This has been an adventurous week…..perhaps more than I would have liked. Let me tell you the story of my trip to Panama. It all began Thursday, when before school. I (as I have done EVERY week) dropped my laundry off at the hotel. Then went to school and made my speech and said goodbye to all the teachers there. I was planning on taking Miguel out to eat, so didn’t have to say goodbye to him quite yet. I met “the kids” for coffee, since some of them are taking off (sorry Jon, I may have missed my chance there), and then went back to the hotel to pack. I looked for my clothes, but they were nowhere to be found, so I told someone I REALLY needed them, and then Miguel got there. He also taught my neighbor across the hall (Donald), so we all visited, then left for dinner. Martin met us there, and we had a good time. Around 10p, I came home and tried to finish packing…but NO CLOTHES!!!! I had a few things I hadn’t worn that week, sweat pants, etc. but my nice stuff and most of my underwear is not anywhere to be found! OKKKKK, so I pack what I have, figuring I’ll buy somethings if I need to, and go to bed for the 4am shuttle.
The shuttle didn’t come until 5:20 and my flight left at 5:55. We called the company, a taxi, all kinds of things, but no luck until the shuttle finally arrived…and still had to pick up 3 more people! This was not looking promising. I was just a LITTLE ANGRY, but calmed down, and finally decided I was done with adventure. If I couldn’t get to Panama, I was just going to come home, leaving the stuff I still had at the hotel to be mailed. I can live without that stuff if I can live without underwear! But when I got to the airport, the wonderful guys at COPA put me on the next flight, walked me through integration, and actually put me on a plane that got to Panama only 30 minutes after mine did! Wow!
So I go to the hotel, and it is another nightmare! Only warm showers, no information about the city, no way to find my way around and to top it all off my mini-bar was locked! I finally just went to sleep. I decided to go shopping the next day, since I needed clothes. The people in Panama DRESS!!! They are also SMALL!!! Remember the clothes in Singapore Nicole? All size 12 and below. Well, I’ve given birth to one of the triplets, but no way am I a size 12! So no clothes. I got back to the hotel and my room was still unmade, so no clean towels either. I was a basket case! Did I mention it had rained the WHOLE time I was there?
I called a friend of mine at home and he talked me down from the trees. Reminded me why I was here…oh yeah, to experience life! So the next morning I checked out of the hotel, went to the car rental place, and rented a car. I drove to the Panama Canal, which was really neat, then decided to see the Caribbean side of Panama. Did I mention I got lost a lot going to the Canal? And I got lost more going to Colom…so much so that by the time I got there it was almost dark, not a good time to be driving when you have NO idea where you are going.
The roads in Panama are interesting. The signs usually have an arrow in the right direction before you turn, but no marker at the turn! And the roads are TINY!!! The look like a back alley you are turning down. So I think I’ve missed every turn I was supposed to make so far. Anyway, I ended up in Colom. There is NOTHING to see in Colom. Think Havana AFTER Castro. It looked a lot like Havana, actually. I ended up in the Meryland Hotel, and no, that is not a misspelled word. Wow…I was waiting for the shower curtain scene. So early this morning I checked out and headed to Portofino on the Caribbean coast, which the guide book says has nice hotels. I couldn’t find them. So after getting REALLY lost in Portofino, which is REALLY small, I decided it was time to try the Pacific coast. I’ll bet not many people can say they went from McDonald’s to McDonald’s and coast to coast in one long driving day, but I did!
So now I’m in a Golf Resort on the Pacific coast, debating whether or not to head back to the city tomorrow or just stay here and lay by the pool. I’ll let you know!
Love you guys…don’t you wish you were having this much adventure?!
Earline

A week of family

Hi guys,

Last week was the family week here. Sue came on Monday, and Jon on Thurs. Sue left on Friday and Jon on Sunday. So really all I did was visit! It was great! We really had a good time. Here are some pictures....

Here are Sue and I at the McDonalds. Yes, I know what you are thinking...why would ANYONE in their right mind go to McDonald's in a foreign country, much less in the US, but LOOK at it. Isn't it beautiful? I go here a lot to study. It's a beautiful garden, and very peaceful in the mornings....

Here's one of Jon at McDonald's as well, since you just have to see the place...and then you have to have a picture.

Sue took this one of my home away from home at Casa Rustica...

Here are Sue and I at my favorite breakfast spot...I study so much here the guys have started correcting my homework!

I took both Sue and Jon to Santo Domingo (you all have seen pictures) and Sue took this picture of Jon and I....

I think I have told you the history of Antigua but here is a quick refresher. Antigua was the capital of this part of Central America, established by the Spanish crown in the 16th century. What they didn't plan on was the city being repeatedly destroyed by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Finally, in the 18th century, Spain moved the capital to the current location of Guatemala City, and it became illegal for anyone to live here. People still did, but the big landowners, namely the churches, all were forced to move. Jon an I visited a church which has been pretty much left as it fell. The rubble tells the story better than I could about why this city was abandoned.

Here is Jon at the entrance to the church...you can see the rubble in the background.

And here is a picture from inside the ruins. Just imagine all this falling down at once!

Pretty scary, huh!

Well, this is my last week here. Today I booked a ticket for Panama City, Panama. I leave Friday. I'll come back next Wednesday and spend my birthday at Earth Lodge. Then I leave the following Saturday for Mexico, where I'll travel around Mexico City for a while. A part of me is kind of sad. I've had a good time here, and made a couple of friends I think I'll keep with me. I don't have firm return plans yet, but I have to be back in Houston by December 10, since Jon graduates on Dec 14 and Nicole and Ryan arrive Dec 12. The kids and I will then leave for Playa del Carmen for a few days to chill and have Christmas together. As soon as I get back, I'm headed to Monroe, where Sue and I will take off for Oklahoma, and the Kouri Christmas. We'll be back just after the first. I'm planning more travel starting early in the new year, so I won't be in Houston long...just long enough to get different clothes!

Let me know when the Christmas party at TWU is.. If I can be back for that, I will!

Take care, all of you.

Earline

Company this week

Hi there,
This has been company week. Monday my cousin Sue came. She left this morning at 5:00am so I am a little groggy. My son Jon came yesterday and will stay until Sunday. So last night with both of them here we celebrated my birthday, with steak and chocolate icecream! It was great! It has been better to have them here though.

Sue and I went to Lake Atitlan again, just for the day. It was a neat trip. The lake is still beautiful. Jon and I don't know what we're going to do yet.
Love you guys,
Earline

Busy week and Earth Lodge

Hi there,
It has been a really busy week. I have basically blown off school for the last week. It was a holiday! Tuesday we built kites at the school, and then Wednesday we went to the top of the hill at the north (?) end of town and flew them. One of my friends said I should be an add...get a new hip and get your kite back!!! It was a lot of fun!

Here is the master kite builder, my teacher Miguel, with our kite...did I mention it flew right away!

And here is our kite in the air (I THINK it's ours!)

Here is a view of both our fearless kite-flying leaders (our Spanish teachers on a normal day!) and Antigua from above...

Another shot of the cross and some of the students from the school...

I was wandering around the other day and looked up to see this!

Thursday was a holiday here...Todo des Santos, or All Saints day. The big thing here is kites in the cemetaries, where it is supposed to attract the spirits. Some of the kites are huge! Some of the places have competitions and build these really cool kites. That is why we built kites at school. They are really cool! I was supposed to go see them, but I got the "traveler's disease" Thursday, and spent the day in my room next to the bathroom! Very restfull day, in a manner of speaking.

Friday a bunch of us went to a phenomenal place called Earth Lodge, about 3o minutes up in the mountains from here. This involves meeting in Central park where 2 pickups come for the 15 of us. We climbed in the beds, and flew up the hill. (Our driver was faster, just let me point that out!) We get to the middle of nowhere, and are dropped off by a path that goes downhill for about a quarter of a mile. That's right, getting in is easy...getting out, well let's just say it takes a BIT more effort!

Earth Lodge is run by a couple who have created this place out of nothing. It is on the side of a mountain, has a dorm, cabins, a sauna, and tons of hammocks, games, music, views, and some of the best food I've had since I've been here!!! We had mashed potatoes (of COURSE there was the gravy lake!) salad, roast chicken, cake (warm!), and just really good food. It was so good, we decided to stay for dinner the next night as well. They are doing a Thanksgiving dinner, and if we don't do something here, I may go back, if I can gear myself up for the walk out!

Here's a picture of the main reception area/movie room (behind the green door)/dining area/general cool spot to hang out...A typical seating area at Earth Lodge...

And the view during the day....

And at sunset....

Our crew playing twister...I was the official spectator...The twistermaster is Toby, from England. The girl standing facing the camera (sort of) is Frederica, an MD student from Sweden who will start working at the clinic I was working at Monday. The rest of the group is divided into Swedish and Dutch, but at the Lodge we had French, Spanish, American, Australian, Guatemalan, Dutch, and English travelers. I THINK I got all the counties, but it was hard to keep up. There were more Americans there than I'm used to being around, but it was kind of nice to actually understand ALL of the conversation (OK, well, MOST of it, since when we switched to Spanish I usually got the idea). I'm sort of getting a crash immersion course in Swedish, and it is not taking!!!

One thing I figured out last week...I've got to permanently quit smoking. I start, stop, and start again. But now I have the muscles to do what I want, but not the air!!! It's kind of cool, but it hasn't mattered in several years, so I didn't worry about it. Forgot them in the mountains, and one of the guys said "see...a sign!" He's probably right, so no mas! Now, it matters! I'm amazed. It's funny the little things I notice, like walking past someone on the sidewalk, actually walking faster than someone!!! Wow! And not taking so long to get anywhere. I'm really enjoying this.

Another interesting thing about this weekend is realizing there is a whole subculture out there which has opted out and are doing whatever they want where ever they want. I met a whole crew of people who had been traveling for a year or two...or more! They work when they need to, move when they want to, and just generally live a life far different from any I've ever known. They are not embassy, oil, military, or peace corp. They are just the wanderers of the world, with no more than 2 suitcases of stuff to their names, and more memories made in a year than most people make in a lifetime. It's very seductive to think about doing that. Makes me wonder if I really ever want to "go home"! Home, to these guys, is where you are, and there is always more to see.

Well, I'm going to stop now and see if I can add some pictures. Maybe we'll get lucky.(WE DID!!)

Jon and Sue come this week! Yippee!
Earline

More about the lake

Here are a few more pictures from the lake. Below is a beautiful house, looked like an Italian villa, but we're somewhere else!
Below is the view around the corner from where we were staying. The volcano is dormant, but wow...how beautiful!
A bride an groom were taking pictures on the dock below us. I'll bet they were beautiful!

This is Santiago. While we were here, we went to see one of the local sights, a "diety" called Maximon. This statue moves from house to house as determined by the leaders. Offerings are made (cigarettes, liquor, cigars, money) and healings are conducted by special healers. While we were there, there was a ceremony in progress, complete with incense, chanting, offerings, etc. But in the middle, the guy who was doing the chanting's cell phone went off! Cute little ring, and then the whole thing was interrupted by "Halo, halo...." It was a really funny juxtaposition of modern and ancient, and for heavens sake...turn off your cell phone in church!!!!
This is my hotel...I mean Elena's hotel...it's casa Elena. Pretty, huh...
I'll post this and see if I can load the pictures from last week and this weekend. Time is just going too fast!!!!
Earline

The city and the Lake (Lago Atitlan)

Hi guys,

Sorry for not keeping up with the blog the last couple of weeks. The internet refuses to load pictures, and I've been busy, so between the combination....no news!

When I told you I went to the city, I forgot I had taken a couple of pictures! We were wandering around, and here was this random statue of Romulus and Remus! Let's review...where was I again? Evidently one of the past presidents had a thing for Rome, so you are likely to find things like this all over Guatemala City. And of course...there's always time for a Coke!
Random statue in a random circle, but it looked cool so you guys can see it too!
Here comes the good part. Last weekend, I went to Lago Atitlan. It is a natural lake formed when a huge volcano colapsed on it self. The lake is approx 300 meters deep, and since it is on top of volcanic rock, it is crystal clear and a deep blue! It is really beautiful. It is surrounded by dormant volcanos, so it the scenery is gorgeous as well. Here is a shot of one of the volcanoes and the lake.

While we were there (I was on a tour with my school with a couple of other students), we stayed in a place called Panajachel. From there we took ferries, like those pictured below, to several other pueblos around the lake. There are 12 in all. Talk about the slow boat to China! The first was fast, but after that...chug...chug...chug. I'm going to go ahead and post this, and see if I can't start a new one that I can add more pictures to.

More later,
Earline

Musings

Today I was cranky. It happens...more often lately it seems. Seems everything was bothering me today...being by myself all the time...sleeping in possibly the worst bed ever...having very little music on my computer....feeling really isolated....yep, cranky! Then I got to class and had a blast. I make some really stupid mistakes. Today we were learning the imperative, and I told my teacher to "Share me!" when I really meant to say (HONEST!) "share with me!" Miguel is still my teacher, and he laughed for 5 minutes! I also learned how to say "bite me", which he didn't understand as funny until I explained my tatoo! He's not quite sure what to do with me, but we had a good time, and now I'm only marginally cranky.

One reason for the crankiness may be the weather. Today for the first time in weeks we had the sun in the morning, but by this afternoon it was raining again, and is raining still! Turns out I'm leaving just as the weather gets nice. I told one of my classmates I feel like a duck, growing webs!

I just barely brought warm enough clothes. I'm sitting here in long pants and a sweater. It is in the 60's here, especially on rainy nights! Glad I thought to throw in a sweater!

Enough about cranky...take care of yourselves. Love you,
Earline

The Chicken Bus

Hey there,
This has been a great weekend. I finally rode a Chicken Bus! Here in Guatemala there is a public transport system quite unlike that in Texas. Old school buses from the states are brought down, painted wildly, named (we rode on "Norma"), have big sound systems installed, and go from city to city. There is the driver, whose whole job is to drive this old school bus as fast as it will go on the roads here, and his assistant, whose job is to yell the destination out the door while hanging out on the last step, take your money, put your luggage on the top of the bus, and drag people in when the bus slows down (it doesn't actually stop very often, just slows down enough for someone to get on or off!) Martin and I decided to go into the city, so found someone yelling "GUATE, GUATE" and away we went! For a whole 25 cents, we rode into the city and back. While we were we wandered around the markets for a few hours. I bought toenail clippers and he bought jeans. We could have bought just about anything! It was a blast!

I'm being introspective this afternoon. Maybe it is having a relaxing weekend (yes, riding the chicken bus was relaxing!) or all the rain, but whatever. Today for lunch I went to a different section of Antigua than I've been before and it was beautiful! Think River Oaks with a spanish flair! I had one of those perfect moments...do you know those? Sometimes they happen so fast it's only later you recognize it for what it was, but sometimes, very rarely, you realize it while it is happening. I had eaten a wonderful brunch, and was sitting in a beautiful restaurant, with an absolutely PERFECT yellow rose on my table in full bloom. There was a pianist and a sax player playing, the rain was falling softly, and it was perfect! I was so grateful that I'm here, learning (slowly!!!) spanish, experiencing life in a way I haven't in a long time.

This is the first weekend I've stayed in Antigua since I moved into the hotel, so maybe I'm finlly settling down. I'm kind of debating staying here until after my birthday. I'm finally feeling "at home", have a couple of friends/acquaintences here, and I'm not sure I want to uproot just yet. I keep looking on line to find a trip I can afford to Argentina, but so far nada! I'd like to see the glaciers, and the Straights of Magellen, but we will see.

I talked to Nicole last night. Looks like I'm going to need to be in Wilmington a bit earlier to get a place to rent for the summer. She's going to look for me a condo on the beach, so you guys should plan your beach trip now! Take care of yourselves....
Earline

Belize with pictures

Hey there.

This weekend, I went to Belize, to go to the reef there. It was beautiful...but I went to Caye Caulker, and I think I found the end of the world. It is an island about 1 mile long and 3 streets wide. It was great! It took me a while to put up the pictures, but here they are! "Brother" John came, and we had a blast. One of the main highlights was eating lobster at every meal! I snorkeled on the reef and it was great.

John and I stayed in this great place called Iguana Reef. Here's a shot of John in his usual spot in the shade.....

We left on a tiny little plane. I was able to catch the shadow! I think I have flown on more small planes in the last year than I have since I was in high school!

If you guys have ever been to Barbados, there is a really famous hotel there called Sandy Lane. It even made it into 1000 places to go before you die! Well, this is the Caye Caulker version!

Here are some views of the island. The first is the main drag...Front street.


Then we have things to do on Front street!


And here is the beach on the island.


Transport on the island was pretty simple....


This is the view of Cay Caulker from the air. It's the back one.

Here are a couple more shots from the air. The ocean is incredible, so beautiful!!! The first is an island golf resort....the whole island!


This is just a picture of the reef from the air... and an island with one tiny house!

I told you guys last week that I decided to focus on my spanish lessons and stop working in the clinic. It is working much better. I'm going much faster, but then I study about 3 hours per day! I'm a bit homesick from time to time, but the time here is going so fast that now I'm just trying to do as much as I can while I'm here. One bit of good news, MY HOUSE IS RENTED! That was really starting to worry me for a couple of reasons. The first is obvious, making a house payment without a job is not really very much fun! The other reason is a bit more obscure, but renting the house from September to September meant I could have 2 full years on a lease and still come back almost directly into my house when I finish school. October to October means I'll be a bit off if I try to go back to work at TWU. Anywhere else it won't really matter, so I guess I'll just play it by ear. Like I'm doing anything else anyway!

Love you guys, see you in a couple of months.
Earline

Tikal and the Clinic

Hello again... I'm back in Antigua. I went to Tikal this weekend. It's the site of a huge Mayan temple complex. It was really interesting to get out of the city. I don't really have any pictures of the countryside, but think third world, with the pigs and the dogs grazing outside the houses. And lots of horses and motorcycles for trasport... We (the tour I was on) stayed at the Tikal Inn, pictured below.


The temples are located in an area which does not have enough rain to be called rain forest...it's called a high humidity temperate zone or something like that.,,but that means monkeys! We saw spider monkeys (see the one below) and heard the howler monkeys. We say lots of toucans, and not just on the fruit loops boxes!

Below is a picture of what a structure looks like before it is excavated. It is an amazing site. Probably only a third of it has been excavated. You walk down trails where you feel as if you are alone in the world except for the animals ...oh yeah...and the clouds of mesquitos!

We flew there on a prop plane that was small, but inside it was normal sized. On the way home, we flew in this plane that was probably 40 years old...no armrests, just a double bench seat on one side and a single on the other. There was no flight attendent. Instead, there was a bottle of water (or in our case 2 bottles...there were two seats after all!) It was TINY! But what a beautiful flight home. There was no way to take pictures, but think of the pictures of China where the mountains float out of the haze and the clouds, and you have an idea!

It's really hard to get a sense of how massive Tikal is. This is one view of the main temple square.
Here is a temple with some of the stellae in front. The Maya had one of the most accurate calendars in the world. It was a combination of 3 calendars, and using the combination, each year repeats once every 52 years. The stellae have stories on them that are still visible to some extent.
There is one temple you are allowed to climb. It's Temple 5, and from the top the other 4 temples are visible. Temple is 5 in the back of the park, about a 2,5 hour walk from our hotel. I did all the stairs, walk, etc. fine, but by the time we got there, and had a ladder we had to climb up and down, I ran out of gas. One of the guys on the tour took my camera to the top, and soooo, here is the best picture of the lot as seen by my camera!
Below is a shot of Lord Choco's temple.
All in all, it was a pretty amazing trip. The most amazing thing to me was my ability to do it!

The last two weeks I worked in a clinic. One day this week I took some pictures, and here they are. Below is the reception area....

one of the examining rooms....

La Doctora's office ..... La Farmacia.....
And the "trauma" and wound care room

I decided this week I'm going have to stop working in the clinic for a couple of weeks. They really didn't want me to start so soon. They were worried about my spanish, and they (the folks at school) were right. When I'm working in the mornings, then going to school in the afternoons, I really don't want to study at night. So I'm going to keep going to school in the afternoons and that will leave my mornings free to study. My priority is to learn spanish, so I really need to focus on that. I haven't made much progress in the last week, so I need arrange it so I will.

It was sort of an interesting week. I was so excited when I got back from Tikal. Walking, etc., had been so different from the last few years that I was estatic. Then I got home and was putting cream on my bug bites and realized....I CAN TOUCH MY TOES....EASILY!!!!! It has been years, and wow, I really didn't realize I was moving so much easier. Then....disaster....I fell really hard at school Monday afternoon. By yesterday I was really having problems with my knee hurting and being sore and was really bummed! When you've been hurting for so long, starting to hurt again is scarry, and you wonder if it will stop, or just keep on going like it used to. But today I'm fine, and marveling again at the difference 6 months and a new hip make.

Events of the week: Martin is now officially 32, after having a birthday Monday. A bunch of us went out and celebrated. Then tonight we had a "tour reunion" and Nick from DC and Grace from NYC and I went to dinner. We made a good group on the tour, and enjoyed ourselves again tonight. Tomorrow really early I head to Belize to snorkel on the second largest barrier reef in the world. John Watson (brother John to you who know the confusion) is meeting me there. It will be nice to see someone from home. Miss you guys and love you lots!

Earline