"Diamond in the Rough"

Blintz Cafe is our "Diamond in the Rough!" We regularly visit this cafe for coffees and crepes because it actually serves espresso beverages and has a few vegetarian items on the menu. We are getting quite friendly with the owner and her daughter, joking with them often and have even taught them how to make delicious iced americanos! The crepa natural is a favorite choice and very good value because for only Q10 ($1.50) you get a huge crepe with syrup. The atmosphere is so clean and tranquil, and the service is remarkable for Guatemala. And, much to our surprise and delight the owner offered to let us leave a stack of our fliers advertising English classes at Enlace Quiché!

Very few of our blog followers have been to Santa Cruz del Quiché , but those who have understand how this cafe is a rare find. If you want to envision us here in Guatemala...sitting outside Blintz Cafe sipping cappuccinos is a great scene. Also, if any of you come to visit us, this will be a prime destination!

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Oh Quiché

Well, we have almost completed two weeks here living in Quiché and things have slowed down quite a bit. It is nice to be going to a job on a regular basis as we both need something to do and love the people we work with. It is a great atmosphere to be in and we are really beginning to feel like a part of the team. The last few weeks we have sat in on many of the English classes, strategizing how we will teach, along with helping out the students in the classes. We are always given a warm welcome with many "Good Afternoon's" and kisses on the cheek. The students love learning from Americans. In addition we also took in upon ourselves to market the class, creating and passing out small fliers in various locations around the town advertising "native speakers." Other than that we have been working as eye candy for the organization showing off the fact that the Americans really did come to teach as well as administering a few English placement tests for a few people that have some "advanced" English skills.

The home life has been very good as well. We spend a lot of time cooking together, reading, playing games, and much more. Over the last two weeks we have filled in many of the gaps in supplies we needed for the house such as lawn chairs for the rooftop, tupperware, bedsheets, and a few more things. We have however been struggling to find hangers. I spotted them one day at a small booth in the market, but unfortunately haven't seen them since. Perhaps the big market this Saturday and Sunday will yield some.

Overall things are much slower here. Not a lot to do on a weekend except shop at the market, go for a walk, or watch a local soccer game. Tonight we are going out with the office for a little soccer match and birthday celebration, so that will be some much welcomed entertainment.

Lastly, a care package ordered from the Piering Household should have just arrived this evening via San Francisco, so we are greatly awaiting its contents. Thanks again to Mom and Dad Piering.

Price Check on 1st Avenida

Living full-time in Quiche has both its benefits and disadvantages. One disadvantage is that anything you need you basically have to hunt for in the local merket. The market is not what must people would envision either. Essentially the market consists of numerous city blocks filled with vendors selling everything from fruit to cow toungue to sanitary pads. The market occurs daily, however in this town it becomes EVEN MORE PACKED and THRIVING, on Thursday and Sunday, the "market days." Today we hit the town in search of a variety of things. We usually try the two supermarkets (and I use this term VERY loosely) first to see if we can quickly find a few select items that we need. Today we hit the jackpot when Brittany spied coffee filters tucked in the back of one of the stores. At the bigger store we gathered some coveted items including instant coffee, honey, Brittany's favorite brand of chips, etc. The store is also great for breaking large bills to get change for the local venders since things usually range in price from 1 to 10 Quetzal. Walking through the streets we spotted some fresh ginger while I was eyeing the local rolled tabacco. Mark that off the list. We also spotted dill, mint, basil, and parsley, all herbs we have yet to either see, or see a lot of thus far. Here's what we picked up today and how much it cost:

2 lbs of Strawberries - $1.10
3 ounces of ginger - $1.10
4 lemons - $0.15
2 lbs of filngerling potatoes - $0.30
1 Red Bell Pepper - $0.30

Sunday's Scavenger Hunt List:
Fresh eggs from some lady with a little basket of eggs
Parsley
Cilantro

Note: Time Change

This is just a note to let you all know that when the U.S. and Europe had a time change, we did not change our clocks. So...this means that we are now only 1 hour ahead of Pacific Coast Time and not 2 hours ahead.

We´d also like to take this opportunity to remind all of you to register on Skype so that we can talk with you all for FREE! The link is posted on the right-hand side of our blog.

Thank you.

Ducks Advance to the Second Round of the NCAA Tourney!

In what shouldn't have been a close game, Aaron Brooks scored 18 points and the third-seeded Oregon Ducks held off No. 14-seed Miami 58-56 in the first round of the Midwest Regional on Friday. I don't how this 3rd seed-14th seed match up became an actual fight, however I am sure it was because the Ducks simply like to entertain their fans. Like a cat that dangles a half-dead mouse in front of its owner, the Ducks knew they could kill Miami whenever they felt like it it was time. Let us all hope the next round looks a little better.

Volcan de Fuego on FIRE!

Last night as we were walking back from the bar with a few people we have met here, one of the women in our party looked up into the sky and said "What is that red light." Brittany and I knew exactly what it was as we looked up to see a nearby volcano, Volcan de Fuego, spewing hot red lava hundreds of feet in the air from the top of the peak. The lava then ran down a significant portion of the side of the volcano. It was quite incredible just walking back home and seeing hot lava squirting out of a volcano in the distance. Quite surreal indeed. This morning it was still bellowing a healthy smoke column and you could see the cooling grey rock from last nights lava flows. I will try to get a picture of this morning soon.

Ahhhh...

Toby takes a little time to stop and smell the orchids...

JESUS WALKS! - Part One

Imagine traveling to a foreign country and being the only foreigner to participate in a sacred holy ceremony with roughly two thousand local residents. This was the experience that awaited me this last weekend. I assume most of you have read Brittany's previous postings on the Catholic Processions that occur in Antigua during the period of lent, leading up to Easter weekend, so I won't go into detail regarding the meaning of the procession itself. However, I will go into detail about my experience participating in the Procesion de Jocotenango de Jesus de Nazarene last weekend. A few days prior to the weekend, our host mom here in Antiqua simply asked me during dinner in I wanted to participate in the upcoming procession. It seemed that they were members of the sponsoring church and our host mom's husband and two boys would all be participating. With somewhat of a pit in my stomach I said yes...or si rather, and told Brittany to start getting some details, so I could figure out to what I had just agreed. It turned out that anyone can participate and one simply needs to have a tunic, pay about $3 US, and get measured. First things first we went to the church in Jocotenango (the sponsoring church in a nearby town) last Friday night so I could go to the "Inscripcion" and get measured. The cucuruchus, or people that carry the statue of Jesus, are divided by height, starting with the tallest and working their way down. Here I was measured with this odd wooden device, after which I paid the small fee and my name and height was recorded for my assignment on Sunday. Friday night is called the night of the vigil where just about everyone comes from town to the church to take part in the events. The air was electric with a brass band playing a large set of songs, small carnival games occupied by the little children, the men and boys lining up to sign up for the procession, and everyone feasting of food from all the vendors. We also crushed into the mass of people (myself with one of the host kids on my shoulders) to see the massive alfombra designed with flowers, fruit, and wood shavings in the center of the church. However, this was only the beginning...

Macadamia Finca

On Friday we took the Probigua Bibliobus (see post below for description) to an organic macadamia finca (farm). The finca also operates as somewhat of a project because they donate starter trees to communities around Guatemala so that they don't have to cut and burn them. They also donate bicycle operated machinery to these rural communities so they can remove the husks of the nuts without a motor. When the macadamias fall from the tree they have their husks removed and then are dried out in the sun. Then they are sorted by sized into bags (by this sorting ladder thing) so they can be taken to the town to have their shells removed and to be dried out a little further.

Toby was cracking open the raw macadamias out of their shells and eating the fresh meat. It was pretty good, tasting somewhat like coconut! =) We also bought some delicious macadamia nut butter there. Mmmm!

Casa Popenoe

Last Thursday Toby and I visited the Casa Popenoe. It is a very old colonial building in Antigua that had really fallen apart until Dr. Popenoe bought it in the 1920s and began do restoration with his wife. They filled the house with period furniture, decorating, etc. and continued to live in it. Nowadays, two of Dr. Popenoe's daughters still live in the house/property and open the doors from only 2-4pm daily for people to view it. The garden, rooms, and kitchen are very nicely maintained, and there is even a pigeon loft that has access to the roof. It's very nice the family still want to share this space with the community.

Probigua Bibliobus

Toby's school Probigua (Proyecto Biblioteca de Guatemala) work to set up libraries in rural communities, and they also have 2 library buses that travel to communities. It allows the teachers and students to access reference books to answer their questions, and also have more stories to read. Their first bus was donated to them by the Swiss and contains nearly 2,000 publications. It's painted on the outside very much like a regular chicken bus, but on the inside the shelves above the seats contain books. There are seats arranged differently and taken out to allow bookshelves and make it a little like a classroom. Occasionally teaches in the rural areas hold class on the bus!

President Bush Sighted in the Air Over Guatemala

While studying in class today I happened to look up and see President Bush´s helicopter Marine One Fly overhead. The President is in the country for two days meeting with Guatemalan Heads of State in what appears to be primarily some good photo ops. Looking at the President´s agenda in the local paper it doesn't appear much will be accomplished by this visit. He did however draw a lot of protesting and graffiti in the capital city from the local Guatemaltecos.

Procession of Santa Ines del Monte Pulciano

Right now during the time of Cuaresma (lent) churches near to Antigua have velaciones (vigils) on Friday, like the one we saw on Ash Wednesday, and then a procession on the Sunday. The participants of the processions wear robes and head coverings, some walk as a border while others carry huge float-like constructions or figures. There is usually a marching band playing music that they march to, and it gets quite smokey from other people swinging incense as they walk. They usually follow a route from their town's church through the streets of Antigua to the Parque Central and the Cathedral and then back winding through Antigua to their church. The processions are an all day event!

On Sunday we watched the procession of the church of Santa Ines del Monte Pulciano as they passed La Merced and again in front of the Cathedral. When they reached the Cathedral there was organ music and singing from loud speakers coming from inside the Cathedral. And then the priest came on saying a few words and praying the Lord's Prayer in Spanish. Some people passed out candles for us to hold as the procession went by, but it was SO windy we could keep them lit.

These processions and vigils are a very historic and Catholic custom that were brought over from Spain. Here in Guatemala, Antigua has the best know display of processions that become even more impressive during Semana Santa (Holy Week, right before Easter).

The Marimba

The Marimba is the national instrument of Guatemala. They have evolved many times since first being made with only wood and gourds, and there is a music museum close to Antigua where there are some different variations. It makes a pleasant sound when it is played and they are very typical in musical groups, often with more than 1 marimba. In this picture there is a marimba on the right. This musical family was playing one Sunday afternoon in the street in Antigua.

Volcan de Pacaya

On Saturday afternoon we set out to climb Volcan de Pacaya after a 1 1/2 hour bus shuttle ride with about 20 other visitors. Before getting to the main trail we were hawked by little boys trying to sell us walking sticks and flashlights for the trip, and still more people trying to offer us "taxi" service up the mountain on horse. Our group was named "Grupo Jaguar" to keep the confusion to a minimum for when we reached the top and mingled with many other groups.


The hike up was pretty tiring because they don't really have switchbacks on the trail, it's more of a straight up for 2.5 kilometers walking on a dusty soil trail. It was like we were walking in sand uphill most of the time. Although a few people in our group opted for the horse taxi, we did not. Finally we broke through to the clearing and could see the top of the volcano and a huge flow of lava rocks where a bunch of people gathered. We had to climb along on the lava rocks for quite a while to get up close to the flowing lava. The rocks are super sharp (some people had big gashes in their legs) and quite hot in some areas where there are glowing coals underneath. We could smell burning rubber while we were up there so we tried to move around a lot to avoid our shoes melting.


We got up to our highest point (not the summit because it is too hot up there) in time to see a bright red sun go down and see the moon rise. We did miss the peak of the eclipse but watched the moon come back into it's full state. On one side of the mountain flowed lava, and in another part hot rocks crumbled down a hillside where some people were roasting marshmallows. Over to the West we could also see the 3 volcanoes that are very close to Antigua. From closest to furthest were Volcan de Agau, Volcan Acatenango, and Volcan de Fuego that was smoking out it's top. We stayed up near the lava until it was dark and then made our way down very carefully over the rocks. We were smart enough to bring our own headlamps, but other people didn't have flashlights and only could see with the help of the flashlights from one of our 2 guides. And, even though we were quite exhausted from the hike up, it was well worth it to see an active volcano up close.

What does Brittany do all day?

If some of you are wondering, "What Brittany does all day when Toby is in school?" then this will inform you....

I usually walk Toby to school by 8:00am, then I hit the gym for a few hours. After working out and having a nice hot shower I usually head to a local cafe or sit outside in the sun at the Parque Central. Some favorites places around here are Bagel Barn (free wifi), & Cafe, Fernando's Kaffee, and L'Espresso. Unlike Quiche, there are no shortages of cafes and yummy coffee here. Before meeting Toby at school at 1:00 I usually do any variety of some reading, my own studying of Spanish, blogging, emailing, and skyping. Currently I do have some translating work for Enlace Quiche that I am working on too. Some days I run errands for Toby and myself, but mostly I just enjoy making my own schedule and taking in the sun.

Guatemala is Sinking?

I think this made the U.S. news, but in case you didn't see, a 50 meter wide sinkhole opened up in Guatemala and unfortunately swallowed a family of 3 :-(

Life is all about RISK!

I always thought I was taking a risk by going to Guatemala. This is always in the back of our minds as you see the numerous rifle toting soldiers and police "officers" (more to come on the recent police scandal), ride around the country on old school buses, and hike around on active volcanoes. However, recently we ran into an unforeseen risk... that of the Peter Pan Peanut Butter. Halfway though breakfast easting some bread and peanut butter we were told by a fellow homestayer that the peanut butter we had been eating had recently been recalled due to possible Salmonella contamination. Sure enough, the numbers on the lid matched the current recall. We thanked him for telling us about it BEFORE we ate it. Too bad news travels slower to these parts of the world. OOPS...

Lunar Eclipse

There is to be a full lunar eclipse tomorrow evening. We read about it in the paper here last Sunday, but conveniently we have also planned to be on top of Volcan de Pacaya tomorrow evening while the eclipse is occurring. We should have a pretty good view of it! Try and get outside and take a look for yourself it it's clear.

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Random Antigua Fact: Toilets

So, here's a random fact about Antigua for you all. Because the city is quite old and has received numerous large earthquakes that have damaged some of the structures...the pipes are quite problematic. This means that many restaurants and home stays (including ours) request that you do not throw away anything in the toilet. Instead, we have to put ALL toilet paper, etc. into a garbage can in the bathroom.

Sometimes it is hard to remember, since we are so automatic about it in the states...