Hiking Adventures!

Time for Wanderlust Lane to get up and running again! Since my last entry here (from Guatemala in January), I have been lucky enough to take part in an awesome adventure with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society called Hike For Discovery. Since February, we have hiked over 100 miles and I have raised over $4100. I finally made it to the Grand Canyon! (see pic!) I've also seen beautiful parts of So Cal that I never knew existed and met some great people along the way. But, the last chapter of this book is about to end...at least for now. Our final hike in Yosemite is THIS WEEK! I'll be traveling up to Yosemite with 3 hiking friends this Thursday and we'll be hitting the trails on Saturday. I'll be sure to post pictures on my hiking website - which can be found at http://web.mac.com/loveandhope13

After this trip, I'll be gearing up for my next adventure...I'm off to the Bahamas on July 5th for ten days to take part in an Earthwatch Expedition, thanks to a fellowship I was awarded. I'll be part of a research team, studying the Coastal Ecology of the Bahamas on Deadman's Cay, Long Island. I'll also get to finally visit my mom in Tampa for a few days on the way back. Stay tuned for all the updates!

Hope everyone's summer is starting off well!

Kim : )

Feliz Ano Nuevo!

Happy New Year to all of you! As usual, my plans didn't quite turn out as I thought or had hoped they would. My teacher was unable to go to Chichicastenango today, but that's okay - we had our last lesson here at the school which consisted of conversation about the civil war in Guatemala and education - in particular special education - and problems in our countries. It was really interesting. And we also dabbled into the future and conditional tenses. Very exciting. In less than three weeks - I started out only speaking in the present tense, and went on to learn the preterite, imperfect, future and conditional. No idea what any of that means in English. Yeah teacher! But, I feel like I accomplished a lot. Let's not think about the fact that I can converse with my teacher because she speaks slowly and only in words that I know, and that when I walk out on the street and try to understand people, I am utterly confused. My goal (for now) is to be able to better communicate with my students' parents, and I think I will be able to do that now. Anything is better than before!

So, New Years was fun. I started out at the school's bonfire/wine and cheese party, and ended up dancing the night (morning) away at one of the crazy discotecas, despite what was previously stated. This is a picture of a few of us at the school's party. Josue, the guy next to me, is from here and works at the school's travel agency. He is a really cool guy. He also teaches salsa and dragged me to another lesson yesterday. Not a pretty site. He kept telling me to feel the rhythm in my hips. For those of you who know me well enough, you know there is no rhythm in these hips. I don't care what Shakira says. And for those of you who really know me well, I know what you are thinking, and no, Josue is not my new boyfriend. The other two in the picture are the youngins of the group - Eyal and Anna. Australian Anna is only 18 and is in her gap year. The gap year that none of us Americans ever take has been the topic of discussion many times over the past couple weeks.

So, after hanging out for a million fireworks after midnight(I'll spare you all the videos I took of that), I ventured out to the disco. I just spent about a half hour trying to upload a video I took there, but it's not working, so those of you who may be interested can come over and see all my cheesy videos in person some time. Anywhoo...after a few hours of the discoteca, I was out for a good portion of Tuesday. I woke up in time to catch a bit of the Rose Bowl on TV at McDonalds (my holiday hangout) - to feel some sort of connection to home. Other than that, it was a day of studying. Yesterday, after my salsa lesson, the power went out across the entire country for about 3 or so hours. Apparently, a tree fell on some power lines some 4 or 5 hours away from here and that did it. So, we were all kinda stuck inside for the night. Tonight, we'll be watching a movie about the Guatemalan civil war and then afterwards there are a couple of foreigners here that will be playing guitar at my favorite little cafe, El Cuartito. It should be a nice send off. I ended up getting a shuttle for tomorrow morning to Antigua, which gives me just 3 or 4 hours to hang out there before my next shuttle to the airport for my 8 pm flight. I've heard Antigua is very touristy, and not too much time is needed there, so I think a few hours should suffice. I have heard it is very pretty, though - and supposedly has pretty fresh air, so my nose is looking forward to that. And knowing me, I'll take another 75 pictures there tomorrow to add to my 250 or so I have so far.

So, that about does it for me from Guatemala. I feel really blessed that I was able to explore New Orleans and Guatemala in 2007. Now, I need to start planning what's to come in 2008. I am not against having travel companions - so let me know if any of you have any ideas!

Mission Accomplished

Yes, I made it! It was a grueling day and a half - I honestly can't say it was all fun and lovely - but I did make it to the top - at times fearing for my life - but it was definitely worth it. This picture was taken pretty early on in the hike, which is why I look pretty happy and am not bundled in layer upon layer of clothing. There were ten of us that went - from the US, Canada, Sweden, and Australia - plus our great guide, Juan, from here in Guatemala. Some of us were experienced hikers...and then there was me. No, honestly, I was not the only novice, but they did have to stop and wait for me more than once. (Lo siento!!)
I enjoy hiking quite a bit - even though I haven't been too often in the past - but this was no normal hike. The altitude made it really hard to go very far very fast. I was out of breath about ten steps after each break. It was a bit frustrating, but you kinda get used to it. We climbed for about 5 hours on Saturday and then we camped at about 4000 meters. The remaining 200 meters were climbed the next morning - in the dark. It was rough. There was frost on the ground and the rocks and we couldn't see and it was oh so steep. I was just slightly terrified. When we finally got to the summit, it was about 20 minutes before the sunrise and there were at least 100-150 people already up at the top. Apparently, this is the time of the year when there are big fiestas atop this volcano. And many of these people were prepared with bonfires and blankets - our guide boiled some water for us for coffee and tea, but it didn't help the freezing fingers and toes too much.
When the sunrise finally did come, it was pretty amazing. (understatement!) Here's just one of the many spectacular views we had...

We headed back down 30 minutes or so later , walking around the crater, which was pretty interesting. People have made words out of rocks, which you may or may not be able to see in this picture. There was a circle of people praying down there when we were walking by.

We got back to our campsite for breakfast a little while later and Juan prepared some "mush" for us. Not bad. : ) Here's a couple of mis compadres showing their excitement for the mush.

And then we headed back down, for the part of the hike that made me feel old...my knees, my hips, my feet, you name it - it hurt. And I slipped and fell no less than 5 times. I was told every time how graceful my falls were, though. : )

So, all in all, it was an amazing and satisfying adventure. To be able to see Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador from up there (or at least I'm told - what do I know?!) is pretty cool. It's nice to be able to say that I completed things in which some where along the way I felt like crying and/or giving up. I'm working on this whole fear of heights thing, too - for sure. Not going sky diving anytime soon, but I think I'm making progress.

So, here I am - back in Xela. Only two more days of Spanish classes to go...how sad. I had a great two hour conversation with my teacher this morning about my weekend. I was impressed with myself. Speaking of my teacher, here's a picture of us taken last week. (sidenote - I had not slept or showered in quite a while when this and many of these pictures were taken!)
She and I may go to Chichicastenango on Thursday, which is my last day of classes. If she is able to, we're going to have a little field trip there so I can check out the biggest markets in Guatemala. If not, I will have to make do with some more local souvenirs to bring home. It'll be interesting cramming it all into my luggage...

I can't believe it's New Year's Eve already! We are having a party with a bonfire at the school tonight. Apparently the discotecas are a little too crazy on NYE here, so we're making a party of our own and for that, I am thankful! We have no classes tomorrow, so I'll probably spend a large portion of the morning sleeping and then will do some studying. I'm thinking I will go to Antigua for just Thursday night and then head over to Guatemala City for my flight home Friday night. (The airport is apparently the only place you want to go in Guatemala City)

I hope you all have a safe and happy celebration tonight!

Feliz Ano Nuevo!

Kim : )

Will I make it?

So, apparently, I am hiking and camping the highest volcano in Central America this weekend. This shall be interesting. I have never hiked up anything with the intention of sleeping anywhere near the top. So, we'll see if I survive...

For those of you who have been requesting pictures, here's a few to hopefully appease you for now.



This is a few of us after getting out of the hot springs at Fuentes Georginas. (the first outing I went on after my first day of class) It was pretty steamy while we were in the water, so those pictures didn't really turn out. The guy to my right is Charles - one of the guys who works here at the school. He is from Alabama. The other two are siblings from Australia that were traveling Central America with their dad.



This one is at our school. We made these cheesy "murals" in honor of the Mayan New Year. The people in the picture consist of an ER doctor and nurse, a guy from Southern California who is here learning Ki'che, one of the indigenous languages, a Japanese girl who is currently studying in Hawaii and my friend Eyal and me.



This is me preparing some of the candles and offerings for the ceremony we had to celebrate the Mayan New Year.



And this is well into the ceremony.

Okay, that's about all the patience I have for now - it takes too long!

So, like I said, I am off on an excursion up a volcano this weekend. If I make it back down, I'll be taking just three more days of classes - Mon, Wed and Thurs - and then I head back on Friday. The time has flown by!

I hope you all are doing well!

Hasta Pronto,

Kim : )

Mi estomago es YUCK!

Hola everyone! Well, Xmas in Guatemala was certainly different. I did end up going to church with mi familia de Guatemala and that was pretty cool. The church is beautiful. I'm not at my laptop right now so I cant post any pix, but I will show them to you soon enough. There were a few unique traditions here that I have never seen in a Catholic church in the states. For one, they clapped after Baby Jesus was brought to the alter, after the homily and after the mass ended. There was an insane amount of insense. Everyone rushed the alter after mass to kiss Baby Jesus. And there was no order to the procession for communion. Just a sort of free for all. (Kind of like the driving here) But all in all, it was nice to be there and despite not understanding every word, I got the jist of things. Got my God on.

So, after mass, Lis and Maria (my mom and sister) walked with me back home and we had the traditional Xmas tamales. Now,let me say I LOVE Mexican tamales. Guatemalan tamales,on the otherhand, are not high on my list. And we tend to eat the same food for 2 or 3 meals in a row. So, Kim's stomach has NOT been happy. Actually, I have had the awful traveler's stomach issues that are abundant here for newby foreigners. Not fun. But mi mama gave me some drugs and some tea this morning and although they made me slightly loopy during class, I am happy to say I am feeling better than I have in the past two days. OH! I nearly forgot...another Xmas tradition is to go crazy with fireworks at midnight. Since I wasnt feeling well, I passed on watching the spectacle, but I certainly was awakened by the unbelievable noise. And I hear it was better than Disneyland. And by the look of the streets on Xmas morning, every citizen of Guatemala must have set off about 100 firecrackers each. They still set them off all the time, but Xmas was just especially crazy.

So, Xmas day was really nice - maybe in the 80's - so I spent most of the day writing and studying in Central Park. (You'll see pictures of that soon too!) It was nice, despite my stomach issues. McDonalds was about the only place open, so I spent a few minutes in there, making interesting observations...there is an armed guard, free internet, Bon Jovi tunes playing, beach volleyball on TV. All very random and unlike Guatemala - well, except for the armed guard.

Last night we had a Xmas dinner at the school. We all helped prepare it, so it was interesting. We started around 5 and didnt eat until about 9. My stomach was still a bit queezy, so it wasn't the best Xmas dinner, but at least I got to hang out with some nice people and play some cards.

Today I went to one of the orphanages after class. I really don't know how to describe it yet. Kinda scary. Really sad. Disturbing. Yet, I enjoyed it to a certain degree. I don't know. I can go into more detail with those of you who may be interested later...

So, future plans for this week? Study, study, study. I got a bit frustrated with myself in my class today and my lack of remembering much of anything, so I need to get my butt in gear! Wish me luck!

I hope you all had a great holiday and I'll "talk" to you soon!

Kim : )

El lago es muy bonito!

This is one of the many amazing vistas found at Lake Atitlan. I went there on Friday afternoon with 7 amigos, and we returned last night. It was such an awesome adventure! The lake is surrounded by volcanoes - all of which I wanted to climb. But, after a day of kayaking and horseback riding on Saturday (and a night of "enjoying" the pueblo to the fullest - a la "Full Moon Parties") - my body wasn't quite up for the trekking come Sunday morning. We stayed at a great little hostel/hotel in San Pedro - the whole family of indigenous Mayans were there working and they were lovely.

So, here it is - Christmas Eve - I am hoping to join mi familia for church, dinner and "who knows what" at midnight. Surely, there will be loads of fireworks, some gift exchanging and perhaps some tamale making/eating? Confusion is still a part of my every day, so I'm never quite sure. Tomorrow, there will be no classes, but I do hope to study on my own, and then there will be a dinner that we will all cook together here at the school. I think I am going to take it easy on the activities this week and focus more on my studies. Next weekend, I may either take a trip to Tikal to see the most famous and largest of the Mayan ruins (it's quite a trip) or I may stay a little closer to Xela and climb a more local volcano. We shall see...

I don't think I will be able to contact any of you tomorrow as everything is closed, so I wish you all the merriest Christmas if you are celebrating! Thanks to all of you who have been in touch!

With love and hope!

Kim : )

Lovin It

This is a self portrait taken whilst being flung around the mountainside in the back of a pick-up truck. Awesome.

So...I can say now, with all honesty, that I wasn't so sure about this place in my first day or two. Of course, I didn't want to admit that to anyone, but now that things are turning around, I don't feel so bad saying it. Cold shower, not being understood, awkward meal times, frustrating classes, not being able to walk around at night, etc, etc...there are some less than ideal situations here. BUT...4 days in and I know I want to come back to this place again. I could stay here for much longer than 3 weeks. I love it. Absolutely love it. I have mastered the shower temperature controls. I actually carried on a great conversation with my host mother this afternoon. I attended a traditional Mayan ceremony for the Mayan New Year last night. Incredible. I have salsa lessons in an hour. (SCARY!! I feel embarrassing moment #2 coming on...) (Actually there has already been an embarrassing moment #2 and #3, but I'm not disclosing those at this time.) And probably most exciting - I starting learning the past tense in my Spanish class today. I was like a giddy little kid. I'm such a nerd. OH! I nearly forgot - even more exciting - I went to an orphanage today and asked in my very own broken Spanish all by myself about volunteering there - and she understood me! So, I'll be going there next Wed and Friday. From what I hear, they can use any help they can get. I'm really looking forward to that.

So, I need to go study now. I have salsa lessons, as well as a benefit for the orphanage after that. And then tomorrow after class, I am off with 3 new friends to Lake Atitlan - which I hear is amazing. Regardless of the fact that not too many people seem incredibly interested in my little adventures, I will continue to let you know what's new here. I probably won't get to the computer again until next week, so an early Feliz Navidad to all of you!

: )