Chele en Guate (Caleb in Guatemala)

Ok, I'd like to share with you my experience of traveling to Guatemala and El Salvador this past February.
I was blessed by my aunt-in-law and friend  with an opportunity to visit all my dear friends down there for for about 12 days.
I flew into Guatemala city at night after a layover in Atlanta.
I found that my phone did not (contrary to Verizon's assurance) function down there. So being alone in a foreign country without any ability to communicate with home or finds was interesting. Thankfully the Guatemalan people are a kind and generous people and they helped me find a decent hotel that offered free pick up from the airport.
The next day I took a taxi to my best friend Hectors house outside the capitol in a town called Amatitlan. I have been down there twice before to visit with him and his dear family, about once every 5 years or so. I was so pleased to rekindle friendships with his 2 oldest children, and maybe even more pleased to meet his youngest daughter Marian. That girl is hilarious! Funniest kid Ive ever met. Her and I became instant friends! they live in a small house, and despite the generous offer to let me take one of the 3 beds I chose to stay in a hotel. The first night I stayed in a cheap hotel, which was horrible! The next step up, and a necessary one a that, was a fancy hotel.
architecturally I was very impressed and it inspired me with new possibilities.

 Above you see the tops of 14 rooms, which are built into the hillside creating a very park-like setting.

Here is my friend Marian down in the entrance to the rooms.

Here is the room, The back side is open to the view of the volcanoes of the area. The doors open wide and allow for lots of fresh air and light. I finally had a good nights sleep after 3 nights of poor sleep.

 Two day later Hector and I borrowed a car and went off in search of adventure. We headed into the mountains of Guate.
I have a very good employee by the name of Hector, he is from a remote village in Guate. He has little if any communication with his family. So I decided to pay them a visit and let them know their boy is a good man and a hard worker, and that he is ok.
His parents weren't there but I got to meet his sis-in-law and nieces. Very nice people. here you see them in their traditional clothing which most Guatemalans outside the capitol (and many inside) still wear daily.
Later that day we arrived at Lake Atitlan. Here is a pic from above the lake in the town of Solola'.

W spent the night in a $20 hotel (not bad!) then the next day we headed to a village that sits in the bay you see between the two volcanoes.

Here's a pic from the boat trip over. We had to haggle with about 7 different boat owners to find a good boat at a good price. This one let Hector drive, so they won!

 We had some great food. and visited the wonderful artisan markets.

We got around the village of Santiago in little 3-wheeled motorcycle contraptions with a canvas top called Tuk-tuks. Here is me and Hector riding along in one.

We had a hard time finding any place to stay the night and the boats had already stopped running. Thankfully we found some missionaries from our religion and they helped us find a member who had a spare room. $20, nice!
The next day we took a public boat. $1. to a smaller neighboring village to see what we could find there. We met some really nice locals (although they don't LOOK it in this pic) and learned a lot about the area. It was a beautiful day and ride. After we got our hotel ($15) we decide to hike to the top of the volcano. Lake Atittlan sites at 5400'. We took a tuk-tuk up another 600' or so to the trail head.

The views were amazing. But the trial was so steep, and the altitude was so high, I could not go on past about 7400' There is just no air up there. At least for a guy who's house sits at 63' above sea level! I went back into town while my friend went up and back. The tuk-tuk driver was supposed to be reachable by phone to pick him up, but was not, so Hector had to walk all the away back into town! I would have died.
Here's me back in town before we left the next day.

 This is out on the lancha (boat) heading back to our car on the main shore. Nice eh?

From there we took an old Kia Sportage and drove around the entire lake. It was a very primitive road. if you could even call it that in places. It was so high and steep we had to shift into low gear just to move forward on asphalt! For anyone who knows me well, you'll know I was just dying to have my Land Cruiser there!
We met a poor man, who did not speak Spanish, His native language is Tz'utujil. He was in the middle of nowhere fixing the potholes, and then putting his hat out for a donation. Hector said about 5Quetzales would be a nice tip. I gave him 10Q. Then as I drove off, feeling so blessed to be experiencing such a place, I realized that I had so much, and him so little. I honked to signal him, and then backed up to give him another 20Q. More money than he would make in a week. $4 for me! moving road block. Or should I say "mooooving"? Sorry, could pass it up.
As we climbed out of the massive super-crater that hold this lake and all it's wonders we struggled to keep our little vehicle moving upwards. When we finally got out we had reached 8630'!

From there I spent one more night at the fancy hotel, and my last time with Hectors amazing family. We had a great diner at Pollo Campero. (Country Chicken) If you find yourself in Guate you should find one of these, It's like KFC but really good. As I said goodbye to his family his kids got a little teary-eyed. I might have too. 
Early the next morning we took a chicken bus to the border of El Salvador. It was hotter than heck. We walked across the border, and got a ride in a pickup to the city of Sonsonate. We found a hotel. The the next morning we went to the church house to see what we could find. I was able to get a hold of some old friends and we hung out with them for  the afternoon. We had great food, great conversations, and I had a great nap in a hammock under the shade of a mango tree.

Here is an old building In Sonsonate. It's made of mud bricks, as many homes still are. This building is probably 120+ yrs old

Then we went to my favorite city on earth: Ataco. i feel so at home here. And I have many close friends who live here. it used to be a poor community, then it got 'discovered' - darn! But they are fixing things up and restoring them to their colonial brilliance. Ataco is an artist community and so many, many  buildings have these wonderful murals painted on them.

 

Hector was called home after our first day there for important business. I  was lonely without him. I had 3 more days to spend there. So as a way to ward of loneliness I decided to serve those I love so much. There is a lady there who I call Mama Fita. She took very good care of me when I was a missionary there 17 years ago. She is very poor and her home in poor condition too. So I took here into town (by chicken bus) and we went on a shopping spree. We went to the hardware store and bought paint, and lights. We went to the market and purchased  good and healthy food.

That night, me, her son, and her granddaughter painted the living room while listening to the local 80's radio station. (random, i know!) It was so fun.

I am so blessed that I can visit people that mean so much to me and be in a financial position to help them in their poverty.
I am so blessed to be able to see their happiness despite poverty, and to be able to come home with a renewed sense of gratitude, contentment, and perspective on what is really important and necessary in life.
We are so blessed here in the US, yet I feel many people have no clue as to the extent.
Perhaps more people should travel abroad.
 Not just to Disneyland.

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

― Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It

Super-fieldtrip 2014: the road trip

So, Hey! We're trying to do better this year on the ol' blog front, so here is the first installment.
As we did last year, we went on a 1 month long vacation, as we hope to do every year from now on.
This time around we took the month of January to slowly make our way down the coast to San Diego, aka Sandy Eggo.
There were days where we just traveled and there were days where we stayed for a day or 2, or 7.
Our first notable stop was the redwood forest. Oh my! Was that ever amazing!
I (C) felt very humbled by the size and age of these wonderful beings. They were already 1000 years old when Christ was born!
We learned that nearly 90% of the redwoods have been cut down. This both saddens me and angers me at the immense selfishness and myopic nature of man.

 Here you can, barely, see H and F peeking around the tree.

 Our trusty new Forester behind the tree.

Our trusty new Forester IN the tree!
After the redwoods we then made a stop, as per the childrens insistance, at the Jelly Belly factory.
it was pretty neat to watch them make literally tons of jelly beans. Thanks to my sis we had enough Jelly Bellys to last the whole trip. I love the pear, and the buttered popcorn.

After that we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. Then we walked over it.

 There is an old fort at the base of the bridge, when we got down there the famous San Fran fog moved in. Thick like soup, it was impressive, and eerie.

 After we got done at the fort, we started driving south to San Jose, when we stumbled across this gem. The San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts. Built in 1915. Here is a link to learn more about this beautiful building that was only meant to last 1 year.

 From San Fran we spent 2 days in San Joser. There is a very interesting museum there called The Tech. Good fun if you ever find yourself there. Since we have science center and zoo memberships here in Seattle most other science centers and zoos allow us reciprocal membership, so that is what we did for most of the trip: science and animals.
From there we went to Monterrey Bay where , thanks to L's good Friend (THANKS FRIEND!) we were able to stay about 5 days in a summer home a block from the beach. During our trip there was a warm air front hanging around California.  Monterrey had warmer temps then than in August! So we spent days on the beach and at the M Bay Aquarium.
 

The Jelly Fish were pretty amazing. While we were at the aquarium we learned that many of the species of sea animals are at critically low numbers. We have lost nearly 95% of sea otter populations. sad.



 A really neat thing to see in Monterrey is the Monarch butterfly migration stop. they like the climate and the types of trees they have there. Literally tens of thousands of butterflies stop there. Many of them stay in a single area now designated as a preserve.

 You can see how they like to hang out in thick clumps to stay warm.

Again, we learned that monarch butterfly populations are down 85% from historical norms. This is due to the use of too many pesticides in our agriculture, which is why we try to eat only organic produce. We'd like to invite you to increase your organic veggie consumption. It just kept occurring to me that we're (perhaps not so) slowly destroying our planet.
From Monterey, we traveled down the coast on Highway 1, which is one of the neatest most scenic drives you can do.

We had fun driving down the coast to San Diego over the course of a few days. We stopped to see beaches full of sea lions, again in steep population decline. They were pretty neat and it was exciting to watch the males fight.

We stopped at the Santa Monica boardwalk - not bad.
We drove through Los Angeles - very bad. If I never found myself here again, I would be just fine with that.
In San Diego we stayed in a nice little hotel on the beach, where we could rent bikes and cruise the boardwalk.

 This picture makes H look like the 'old soul' that he is.

We also went to Seaworld - meh

San Diego Zoo - amazing. This is probably the best zoo in the world. It is worth a trip to San Diego for this alone.

 

and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park -  pretty good; cheaper than going to Africa...

 Here's my hot wife cooling off from the heat with an icy cold mango slushy, which I'm pretty sure is just frozen Costco mango juice, which is still delicious.

 
Also during our 7 days in San Diego, we visited with old friends (hey Matt), hung out at the beach,

went to Old Town San Diego to see what life was like 100+ years ago, and visited the Mormon Battalion historical site of the LDS church - interesting.

From San Diego we drove over the barren--and I mean barren--desert through Yuma and over to Mesa/Phoenix/Gilbert/Chandler/everything else AZ. There we spent two too short days with L's sister Zoe and her neat family. Here's a pic of the boys.

From there we heeded wise counsel to drive through Sedona on our way to the Grand Canyon. Sedona was so neat that as we were driving through early evening that when we were just out of town we decided to turn back and spend the night so we could see it some more the next day. We really hope we can make it back there someday. (Side note: Sedona is the town and area that Radiator Springs was modeled after.)

Then we spent a day looking at the Grand Canyon. Without going down in, there's not much else to do other than look. That night after returning to Flagstaff, we went to an observatory to see neat stuff through a big telescope.

Neat hole, huh?
Then we drove an original section of the famed Route 66 and saw some of the fun and quirky things that are found alongside the "mother road". From there we stopped for one night in Las Vegas. We don't really care much for Las Vegas, but we thought it would be a fun experience for the kids. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe, which we recommend that you not waste your money or time on. F got a migraine from all the lights and sounds. We saw the beautiful fountains outside the Bellagio.

And we spent the night inside the black pyramid known as the Luxor. Here is a picture of the kids with the Finx (you'll get that if you've read the Skippyjon Jones books)(if you haven't, you should).

After a decent night's sleep, we made the drive up to Provo UT. It was 71 when we left Vegas and 31 when we arrived in Provo. After 24 days of sunshine and shorts, that was a sad event. Thankfully we had the warmth of close family to ward off the chill. That and a good J.Dawg and a Gandolfo's sandwich. Here's my family with my good buddy and bro-in-law Pete. We also got to visit with most of both of our families, which was long overdue.

 Much to our children's (mainly H) chagrin, they had to share a bed the entire trip, but I think F really enjoyed having her brother nearby.

 On our way home, we got caught in an ice storm outside of Baker City OR and had to stay the night there. We decided to stay at the historical Geiser Grand Hotel. It was neat to be in a restored hotel from 1889. We walked through the blizzard to a nice little mexican restaurant and then enjoyed snuggling and watching a movie in the hotel room. If you get a chance to stay here, you should. Here's a link for more info.

We had a very fun and educational trip. We are so grateful that we decided to homeschool our children so we could have the unique opportunity to have these super-fieldtrips. We discovered much about our great country. We learned a lot about the geography and natural world of the areas we visited. And we came away with a renewed desire to do our part and encourage others to do theirs to care for and protect our fragile planet.

An entire year in pics!

Well, so it's been a few months since we've updated our blog...so we will be doing a year in review with pictures in slightly disjointed order :)

We went to some concerts

 The Piano Guys (here is  us with Steven the cello player)

 Folklife at the Seattle Center (a cool marimba band brought along hula hoops for the audience)

Caspar Babypants (lead singer of The Presidents of the United States of America who also sings kids songs)

We've also spent some good time around home, enjoying the loveliness.

 The garden kept us quite busy

 Two baby kitties arrived

 And they are still loved and cared for

 The trampoline was a great place to play "meat cat" or just jumping. "What is "meat cat"?" you may ask. Well, come on over for a visit and the kids will teach you.

 Going on bike rides in the sun is always fun--rain boots make exploring that much easier.

Fun at the beach--time spent digging, wading, building and relaxing

 Exploring the corn fields--the stalks get up to 10'+

 Our garden was super happy this year. Once again, I think next year's garden will have to be bigger...

Love the beautiful sunsets here

 

 Yea for yummy tomatoes! We can totally grow huge tomatoes up here--the growing season is just unpredictable... We grew a nice variety of heirlooms.

  

Double rainbow

Playing out in the cornfield on the ice ponds, "ice skating"

We also ventured out to explore

 Hiking above Leavenworth

 

C really loves his Landcruiser! It's our Adventure Rig - always ready to take us neat places.

 Biking the Hiawatha Trail in Idaho w/ 7 tunnels & 7 high steel tressels

 Going on a sailing trip to Blake Island with our canoe (you can just see it in the back of the boat) and camping on the beach

 

Working on the driftwood fort

Canoeing around the island

 The sunset on the return trip

  Camping up in the mountains

 Mt. Rainier

 

 Hiking around eastern WA

 Sand driving course in Oregon

 

 The Oregon coast - on the way home.

More of the Oregon coast

Fun times spent with cousins

 

 

 Playing in grandma & grandpa Tidwell's backyard

 Girls at the park

Playing out in the woods during family camp w/ the Nelson family

Fun at Silverwood amusement park (the kids hated the roller coaster - darn!)

And miscellaneous other things

 Rock climbing classes - H did really well.

 Visiting the Fremont troll w/ our little boogers

 Enjoying the scenery on one of our long drives

 sunset

 Visiting the rescued wild cats at Cat Tales -F was in heaven

 Eating in a restored 100yr old diner train car

 Rescuing a baby house sparrow

 Mountain biking for the first time

 Celebrating a birthday Skippyjon Jones style, with a chihuahua party

 Visiting our favorite penguins at the zoo

 

 Spending time together

 Playing in the blackberry hideout

Dressing up for halloween

 And White Friday of course--the day after Thanksgiving we all head up in the mountains to have a fancy picnic of leftovers, play in the snow, and cut down the family Christmas tree.

 We hope this caught you up. We are sorry for not being very good at keeping this up. Our company keeps us extremely busy. But C is having the time of his life and the business is very successful.
Feel free to come by and visit any ol' time, the door's open!