Flor de Izote Lunch

Yesterday Toby and I were treated to a homemade lunch made by Lucy, the owner of Blintz Café. She enjoys cooking vegetarian, and we've often seen her and others eating some delicious looking meals at the restaurant that aren't on the menu. She was so sweet to prepare a delicious lunch for us on Tuesday and give us 2 iced americanos on the house. We plan to bring her some flowers to show our gratitude.

Our meal consisted of tortillas, half an avocado, some mouth-watering cooked carrots with parsley, and flor de izote cooked with egg and other ingredients. The meal had great flavor everything was perfectly arranged on the plate too!

Flor de izote is the national flower of El Salvador, but it is also very popular to eat in Guatemala. They prepare it with egg (sort of like patties) or in tamales. It has a slightly bitter taste, but it's actually quite good. The flower is part of the lily family and has many important uses to the Central American culture besides a food source.

Pickup Flip

Yesterday we were awoken to the sounds of ambulance sirens passing by our house multiple times. Toby had skipped out on his Bomberos Voluntarios meeting, as he´s waiting for his equipment and things before he can do much, and he wanted to sleep. However, we watched as the Red Cross, Bomberos Municipales, and Bomberos Voluntarios flew by with sirens multiple times. We knew something was going on....so Toby called in to the station to see what was happening, but all he heard was "transport" and we already figured that part out!

Apparently, we heard later, that a pickup carrying a load of people in the back (as usual) had flipped on the highway out past our house. So all the transport had a been a bunch of bodies heading to the hospital. Guess we shouldn't ride in the back of pickups anymore.....

Feliz día de la Madre!

Happy Mother´s Day or Feliz día de la Madre to all you mothers out there!!! But, especially to our mothers LeAnn Piering and Nancy Phillips, and Brittany´s grand- mothers. We love you guys! Thanks for all the motherly support over the years.

On the 10th of May they celebrate Mother´s day here in Guatemala, so the festivities have passed...However, we experienced a night of restless sleep due to a van with loud speakers passing through the city blasting music and yelling Feliz día de la Madre to all the mothers of Quiché early morning on Thursday. Many people let off firecrackers throughout the early morning and rest of the day as well...quite annoyingly we must say. Toby also took part in the raucous of 2 different Bombero Voluntario (Volunteer Firefighter) parties that night during his first shift at the station, partly to celebrate the rival volunteers´new station and Mother´s Day.

Some other facts...are that mothers usually get the day off from work, or get paid double-time if they need to work. Children also get the day off from school to celebrate with their mothers and families. Pretty cool....maybe we should adopt that in the States?

Maui Wedding

Nancy Phillips and Eugene Clark finally tied the knot on May 1, 2007...the reason for our journey to the Hawaiian island of Maui. Congratulations you two!!!

It was a very sweet and small wedding that took place on a small tucked in piece of grass just above from the beach. All the photos have either a gorgeous ocean scene or tropical plants, which show the delight of the location. Everyone looked gorgeous...especially the bride, and it was a lovely time to celebrate with family and friends.

Keeping Busy

We seem to be settling in to the town quite nicely and have tried to really connect with the people both at work and around town. Yesterday we finely tracked down the local gym in town (it is kind of hidden) and signed up on the month to month program. It was much nicer than expected with a bounty of weights and a good area for body exercises. We are hoping that we can continue getting into shape with our daily visits to the gym.

Today Toby also had his first private teaching lesson with hopefully many more to come down the road. Charging about 4 times what we make at the organization, the lessons will yield some much appreciated spending money.

In the meantime, Toby´s computer unexpectedly died out of nowhere so bear with us as we are not able to upload new photos as easily. A prayer or two for an inexpensive recovery would be nice.

Maui, Hawaii.....Paradise

For those of you that have experienced the beauty of Hawaii, you are truely blessed to have experienced paradise. For the rest of you....book a ticket NOW!

Toby and I had an awesome time reconnecting with my family during the week in Maui. We lived it up on the beaches of Kamaole, Beach, Ulua Beach, and more. The snorkeling was best in the morning when all the fish came out to feed, and we had the pleasure of encountering an eel, multiple sea turtles, trumpet fish, and tons of other tropical fish. Thanks to Uncle Rick and his boogie boards, we had some monster rides and monster wipe outs boogie boarding at Big Beach with his family and mine. I think everyone experienced at least one scary beating, if not more, during the trip.....but we kept going back!

Toby and I especially enjoyed visiting a grocery store and being able to buy much missed items like pretzels, real juice, Annie´s mac & cheese, and more. We also loved vising Maui Taco´s to have vegetarian Mexican food we had been lacking somewhat in Guatemala.


The weather was gorgeous and in the 80s all week with sun, much like we have in Quiché right now, but with humidity. However, we don´t have the clear Pacific Ocean and beautiful beaches in our back yard like we did in Maui. It was a much appreciated holiday, and we are missing the tropical paradise and modernity now that we are back in developing world. We´re happy to be home, but it definitely was a rough first few days being back in Guatemala and Quiché.