Mexicomo?

I have somehow landed myself already in Mexico. We intended to spend a lot more time traveling around Guatemala, but neither of us could help it when we heard that we could jump on an 11 hr bus from Antigua to San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico. It was a long day, but here we are! We are both so excited. Ahhh I loved Guatemala, but I am exuding with love and joy for Mexico. We hardly slept the night before and had to board the bus at 5am, so we were like zombies all day in the bus. When we arrived, we immediately dropped our stuff at a hostel and went out to score some street food.... fruit and cucumber smothered in lime, salt, and chile, fried potatoes with hot sauce, corn on the cob, etc! Mind you, we also had some excellent street food in Guate: tostadas with beets, guacamole, onions, and fresh parsley; tamales; pupusas; chuchitos (which seemed to be like fried tamales); and mountains of tiny round thick tortillas.

We loved walking around the beautiful colonial streets of Antigua and drank a lot of amazing hot chocolate (thank you Maya!) and even ate some nice Thai food. Before that at Lake Atitlan we enjoyed kayaking, and we visited a friend in the Peace Corps in Patzun, a smallish town with literally zero tourists, which was a nice change.

May I say that if I never ride another chicken bus it will be a-ok with me! The last one I road, I swore we were going to fly off a mountain. The driver sped around blind turns putting his entire body into turning the wheel. Later I will upload a picture of the audante--the guy who collects money from the passengers--crawling atop the seats of the completely packed retired US bus (I swear there were close to 100 people in it).

quick update

I can´t stand sitting in an internet cafe getting bitten by mosquitoes while my Quetzales tick away, so this will be a brief update :)

Justin and I spent a couple nice days in Xela as well as hiked up the the highest point in Central America: Tajumulco Volcano, from which we could see Mexico. It was a 2 day journey that involved several buses and a couple days of hiking and a cold night in a tent. Not too treacherous considering it´s height though and super beautiful!

Now we´re in a village on Lake Atitlan. Today we came by micro bus and then chicken bus (named as such because it is not unusual to have any assortment of live animals along for the ride in the painted retired school bus)...the first one of which dropped my suitcase on the side of the road going around a corner and we had to stop to get it.

We´ve eaten a lot of delicious tamales, tortillas, and tostadas on the street, which has got to be my favorite hobby.

Also, I was amazed and very excited to see Justin´s new moves that he picked up from 2 weeks of private salsa lessons while here by himself. I can´t wait to get him on the dance floor in Antigua where I hope to meet up with an old salsa dancing pal from Iowa City (or rather from here but we know each other from IC).

en Guate!

Here I am in Guatemala. I spent the first night in a hostel where I met a lot of new friends. The next day we all visited a non-profit that works with the families who pick through Central America´s largest garbage dump (located in Guatemala City) for things to re-sell. The organization gets kids out of the work and into school, helps them get access to showers and 2-3 meals a day, teaches them that they are important and worthy of love and respect, and does a lot to encourage their creative development through art and play and music. The parents also have the opportunity to learn to read and write and also go through the grade school program privately with the organization. They are also helped to start handi-craft businesses like making beads and jewelry out of rolled magazine pages. I was very inspired. The woman who started it sold all her things in the US and moved down here with only $5,000. She started with 40 kids and now it serves 300 families and about 500 kids.

Then I took a 4hr bus to Xela to meet Justin. Along the way I met a couple from New Mexico and we bonded on our love of desert creatures (they are herpatology nerds and I´m more of an entemology nerd), hiking, and green chile :) Then Justin picked me up and we had a very nice reunion. He showed me around his town, we ate Indian food and drank a hot fruit drink from the night market. We plan to get going on a bunch of treks ASAP, so you might not hear from me for awhile... I cannot wait to get out there and be in the beatiful naturaleza!
love!

food and other delights

Well, it's been a whirlwind trip to be "home." First of course was New York City for 4 days, which was simply wonderful. Vegetarian dim sum, Indian food, lots of walking and subway riding, vegan cupcakes, and some new passport pages! I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to shower--and how unnecessary it seems at times--I mean I'm not even filthy! Same with washing my clothes :) What luxury we live in here.

Then to the midwest: Des Moines for a couple days, then a brief stop in Iowa City where I got to eat at one of my favorite restaurants in the universe: Red Avocado, saw some dear friends and experienced a friend's backyard prairie, visited with my 2 favorite midwives outside the wonderful New-Pi Co-op. Then to Madison, WI to visit a very pregnant friend (I was hoping for slightly better timing so I could catch her birth, but wasn't that lucky). There, I was delighted to find my longed for breakfast burrito and shocked that there is not only a Peruvian but also an Indonesian food stall!! I was also delighted to see the abundance of tulips as well as to see that people are not crazy about killing dandelions: there are actually thriving yards and fields of them. Then back to DSM, where I on 2 occasions was very pleased to eat rhubarb: thanks mom!

Next to Kansas City to visit more wonderful family, where I sit right now, packed and ready for Guatemala tomorrow. Today my mom, grandma, and I had a lunch of crepes and cappuccino downtown and went shopping--a truly girly treat, then we had dinner with the boys at a steak house, where I had a sweet-tea infused vodka drink. Kansas City is full of surprises :) I also learned more about my family history: that my great great grandparents homesteaded in Colorado and that I have some Scottish ancestry and that my great grandma's mom died three weeks after she was born--of course my big question was: who breast fed her then?? My grandma didn't know. My great grandma then went to live with an aunt in Boston before reuniting with her family in Colorado years later. As I heard these stories, we drove around and looked at different houses which relatives had inhabited at different points in time over the last 70 years, which was made especially beautiful considering the green-ness of everything this time of year and the roses and irises in bloom. In the evenings we played hearts and gin rummy and my dad and grandpa beat me basically every time.

Less than 48hrs till I see Justin, and less than that until I eat a piping hot tortilla.... :)