Brrrrrrr....

As luck would have it, Guatemala city is having record low temperatures. The picture is actually not of Guatemala. It is just for dramatic effect. Pretty dramatic huh? Actually it is just a low of 44 today but it felt real cold. It will be back in the 60s by Thursday.

Festival de Barriletes

Barriletes are kites. The kite festival is held in Santiago Sacatepequez, every November 1, the day of the dead. Some say the kites help the souls of the dead to reach the heavens. We also heard that loved ones send messages to passed souls by way of the kites. The kites are made of bamboo and paper. The day we went was not quite windy enough to fly kites, though. The one you see pictured soon crashed down onto the crowd. The larger ones standing up measure at least 20 feet in diameter. Luckily, they did not attempt to fly the larger ones. By attempting to fly, we mean setting them up and then sprinting through the cemetery while pulling the kites' strings. It is quite a sight to see a team of locals (with gringo tourists mixed in) running hurdles over the tombstones.

Our trip to the festival was actually organized by our school director, who was kind enough to provide a free bus for us. Unfortunately, the bus driver did not have the sense to avoid the small town's traffic nightmare. When it was time to depart, the bus was blocked in on three sides by doubly parked cars and a line of cars behind a half mile long. Diana, Shalom, and I decided to try our luck finding a taxi back to the city about 45 miles away. As we looked for the taxi, a police officer pointed out that the local bus would be leaving shortly for less than a dollar. These buses, known as "chicken buses" for their frequent cargo, are infamous around here. They are retired US school buses that have been put on steroids of some mechanical sort and then given flashy paint jobs with odes to either Jesus or some senorita that inspired the artist. We would like to have a picture of the bus, but our camera had been stolen earlier in the day as we made our way out of town in the packed crowds. The pictures included here are from our friend Kari. The bus drivers pack on the locals like sardines, with at least 3 to a seat and another 30 people standing in the ailes. Tourists are repeatedly warned to avoid these buses because of the risk of theft. Well we were SOL without a ride an not many options, so we went for the adventurous ride home and truly enjoyed it. The street wise bus driver avoided all the city traffic by taking a dirt mountain road back to the highway. Shalom worked her magic on the bus by charming everyone and keeping the faces friendly. She is like our good luck charm.

Panajachel

We had a glorious three-day weekend October 20 in honor of Guatemalan Revolution day. We joined several friends for a caravan to Panajachel on lake Atitlan. Panajachel is the tourist center of the many lake towns. During the 60s, it became a central-American hippie mecca, and is reported to have one of the world's few vortex energy fields. Energy field or not, the lake and its surrounding villages have an astonishing beauty.

Our second day there, we enjoyed a boat tour of the lake. This brought us to the villages of Santiago Atitlan and San Pedro La Laguna, which still boast strong Mayan culture. In both villages, locals were speaking in tribal languages. The beaches, like many in Guatemala, are black sand due to the volcanic ash. The man above has avocados ready for delivery. Yum! We will definitely return to the lake, where we can visit more of the little villages around its shores.

Sipicate

Three hours per week of Team 7 meetings at CAG is no picnic, but our Team 7 week-end at our team coordinator's family house on the Pacific was just wonderful. Our accommodations were quite rustic, but the small sacrifice in comfort was greatly outweighed by our reward of being literally steps from the beach. Compared to our earlier beach week-end at the more popular beach of Monterrico, the beach here was perfect. We were outside of the small town of Sipacate, and the beach was cleaner and practically deserted. The ocean was calm enough to swim close to the shore and the waves were big enough further out for one of the 7th grade teachers to surf. Plus, it just amazes us that the same Pacific which was ice cold in Santa Cruz is as warm as bath water down here! Shalom enjoyed the beach and the waves and LOVED the small pool she played in for hours with the L.A. teacher’s kids (our hosts). We ate s’mores, home-made tortillas, and on Sunday, the caretakers grilled ten or more freshly-caught fish. Nothing like eating barbecue, sipping a few Gallos, and watching the waves crash. Now we’re back to our week with three hours of meetings…but that’s not what we came to Guatemala for. We're here for the beach! (and the volcanoes, and the sun, and the jungles..)

Over the Hills and Through the Woods

I had the wonderful opportunity to go with a group of (mostly) Guatemalans on a mountain biking trip from Tecpan to Panahachel, which is on Lake Atitlan. I had met Andrew (an Aussie) on our Hash House running group. The Hashers are known as drinkers with a running problem.

Anyway, he invited me to go with the Pathfinders, which is what this group of bikers called themselves. On our trip they were considering renaming as the Fukawee Tribe, as in "Where the f.... are we?" We had to stop many times to consult a GPS locator in order to find our way. Luckily, we passed through several remote villages where the locals were very willing to point us in the right direction. The couple pictured above told us they had been walking the same trails since they were children. Our total distance was only about 30 miles, but the terrain was extremely difficult to manage and involved very technical downhills. Having lived in Chicago for many years recently, I don't have a lot of experience mountain biking. If it seems from the pictures that the trails might have been easy, remember that the rest of the time I was holding on for dear life and not thinking about taking out my camera. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time on my rear end and even more carrying my bike through difficult parts.

We arrived in Panahachel late in the afternoon. Lake Atitlan is one of the top 5 most beautiful sights I have ever laid eyes on. Pictures of that will follow when I can bring beautiful sights numbers one and two with me. We were happy to have a hot shower and some dinner before returning to the city in a large van.

After reading this entry you should all be convinced that I need a new mountain bike with full suspension and disk brakes. Really, Mom and Ms. Judy, it's much safer! Feel free to send donations or respond to Diana supporting this very worthwhile cause. New bike for Michael!

Mi casa su casa

Finally we are settled into our home. We started off in a perfectly nice house across the street from this one. Then we saw the chance to get a larger yard and moved on it. Actually we convinced our new group of suckers (uh ... we mean friends) to help us move. It is great what friends will do for a little pizza and beer.

We are living in Zone 15 of Guatemala City which is very residential and considered very safe. We are off of Boulevard San Lazaro in a gated community of about 15 houses. It has 24 hour security. Unfortunately, some of the borders of the community include barbed wire, the ubiquitous Guatemalan security measure.

So our new pad must be 3 time the size of our Chicago appartment! We have three bedrooms and three baths. There are upstairs and downstairs living rooms. There is also maid's quarters which we don't use because our nanny is not live-in. The house is set on a hill, so we enter into the upstairs. We go downstairs to get to the bedrooms and the yard. We also have our own moat around the house to help with drainage. It works great, but we have to feed the trolls as we cross from the carport.

Our new backyard is the main attraction. The community gardener has been maintaining it for years, so there are already many plants and a couple of small trees. It has a swingset for Shalom also. The back gate opens onto an even larger community park, with more room to play and more swingsets. With such awesome weather year round, we are lucky to have so much outside space. To do: get patio furniture, a hammock, badmiton set, and more Gallo (Guatemalan beer!) We love our new home ... and are getting quite used to this.

Our Little Clown...

Hello All! We're having a great time in our new home (pictures to follow). I just had to zap these recent ones of Shalom. She is becoming quite the clown. The shirt on the head is her own doing, as are Diana's shoes and socks (OK, she had some help, but it was her idea). She has begun to play hide and seek and pretend tea time. We enjoy her so much every day. Just today, as Eduardo (the neighbor boy) was getting yelled at for dumping his bucket of dirt on Shalom's head, Shalom was laughing loudly like it was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Needless to say, she helped Eduardo get out of trouble. That pensive look she was known for as a baby is being replaced with a very mischievous grin. We're getting worried, again...

Monterrico

Our first three day weekend. September 15 is Guatemalan Independence Day. Guate – Amala! We decided to check out Monterrico on the Pacific coast. On the way there, we had to take a ferry through the mangrove swamp. The ferry itself was nothing more than a wooden raft which barely fit two cars. It was a bit scary, but well worth the peaceful swamp tour. Upon getting into town, we took a wrong turn and ended up heading north along the coast. This was fine, as we passed through two different village parades and were able to see the loofa farms along the road. A loofa is a natural sponge that looks like a big zucchini when growing. We eventually found Pez d’Oro down a dirt road passed a couple of pigs. It is probably the nicest of the beach bungalow resorts in the village, which isn’t saying much. Commercial development has definitely not affected this place! We were lucky to make lots of friends at the Pez. I even ran into one of my students and her family staying at the same place. Shalom charmed everyone (as usual). More than once, she approached tables at the restaurant and was promptly scooped up and fed. We protested half-heartedly at first, then just ordered more drinks. The beach in Monterrico is black sand because of volcanic ash. It is not a good swimming beach, as the water is too rough and the undertow is very dangerous. We stayed out for the most part. Instead, we enjoyed the pool at the Pez. It was great to discover such a cool little beach town only a short drive away. We're thinking weekend getaway in January!

Shalom and Friends

Hola Maria! Every morning before 10 or so minutes before we leave for work, Shalom's niñera Maria (left) shows up. Although Shalom is not usually happy to see us leave, she gets to play with all the neighborhood kids and domesticas while we are at work. Sometimes she gets to play with their toys, too (picture at right). When Michael and I get home from work, we take Shalom to the park across from our house or to a park around the corner. Plus, we get to visit with all the neighborhood kids home from school, including Shalom's 6-year-old friend, Sophia, and my 7th-grade student living three doors down from us! What we DON'T do when we get home is clean our house and do the laundry, since in addition to feeding, bathing, and caring for our child during the day, Maria also does all the dishes, laundry, and housework. Gracias, Maria.

Diana climbs Volcan Pacaya

There's nothing quite like the feeling of choking on sulphuric gas while looking over a flimsy ledge into the hot magma of a volcano's core. It was certainly pay-off for having climbed two hours up a crumbly trail of lava rocks at a 45 degree angle. I was sorry to leave Michael and Shalom behind, but since the school sponsored a bus for the new teachers to visit the active Pacaya Volcano, I wanted to take advantage. Anyway, it's about time I got to see some hot magma and lava as this was my third volcano climb--Mt. St. Helens had some sweet little icebergs for sliding down and Ganung Agung in Bali provided panoramic ocean views--but no hot magma! From below, Pacaya looks like a picture-perfect, triangular, smoking mountain. The first part of the hike is up a wooded path. Then, I reached the bottom of the lava flow. It looks like a giant mudslide, only the rocks are dry and brittle. A little further up the lava flow, I saw where some magma is bubbling up red hot and turning into lava (Thanks Aaron for the geography lesson on magma vs. lava). Many visitors end their hike in a nice meadow near the bottom of the lava flow. I however, proceeded to hike up a steep, rocky path for another 45 minutes in order to reach one of the volcano's vents. If it is not scary enough to see the swirling gases flowing out of the earth's core, the noise of the volcano's pressure BOOM BOOMing against the earth is plenty frightening. I asked our guide a few times if the volcano was always like that...or if it was about to erupt! He said it was always like that. I climbed a bit further, past the gaseous vent and up to the top so I could peer down into the core and see the pool of magma. At this point, the sulphuric gas swirling about made it hard to breathe and see, so as soon as I looked over the edge, I turned and RAN OUT OF THERE! It is pretty cool looking into a volcano...but I'm not sure I'll do it again. -Diana P.S. The strangest part of my day was seeing one of the caballeros (local men offering horse-back rides up the volcano) wearing a "Willard School, Evanston, Illinois" sweatshirt. All you Salvation Army donors know that your old clothes are finding new wearers among the Guatemalan peasants!

CAG

CAG is Collegio Americano de Guatemala, or the American School of Guatemala. Ya'll can check out the link on the right to find out more. The majority of the students are Guatemalan and wealthy. A minority population of Korean students (families in clothing businesses) also attends. In the elementary school, classes are around 24 students per class. Every class has a full time English speaking teacher for language arts, math, science and social studies. Two classes share a Spanish speaking teacher for Spanish language and Guatemalan social studies. Each elementary grade also has a roving bilingual support teacher and an assistant to do photocopying, filing, etc. Every week, students enjoy classes in computers, art, music, P.E., swimming, and library. They get 30 minutes for lunch and 25 min for recess every day. What this means for me is an amazing amount of planning time. The school day lasts from 7:30 to 2:00. On my busiest day I have five 45 min periods (total of 3.75 hours) of actual teaching. I also have two light days of three 45 min periods (grand total of 2.25 hours of teaching). Built in to my "planning time," however, are required meetings with my fourth grade teaching team (including counselors, special education teachers, and tech coordinator), my fourth grade English teaching team, the social studies instruction committee (horizontal and vertical curricular mapping online!), and a block reserved for parent conferences. Whoa! It takes a lot to have all the pieces fit together. Though I don't believe all the face to face time is absolutely necessary, I am learning how a staff can and does work together to provide students with a comprehensive education. After teaching on an island for three years, the sense of being part of something larger is quite inspiring. The pics are of the "montenita" (the elementary playground), the library in the center of campus, and one of the machete wielding groundskeepers. So far so good. I am definitely growing as a teacher and seeing what it takes to run a school well. The unique situation CAG is in presents it with many challenges other schools do not face (K-12 vertical curriculum coordination, high teacher turnover). At the same time, other conditions such as cheap labor and private funding afford it luxuries not possible in the public schools. Much to be learned... - Michael

Eternal Spring

The whole family, including Minnie and Marley, are now here and we are busy making our house into a home. We've been here about three weeks, but just got our home Internet connection. Time to catch up on posts and pictures for all ya'll in Yankeelandia. We'll be updating with info about our school (check out the web link!), our home, Antigua, mountain biking, volcano climbing, shotguns, and the rainy season. We have to catch up, but will surely have much more to share. We are missing the States, but looking forward to spring tomorrow, the next day, and the next. - Michael

Yesterday, I was a few hours outside of the city when I saw a Guatemalan caballero (cowboy) wearing a "Willard School, Evanston, Illinois" sweatshirt. Whether it is a local wearing a hand-me-down sweatshirt, seeing Fradin books each time we pass by the CAG library, or watching our computer's screen saver scroll through pictures of friends and family, we are often thinking of you. We are, however, enjoying our new home. We'll send pictures soon of our house, the little park across the street, and Shalom's new friends from the neighborhood. At school, the kids are adorable and well-behaved while the school's staff of practically 100 gardeners and maintenance people keep the place looking spic and span. Plus, the pool is heavenly. Slowly, we are getting to know our way around Guatemala City and seeing some sights outside of the capital. We look forward to sharing it with you! -Diana

No Comprendo!

No comprendo! That was my master plan for avoiding jail. A better plan would have been not breaking the law, but that would mean actually going back to Chicago, which wasn't going to happen. The Mexican customs would not allow me to enter Mexico with the Honda (samurai or not) without first proving to them that the Dodge had left Mexico. My car permit, bought in Chicago, says that I had permission to bring the Dodge into Mexico on August 3. So on August 4th I had to prove to this bureaucrat in Matamoros that the Dodge had left Mexico. This was in spite of the fact that the Dodge had never entered Mexico. Option 1: scrap the whole driving plan, return the car to Louisiana, and get on a flight to Guatemala. Option 2: take my chances of driving on an illegal permit through the entire country. hoping that whatever difficulties I encountered could be escaped by pleading ignorance. Being a sort of outlaw is actually no fun. That feeling you get when you see the flashers in the rear-view mirror; I had that for three days straight. I actually only got pulled over once in Tampico by a pedestrian cop. I apparently ran a red light, which was easily taken care of for $80, what I had in my wallet. I spent the 5th night in a little town called Sayula, where the 180 meets the 185 in the skinny part. By the 6th night, I was in Tapachula, ready to cross into Guatemala. I was supposed to drive into Guatemala on the 6th, and so far was on schedule. I went to the border only to discover that (whoops) my Illinois registration was missing from the car. No problem! Diana faxed it to me that day. "What? You don't accept a fax? No comprendo!!!" A guy at the customs office convinced me to leave the car at the border crossing, putting me on a bus to Guatemala city. I arrived late and enjoyed a well deserved drink at the Hotel Biltmore. Diana and Shalom arrived two days later by plane. Diana also brought the registration. Next day I was back on a bus to Tapachula. Hmmm... would the car and my $2000 worth of bikes still be there when I arrived? Would we go from a two car family to a no-car family in only 6 days? Everything was just fine. We now have our car and are dreading having to pay our 20% import tax. I wonder if I could avoid that by claiming that yo no comprendo...

Intrepid Idiot and the Samurai

Guess I'll start with the road trip, since the adventure began only five hours out of Chicago. Yes, the Dodge died, leaving a pool of engine oil all over 55 South, side by side with my trail of tears. Yes, Diana and most everyone else who knew I wanted to take the Dodge were correct (for the record). I quickly signed away that disfunctional relationship and moved on to a rental, not losing a day of travel. I spent the night in Memphis and headed toward Louisiana. Luckily, we had parked our Honda at my mom's house, so I turned in the rental and transferred cargo again. The samurai came to the rescue and I was on my way. Day three was spent traveling from Louisiana to the border with Mexico. Unfortunately, it was also spent trying to pay off our Honda so I would be allowed to bring it across the border. The pics aren't in order, but you get the idea.

Getting Ready to Go...

We decided that if this adventure is going to happen, we need to figure out a way to keep friends and loved ones up to date. Maybe this way we won't have to endure too many guilt trips about not sending pictures and stuff (oh no, Pop, I'm not talking about you or anything). So yeah, it's April in Chicago and the weather has just begun to warm up. It's easy to look forward to the eternal spring.