I know that women all over the world give birth every day and with a lot less knowledge and advanced technology, I'm still scared. Not enough to only have one child though... I've always thought that was a little bit selfish. My brother and sister have enriched my life in so many ways that I can't imagine myself with out them and would never want to deprive my children of that experience. And I want to have other babies. It's just that birth can be scary. In another country, that just adds one more aspect to the mix of things to think about. Chel and Megan, you need to get certified so I can fly you down!

Baby wearing: In Guatemala, we walked. A lot. So much that Miss Priss couldn't always keep up and had to be carried much of the time. This can be painful on one's back if not adequately supported. I was SO thankful to have a sleepywrap! The Guatemalan woman use their own version of this, but it doesn't seem to support as well for me and it's a lot harder to learn how to use. I'm very grateful to my friend Megan for letting me borrow hers, and even more grateful to now have my own! Talia should fit it for another year or so.

Diapers: I don't know if I'm normally a paranoid person, but I do have fears. One of them is that the economy in whatever country we're in is going to fail and I'm not going to be able to buy diapers and I'll have to survive on what I've got. Weird fear, I know, OK... maybe fear is too strong of a word. But something that I've found that helps solve this are all-in-one diapers. There are several brands of these; BumGenius, FuzziBunz, um- I can't remember the other ones. The ones I have are FuzziBunz. It's a cloth diaper with a waterproof outside, a super absorbant soaker in the middle and a water-wicking liner. Washing machine friendly. Or, for that matter, I could wash it in the bath tub and hang it up to dry if I had to. Either way, it's pretty good at stopping leaks like no other cloth diaper I'd have to use would. (Since we're potty training, this may not be an issue anyhow.) They're just sort of expensive and I only have two... but those two work all day since she's only using diapers for naptime and bedtime at the moment.

I know that it doesn't matter where I am in the world, I am going to encounter challenges of some sort in my life. These are just things that, before I get there, I consider of high priority. I know when we get there, many of these things will shift and I'll see just how irrational I was. But if that happens, I'd like to see just how far I've come. So here's this post.

Next steps...

Done with the papers for college...now I can proceed to the REST of the moving steps. The good thing about doing all sort of paperwork now, is that if we move again to a different country (just saying! don't have a heart attack! :)) it will already be done.

A major part of the paperwork process is getting documents apostilled. Definition: Apostille: A certificate that is attached to foreign-bound documents to certify that the notary's signature and seal were valid at the time of notarization. It is obtained from the Office of the Secretary of State.

This mainly involves getting things like multiple copies of degrees, birth certificates, etc, and sending them to the Secretary of State's office where they can say, "Yep, it is what you say it is." Sort of like a notary, just more important :) this has to be done to get work visas and stuff.

Interior photos of apartments - update

As posted before, we'll be moving into an apartment at Villas de San Isidro, Zona 17 in Guatemala City.  We found some sample photos on the realtor web site, so these are made to look good (but it works! :))  The apartment is about 1300 sq. ft. (125 sq. m.) with 3 br, 3 ba, and a service area, which can be maid quarters or a large pantry with a bath.  I've been told that all of the apartments are the same or very close to it, so I THINK this is pretty much what we can expect.

Picture of the living and dining area from near the entrance

Photo of the kitchen

Artist rendering of the club houses that should be done when we get there

Artist rendering of the gym that should be done, as well.

Floor plan

Our new home and a new acquaintance!

I was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of another staff member of our school, Victor, who lives with his family in the same apartments that the school has found for us.  He's from Costa Rica and his wife is from Germany.  They have a daughter who will be three this summer.  The apartments are called Villas de San Isidro in Zona 17 of Guatemala City (eastern side), which is supposed to be the nice side of the city.  

Here's a picture of the apartment building that's about a year old.

Here's a picture taken from an airplane with the apartments highlighted.  This was taken from the north, I believe.  You can see that we're sort of outside the city, with lots of greenery.

Artist's rendering of the apartments.  There are basketball courts and a playground and a few other things.  By the time we arrive there's supposed to be a pool, gym, and club house.

Picture of the playground.  

Another shot of the apartments.

On another note, Victor told us about a preschool five minutes from our apartment.  Problem solved!  And....it's open until we get off work, so the nanny thing can wait a while.  Big load off the mind!

Don't have any interior shots of the apartment yet...working on that!  We're grateful for the generosity of the school and how everything seems to be working out.

Guatemalan Capitals and Volcanoes

Pictured to the left is the: "Volcan de Agua as seen from Tecpan, Guatemala (80 km away)." Wikipedia

Another example of extremes in Guatemala is reflected in the natural landscape. Two volcanes or volcanoes that are important in Guatemalan history are the Volcan de Agua and the Volcan de Fuego or, volcanoes of "water" and "fire." These stratovolcanoes are close to the city of Antigua, Guatemala where we visited in October last year.

The Volcan de Agua was originally called Hunapú, or "place of the flowers." The Spaniards also called it by this name until 1541 when it erupted, but not with lava, with a mudflow destroying the second capital city of Guatemala. They then changed the name to "Volcano of Water."

Not too far away, resides the Volcan de Fuego. As you can guess, it received its name from its eruptions. According to Wikipedia, "It has erupted frequently since the Spanish conquest. "Fuego" is famous for being almost constantly active at a low level. Smoke issues from its top daily, but larger eruptions are rare." It is pictured below:


Between these two Guatemalan volcanoes lies a bit of the conquest history. Pedro de Alvarado, a lieutenant of Cortes, originally founded his capital of Guatemala at Iximche under the name of Santiago. However, the Indians hassled him so much, he decided to move the capital. His new locations was between the two extremes: Volcan de Agua, and Volcan de Fuego. This capital city flourished and he brought his second wife here. When he died, his widow was elected to be the next governor, but not for long. The Volcan de Agua, with the help of a storm and an earthquake, erupted- spewing water down the mountainside from its inner lake and collapsing almost all of what was the new capital city. (Information from Young People of Mexico and Central America by Charles R. Joy).

Because of the tragedy caused by the Volcan de Agua, the people moved the capital to a safer place, which is now Guatemala City. (Where we'll be living.) This is far enough away to not be flooded by the beautiful, water-filled mountain, but close enough to appreciate it.

Washing/Exercise Machine!

Bittersweet...

Yesterday I said goodbye to my beautiful 1969 VW Bug, with its unique two-tone pink hue.

Oh well.

At least we got some neat wedding photos from it! But it is sort of sad to see it go.

We also sold the Jeep Cherokee, and we've had the 4Runner for about a week. Things are shaping up. God has really worked all this out right on time. Got plenty more to do, so let's hope he doesn't take too long of a coffee break!! :)

(As if God needed coffee...) Yay! I get to drive a standard again! This one drives really well, a lot like the one I learned on. Everything seems to be selling quickly.

Got one more car to sell, the 2004 Toyota Corolla. Let's hope it goes fast!

To end, a few wedding shots of the ole 69 VW:



*Ben's words in black
*Adina's words in orange

Our new car is in the works...

1998 4Runner 4x4 4WD

We've committed to buying, and Lord willin' and the creek don't rise...we'll have it Friday.  

Here's a couple of pics...we'll add more later.

The Quetzal, Cuchuchito and the Cenzontle; Guatemala's story in birds

In a book titled "Young People of Mexico and Central America," Charles R. Joy describes three distinct types of birds that stand out in Guatemalan culture.

The most significant bird he mentions is called the quetzal. It is a green, blue and red bird with a very long tail that was prized by the Indians of Guatemala. This bird is now almost extinct, yet remains popular emblem throughout Guatemala. It appears on Guatemalan money and is an object of national pride. According to Vera Kelsey in "Four Keys to Guatemala" the quetzal has at least one legend attached to it. "One curious and deep-seated superstition stems from antiquity: the nagual According to this belief, each Indian's spirit has a counterpart in some animal; his life is irrevocably identified with
that of his animal guardian. The nagual of Tecum-Umam, who led the Quiche armies against the Spanish, was the quetzal, the beautiful bird now used as Guatemala s symbol of liberty. And the legend is often encountered that when Indian chief and Alvarado met in hand-to-hand conflict, Alvarado really killed the quetzal which appeared at that moment above the Indian's head."



The second type of birds he mentions are all birds that herald bad omens. The cuchuchito, a bird whose call sounds like the bark of a dog, and the owl are both thought to be signs of calamity. He mentions the Indian saying "when the owl sings, an Indian dies." This is also mentioned in "Four Keys to Guatemala" along with another bird, the guia del leon. This "variety is known as the Guide of the Lion (Guia del Leon) as a result of its habit of flitting ahead from tree to tree, emitting short, sharp notes whenever a puma or tropical lion is stalking his prey
at night."

The third bird is another treasured bird of Guatemala called a cenzontle the "bird of four hundred voices." This is a type of brown thrush that can sing many different songs. It is also frequently called the "Mexican Mockingbird." Kelsey says: "Though an insignificant brown in appearance, it has a song of such range and variety that it is said to be the inspiration for Indian music." I found it interesting that just by casually looking at these three Guatemalan birds, one could find out so much about the country's cultural heritage. These three cover almost every spectrum of life. The patriotic, beautiful, almost extinct quetzal ; the ugly, scavenging for survival, birds of bad omen; the unremarkable looking cenzontle that has thrived with remarkable skills. Each mirror many aspects of the Guatemalan Indian lifestyle. Like the quetzal, the past glory of the Mayan kingdom is extinct. Only the indigenous blood in much of the population and a few emblems remain to prove it existed. The horror of the fall of that kingdom and bloody nightmare of war forced many of them into the role of an unpleasant scavenger, like the owl who sings a scared story of bad omen because he's seen too much horror to hope. And then there is the product of those generations that I think resembles more the censontle. Not glorious, like the quetzal, not scary and nocturnal like the owl, but surviving and thriving with a skill like no other bird.

Buy a car in the USA or wait till Guatemala....that's the question.

Food for thought

I’m not sure if I quite have the creds or the water under the bridge to post this with authority, but here are a few quotes that gave me something to think about:

"Not called!" did you say? "Not heard the call," I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him  whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world.

-William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

 He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.

-Jim Elliot, missionary martyr in South America

The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is never considered a foreigner.

-William Cameron Townsend

It's amazing what can be accomplished if you don't worry about who gets the credit.

The more obstacles you have, the more opportunities there are for God to do something.

-Clarence W. Jones

Never pity missionaries. Envy them. They are where the real action is, where life and death, sin and grace, Heaven and Hell converge.

-Robert C. Shannon

This whole move to Guatemala has got me thinking about things.  You know, I’m a guy, and some things that are important those of the female persuasion who I generally find personally advantageous to keep in a positive state of mind do not have the same significance for me.  That’s not to say, though, that things are bad.  Reminders of experiences, people, or landmarks in life help keep us grounded and not forget, in the excitement, who we are and where we came from.   At the same time, too many things can keep us tied down and less free to do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done.

My life very soon will fit into four suitcases and a medium-sized shed.  And you know what?  That doesn’t bother me in the least.

What? A third world country doesn't have info on the internet???

Wow.

Did you know that the only information available on Guatemala is tourist information? At least it seems like it.  Our school has provided what we basically need, but getting specific information (at least the kind that my inquiring mind wants to know) is next to impossible.

Fortunately, the missionary to Guatemala is a great guy and has been very patient answering questions that are important to me AND my wife!  He deserves a pay raise!  

Now I have an idea for a book I can write..."what all the tourist guidebooks don't tell you about Guatemala!"

Anyone know a publisher?