Jess and Stacey’s Travels

We spent the last 1 1/2 months of our trip in Antigua with visits from Jess’s brother and sis-in-law and our friends Sara and Dan.  It was a nice way to finish out the 11 months of travel.  We enjoyed having visitors and hopefully they enjoyed Guatemala as much as we did.  Guatemala was one of our favorite countries, largely due to the great people we met. 

This is the last blog entry for this trip.  Hope to have another one sometime for another part of the world.   Thank you everyone who supported us throughout the year.  We could not have hit the road without you.  Muchas Gracias. 

Antigua Pix-click on photo for more pictures

We’ve been reminded by several readers that we have been remiss in keeping our blog up-to-date.  Lo siento. 

After spending five weeks longer than we planned in Antigua, we are going back to Nicaragua.  We spent the month+ living a normal, routine life-which explains our lack of content for the blog.  We survived the rainy season which is now winding down.  We had the chance to get to know the family of Francisca and Olga a little better.  We took Francisca’s son on his first horseback ride, around the Central Park in Antigua.  September 15 was Independence Day here so there were festivities in the park and fireworks throughout the night.  We visited an avocado finca (e.g. farm) about 20min outside of Antigua.  The big draw for Jess there was the treehouse, which we slept in for two nights.  There was a fantastic view from the inside the treehouse and from the finca, overlooking the valley and the three surrounding volcanos.  What we lacked in adventure, we made up for in normalcy this past month.     

Our next stop is in Granada, paying another visit to our host family there.  We are excited for the visit from Jeana and Mark in a month.              

Semuc, Tikal and Finca Pix-click on photo for more pictures

Sometimes it feels like we’re swimming our way through Central America. We have swam in ponds, lagoons, lakes, hot springs, caves, and rivers. We have yet to do ocean, swamp, and swimming pool; although two of the three will probably be done very soon.

Semuc Champey-click on photo for more pictures

While waiting for some friends to come to Antigua, we took a three day “jaunt” up north to the area around Coban and a place called Semuc Champey. Semuc Champey is a series of naturally formed pools that are on top of a limestone “bridge” that goes over a river. The river goes underground below the pools and then emerges with the last pool. (Photo above shows the pools).  On the bus, we met a young guy, Scott – nationality withheld 😉 who had just bicycled across Cuba. He joined us for a few days. We had a great time together. We even had what we thought was the perfect day.  [read on]

Yeah-Lava!-click on photo for more pictures

Housekeeping Note:  If you click on the pictures and they first appear blurry, wait a bit, and they should adjust to be clear.  Or else, just select slideshow option and captions will appear with the pictures.

After three weeks based in Xela, we have packed up and moved on to Antigua.  The three weeks were fun and event-filled.   We went to jail, warmed our toes by some lava, and enjoyed a swing from the tree tops….but more on that below.  More importantly, we improved our Spanish at ICA, our school which was a great school.  We met many really nice people – students, teachers, and homestay families.   The school arranged many activities for the students everyday after classes and also on weekends.   Some of the more notable activities were:

• We visited a woman’s jail the day after Mother’s Day to bring them Mother’s Day gifts, dance and have cake with   them.   The women in this jail are from towns outside of Xela and do not have people coming to visit them.  They are all being held while their cases are being investigated which sometimes takes up to two years. [read on]

Xela-click for more photos

We are in Quezaltenango, Guatemala now, commonly referred to as Xela.  It is a big town in the mountains on the ‘Gringo trail’.  It is much, much cooler here.  I bought another sweater to wear here and broke out the blue fleece again.  We were told that Xela is at about 8,500ft altitude. It took us 4 hours by bus to get here from Guatemala city.  It was a winding road through the moutains of Guat.  I wouldn’t want to do it with stomach issues.  We met two other women from Washington also going to Xela.  They are also going to the same Spanish school, ICA, as we are.  We also moved in with our new family, the Lopez’s- Mario and Monica (parents), Javiar (15), Daniel (10), Alejandra (7).  They seem to be a really nice family in a nice house about a 20 minute walk from the school.  There is also another American woman, Helen, living here.  She has lived with the family for 7 years and works as a special ed teacher.  We don’t see much of her.  The family just built this house about 4 years ago.

The woman, Gilda Arroyo, that we stayed with in Guatemala city had told Jess and I that women are expected to do most everything in this society.  Gilda was frustrated at times because although she is a single mom with 2 teenage daughters and her own bed and breakfast business, her mom still expects her to wait on her brothers when they come to her [read on]