To Antigua

Tactic to Antigua: 225 KM
Tactic to Antigua yesterday: 5 Hours, 14 minutes
Thats 43 km/hr.

Before leaving, I changed a flat and bought a new tire at the pinchazo in San Julian. Listened to some Ron Sexsmith, Arcade Fire, and a mix CD from Salomé.



I passed some trucks in the passing lane of oncoming traffic (there was no one on the road - at the same time someone passed me in the furthest lane to the left - that was a new experience for me.



At one point this white bus ahead of us appeared to be on fire.



Blaise is a little traveling champion.

Then we met up with Cosme, a Guatemalan baby being adopted by a couple from New Mexico. We met him and his new mom last weekend when we were waiting for my mom's luggage to show up (Continental Airlines).

'84 '85 '87 '88 '90 '06?

Oh man! This is too much to handle as the only Edmonton Oiler fan that I know for thousands of miles. I can't wait to check the scores online every second day to see if Edmonton won or not. I was blown away after they beat out first place Detroit, then beating out 5th place San Jose, now ahead 2 games to none against 6th place Anaheim. Yikes! They are getting really close to the Cup. And I can't watch any of the games!!!

All this without Fuhr, Tikkanen, Kurri, Messier, Muni, Anderson,Coffey, Gretzky, and Ranford. They've still got MacTavish, Lowe and Huddy in management and coaching though.

They could be the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup in 13 years. I recognized that all the American teams have huge Canadian player representation. But the Canadian teams have been underdogs for the past 15 years (except for Ottawa, who always chokes in the playoffs). It's so great to see Edmonton going so far.

I've been an Oiler fan since grade 5 when they won their 3rd Cup. I followed them heavily until grade 9, then I lost a lot of interest because money took over the NHL and the game got boring as far as I'm concerned (very defensive playing). I wish I could have watched more games since the NHL has changed.



I want to thank Dean for taking me to my last hockey game back in September. He got us primo tickets to an Oilers exhibition game against the Dallas Stars. It was a great time - though Edmonton lost in overtime.

They're not losing now!

Mercy

Yesterday, I drove a little seven-year-old girl home from the hospital where she will probably die.

I was in the Cobán hospital with a short-term mission team from Canmore, AB. We take all the teams there to pray for the kids and give gifts to the new mothers in the maternity ward. When a few of the team arrived at one bed, the parents were dressing their daughter to take her home to die. Aleyda has advanced meningitis and a tumor in her head, along with several infections. Her eyesight is failing too, as a result. A nurse commanded us to take them home as they live nearly an hour away, practically guilting us into it. I had my car along, so I was a natural choice to go, and I'm glad for it.

I took a couple men from the team with me - Walter, a programmer from Edmonton who grew up in Bolivia with his missionary parents and Trevor, a pastor from Canmore of Japanese descent. Aleyda lay in the back seat with her head on Trevor's lap. He cooled her forehead with a wet clothe the whole trip. Her body and legs where held by her parents. Her older sister stood up in front of her father in the backseat and held on to my headrest. Her father looked like a very nice man, devoted to his family, hard worker, wild hair and very defined Mayan features. They hardly spoke Spanish, in fact they spoke an indigenous language I had never heard of. I could hear Aleyda moaning in the humid air.

The drive took us north of Coban on the highway toward Chisec. We journeyed 40 km (45 minutes) over 2 mountain passes and through a thunderstorm. We took an exit for Playa Grande where the road was gravel, and then another turn onto a dirt road. I had to stop half way on this road (about 2 kms short of Aleyda's house) because my car couldn't manage the ruts. Some people had received a phone call that we were coming and they met us on this road with a hammock. Aleyda was placed in the hammock and we bid our farewells. We gave them some money as the father was at the hospital for 10 days and those 10 days went without pay.

We drove the 90 minutes back to Tactic with a quick stop in Cobán for bathrooms and ice cream. I washed my hands when I got home. Blaise was already sleeping.

Vapors

Nearly four years ago, I visited Tikal with Amber, Saison, Dean, and Mariah. Very little has changed since that time. Most noticeably, more areas are restricted to the public - not to be considered a deterrent however as none of the signs are obeyed by anyone (well, I obeyed them) (mostly). The other thing that was different was that there were almost no animals this time.



The greatest sensation I felt when visiting Tikal was the heat and humidity. I drank tons of water. We brought a 5 gallon jug from Tactic, so we had lots of 25 degree water to drink.

The second greatest sensation I felt was the power of nature to destroy. Here were palaces and temples and altars and commemorative markers all made of stone - but all of them have lost their functionality due to the power of roots and decaying plants and wind/water erosion. Huge trees dwarf some of the buildings that used to stand majestically on a paved street 1000 years ago.

The third greatest sensation I felt was very strong curiosity - every guide you talk to in the park tells a different story about the history of this Mayan city. No one knows for sure what life was like or why it ended so quickly or what the buildings were used for exactly.



My papa visited us the week prior to our trip to Tikal. We decided to make the trip to shorten his bus ride to Cancún, Mexico where he caught a plane. My family strolled around the ruins without any pressing agenda. It was really good to have that with my wife, son, and father.

The second day, only my father went to the park with me. We had nearly the whole day to visit the portion of the park we hadn't seen the first afternoon. We spent a good portion of the time visiting with people we met - a computer programmer from Poland and his New Zealander wife (a teacher), a nurse from Vancouver, a retired couple from Nantes, France, a Guatemalan photographer. The rest of the time, we climbed, took photos, ate melted chocolate andtrail mixx, and enjoyed eachother's company among the jungle vapors.

Look out for the tapir!

Driving to the World Heritage Site of Tikal in the Peten of Guatemala,
one must be exceedingly cautious.

(though I only saw 4 of the pictured animals the entire trip)

Blaise and his Pepere

Pépère has arrived in Tactic and is now almost fully rested from his 6 weeks of hard work, building a school in Belize. Blaise is about 8 months older than he was when he first met his Pépère. The spend some good quality time together - walking, reading, eating. Pépère offered to slaughter a goat with him, but Blaise politely declined.

I'm enjoying having Papa here - lots of good discussions. He's checking his email right now at my office, as I blog. We plan on climbing one of the mountains behind my house just to look upon the other side of the valley where they speak Keqchí, on this side, they speak Poqomchí. We'll also hit the gorgeous park at Rey Marcos, about 45 minutes away and enjoy the little waterfalls and the world renown caves too.

In a perfect world, a place I spend a lot of time in (in my head), family would live together, at least on the same farm or land. Blaise would go fishing and canoeing with his Pépère, get kissed all the time by his grandmas, and spoiled by his many aunties. Oh for that day.

My First Feature

3 things are lacking now.

Audio Mixing: engineered by Zaak Robichaud, Canadian in Guatemala.
Soundtrack: currently being composed, recorded and compressed by Justin Jeffery, Canadian in Michigan.
Subtitling: French translation of the transcript by Kevin Bourque, Canadian in Montreal.



So far, it has been previewed by myself, Amber, Saison, and my Papa. Positive comments all around.



Looking forward to submitting it to the Montreal International Film Festival and the Edmonton Film Festival for competition in the Documentary category.

Flies and Frogs

Houseflies now populate our house. I am not prepared to make concessions on their attempt to squat in my house. Therefore, we have turned to the power of the Fliegenfänger.



Frogs (or perhaps they are toads - I never audited speciation or zoology in Univ.) now populate our yard. I kind of like them. They are quite dextrous (unless a car drives over them) and I have to watch my step if I get in later in the evening.

Revoking Independence

Sirdar Inc. posted a copy of John Cleese's Letter to the United States. I remember reading it a few years ago. Brilliant. You can read it on Sirdar's site or here.

Jesus is my Crossing Guard

Jesús Chavarria that is. This guy is awesome. He doesn't stop traffic for you, but there is no way anyone is crossing the road if any vehicle is within a km from the crossing area. He's at roadside from 6:50 am - 7:40 am and 12:20 pm - 12:50 pm every school day - just waiting for you to try and cross the road without his permission.

If you drop your keys...

...in a river of molten lava, let 'em go, cause man, they're gone!



I climbed Volcano Pacaya with my sister, Saison a couple weeks ago. The hike lasted 2 hours to cover 4 kms (2.5 miles). The vertical increase was 800 m (about 2600 feet), the last 400 m was very steep and over volcanic ash.

For half of the hike, there were boys and men with horses antagonizing the people at the back of our 45 adventurer group. They basically intermittently shouted "Taxi!" or "Horse" as you struggled for your breath. Clever. I think almost every horse was rented. I used my feet.



It was quite a team effort some people to make it to the summit of this active volcano (1 of 3 in Guatemala). One 10 year old Danish boy made it up in sandals while a retired Québecoise struggled a few steps behind him. One of our guides has climbed this volcano over 2000 times.

An actual river of molten lava was present flowing from a smoldering sulphur heap. All this, a stones throw from where we tourists were allowed to stand and take photos. Nothing really prevented us from actually rushing down to the river to take a dip, aside from common sense I suppose.



Pacaya displayed some fireworks as we stood 15 m from the recently formed crater. In some of the debris it spewed, you could see the red. The smell of the volcano reminded me of my unventilated chemistry lab in Montreal - dropping pieces of magnesium in hydrochloric acid - burns the inside of your nose quite effectively.

Thirty-Trente-Treinta

I turned 30 on the day after the Ides of March and the day before St. Patrick's Day. The only real difference I can see is that my gotee seems to be thicker, but it could just be soup...

I spent my birthday morning teaching English and Music to grades 8-10. I then abruptly packed and I set out with my wife Amber, my son Blaise, my sister Saison (who was visiting us for a week), and my friend Michelle (who works with us here in Guatemala) on a very hot journey to El Salvador. It's March, dry and hot March. Blaise is a fantastic traveller fortunately. Cool, refreshing licuados were welcomed at the 100 km mark in El Rancho. Then we drove through Zacapa and Esquipulas before arriving at the El Salvadorean border.

We drove by about 35 tractor trailer trucks at the border to get to immigration. Not organized. I had to park the car in two different places on the El Salvador side after being told to move each time. It costs US$10/each (at least it cost us that much) to enter the country. This means we had to exchange money with the only money changer around - at an aweful rate (1.3 when it should have been closer to 1.2). After an hour at the border, we drove a pleasantly double lane highway to Santa Ana, the recommended tourist city. I do not recommend Santa Ana to tourists. There is nothing there. We wandered around the streets after sunset in our sweaty blue car for half an hour until we arrived at the Hotel International. There were maps on the wall leather couches in the lobby. There was also no water and no lights in our bathroom. Saison and Michelle's room didn't have a toilet seat. The rooms were US$20 each.

We set out to find some food, and after the ladies made me feel bad for wanting to eat in the modern mall food court, I gave in and we went to Pizza Hut. We enjoyed some classic music and watching a very enthusiastic table washer. A strange little girl rested her head on our table while I blew out my candles. Balloons fascinated Blaise, until he popped one - did he every scream!

I managed to use the birthday guilt thing with the girls and so, though we were all really tired (especially me), I beat them all at Settlers of Catan.

Thanks to for all the birthday wishes on email and the 2 phone calls. Cheers!

A week of sorrows

Saturday - I accidentally delete a scene from the film I'm working on. This just means redoing about 4 hours of work.

Sunday - I have a headache. Then while we're at church in the evening, our house is robbed of more than $8000 worth of stuff.

Monday - I'm in a daze because I couldn't sleep the night before because of the theft.

Tuesday - I move to a new house. The house is great, but in order to continue this thread of misery - I don't like moving.

Wednesday - Wednesday wasn't half bad. We bought a bed and a couch set in Coban and they delivered it the same day. Ah! I checked out a pawn shop and my stuff wasn't there that was stolen. That was disappointing.

Thursday - My markers don't work while I'm teaching that morning. That really bugs me.

Friday - I get my brand new Canon GL2 digital video camera - the one I've been wanting for 3 years. It malfunctions. I phone Canon and they say I need to send it to Calgary for servicing.

Dear Sponsor,

I spent 4 hours translating letters from children to their sponsors. It was a delight (despite the sharp pains in my right arm afterwards). Here are some of the things some children wrote and their literal translation (sometimes you have to draw the meaning out for the sponsor, or they may not understand...). All the letters are very sweet, these one just put an extra big smile on my face:

"Dear Sponsor. I am very content with the Lord Jesus and for you because it is certain that I will not see you, that is certain."

"Thank you for the money that you sent me and you are very good."

"Thanks for the help that you offer each month may God multiply the money that you give for paying the monthly fees of the school and I want to tell you that en my future I want to be a lawyer if God gives us the life."

"Dear Sponsor: I am 11 years old, they call me ---; I am in 7th grade. I live with my dad, my mom and my siblings. I study in the 'Beerseba' School. Goodbye, thank you very much."

"I am studying in grade four and I have a woman teacher and a man teacher, and they're called Evelin and Eli, and they love me very much."

"I am grateful to God for life of you and I want to thank you for your help; always I petition to God for your life."

"Thanks for sponsoring me and may you keep going may God bless you and may God love you."

"I still play soccer and also, I am proud of you."

"Dear sponsors, I pray fo your family and your kids that study. I love you very much. Thanks for the letters that you send me, they're nice, I like them and the money that you send me to buy things. Thanks for everything that you send me. How are you? Thanks for everything."

11010 1 1 1011 1100 1001 1011 101

I bought a desk and an office chair with my Ralph Bucks. It's surprising how clean my desk stays having drawers and shelves to put things. I spend about half my work week at the desk too, so Amber thought it wise for me to have a comfortable chair. Hey, I'm going to be thirty next month, gotta look out for that back.

So, I've got nearly everything I want in the tech dept. I won a bid on a Canon GL2 today on eBay which makes me very very very very very happy. I have been salivating all over this camera since the spring of 2003.



Reminds me of something a wise Norweigian teacher once said about dating: If you are wanting to remain chaste in your dating relationship, you have 3 years to make it or break it: get married, break up, or say 'uncle.' I either had to move on from this matter of the heart or put out - so to speak. Fortunately, I worked a deal with Impact Ministries and so they are chipping in so I can use this camera in my work, but it would be mine.

The other thing I'm missing is my sound system that is sitting in Canada. The little creative speakers up on the desktop don't really cut it - though my Sony headphones are quite rich.

What's present on the desk (I'm a list person - love making lists)? iMac G5, Samsung 17" Monitor, Canon ZR50 miniDV Camcorder, 40GB iPod, Canon i450 printer, Epson Perfection 1650 Scanner, Nokia 1108b Cellular Phone, Kodak Easyshare DX6340 3.1 Megapixel digital camera, 3 external hard drives totalling 510 GB, 12" PowerBook G4, Sony MDR-XD300 Headphones, and those Creative Speakers. I have a pretty special wife to let me accumulate these toys. She uses this stuff too though, and she's pretty keen on coming with me to which ever film festival I get my film into.

Poverty

I was too tired to post this last night.

Yesterday afternoon, I visited 19 homes with Mercedez and Carlos, again collecting information for sponsors and taking pictures. Here are some of the photos:



When we arrived at this boy's house, he was doing his homework outside (no electricity for light indoors) kneeling on the ground (his home has a dirt floor anyhow).



This girl does weaving for the hours she is not in school. Her mother does the same thing. For about 200 hours, this beautiful fabric woven should fetch about $20CAN - yeah, about about 10 cents/hour.



Notice the blood on this little guy's head. He fell off his father's bike this morning on the way to school. He stayed home from school, but didn't visit any emergency room. The wound was a pretty good gash. Carlos told the boy's father that rainwater (it was drizzling yesterday) would fix the yellow ooze coming from the boy's eyes.

Dialogue

After posting the blog previous to this, the one about the Conservatives laughable actions, I did some thinking. It's thinking I've had before, on many many many occasions. I usually speak my mind without taking into consideration the feelings of others. I don't think this is necessarily bad for a couple reasons - one, it keeps me talking so I don't bottle things up, and two I can receive clarification if my thoughts are in error. I don't think it's necessarily good for a couple reasons too - one, it can repel people of different views than me, and two I can begin labelling people rather than ideologies.

I hope this clarifies my attitude. I appreciate and love people on all colours of the spectrum. It's just that injustice and powerful corrupt people get me worked up.

This is kind of funny... some of our lady friends have told Amber recently that my blog is too political. Me? Political? Amber's blog is more soft and cuddly with references to rats, geckos, diapers, good feelings and me. Quite a good blog actually.

It's getting funnier. Or is it sadder?

I burst into laughter when I read the headline this morning "New parliamentary secretary to Francophonie can't speak French." Yikes, that's brave appointing an anglophone Albertan to serve the the Canada's vast French-speaking population. I've heard enough Albertans speak against "the French" to know that for a large part, they don't have fuzzy feelings for them (yes, I know there are French speakers in Alberta, and yes, I know that French immersion programs in Alberta are growing, and yes, I also know that many Albertans are open-minded and have kind intentions towards "the French." I put "the French" in quotation marks because they aren't really French, they're Canadian).(phew).



Then, ha ha ha, Mulroney. Ha ha ha. This guy should have been put behind bars ages ago. The Conservatives are not by any means less arrogant and corrupt than the Liberals. In my opinion, they are far more corrupt and arrogant, but, anyways. He's been reimplicated in the Airbus scandal, after getting $2 million in damages for libel some time ago. This was after he allegedly received $300,000 from Airbus scandal man himself. His real crime according to many was the way he became Prime Minister. Read Mulroney's bio in Wikipedia.

Hee hee hee, it's still great! I thought I'd check out right-wing news source canoe.ca to see what they were saying about the secretary to the francophonie. I couldn't find anything, but there was a fun article on Conservative MPs attitudes towards "turncoat MPs. Canoe didn't put any padding on the gloves for it.

I really can't wait until these guys are out of office. I really have no right to say this as I didn't vote this past election (it would have cost me a couple days), but I can say it if I want. The Liberals weren't a heap better, but at least I agreed with some of their policies.

Words and Notes

Some of my favorite Canadian artists and one of my favorite songs by each one:

These Days - Ron Sexsmith
Vampire/forest fire - Arcade Fire
L'Amour ne dure pas toujours - Feist
Falling at your feet - Daniel Lanois
No Sleep - Sam Roberts
In the Car - Barenaked Ladies
Forca - Nelly Furtado
If I had a Rocket Launcher - Bruce Cockburn
Stories of the Street - Leonard Cohen
Drink Yer Glasses Empty - Gordon Lightfoot
Superstarr, Pt. 2 - k-os
Pocahontas - Neil Young
Dis, Quand Reviendras-Tu? - Martha Wainwright
What if? - Riley Armstrong
Barrett's Privateers - Stan Rogers
Les Filles de la Rochelle - La Bottine Souriante
Courage - The Tragically Hip

Too Funny

Harper announced his cabinet today after being sworn in as Canada's new Prime Minister. A CBC news article uses the word "surprise" in its title, but I'm not surprised by the actions described.

Rewind to a year ago... Belinda Stronach jumps to the Liberal party to accept an offer as a cabinet minister - also giving the Liberals the one extra vote they need in a confidence vote. This was Harper's reaction to Stronach's move (CBC article):

"I could see this coming," Harper said, adding that he felt "a sense of relief" that Stronach had left before the beginning of a general election campaign and not during one.

"There's no grand principle involved in this decision, just ambition," Harper said.

He said he recently told his wife that he "thought it had become obvious to Belinda that her leadership ambitions would not be reached in this party regardless of whether or not we won the next election."

Harper added that as a result of expressing that belief to Stronach, "I expected to have problems."

But he said it is Stronach who will now have problems – when she faces the voters in her riding of Newmarket-Aurora.

"This will ultimately negatively affect Belinda Stronach's chances of being re-elected," he said.

Now, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper has lured David Emerson, a man just now elected as a Liberal in Vancouver, to become a Conservative in his cabinet. Nice work.

THEN, on the issue of elected officials, one of the items in Harper's platform was senate reform. So, 2 weeks after being elected, Harper gives an unelected individual a cabinet position. Nice Work again.

I don't necessarily disagree with party hopping and giving unelected people cabinet positions. The thing is that P.M. Harper did, at one point speak out quite strongly against it.

Keep up the good work dude.

PETITION FOR A CURRENT BLOG BY ALAN KYDD

I hereby ask all readers of this blog to sign this petition to be used as coercion towards my clever friend Alan.

PETITION FOR A CURRENT BLOG BY ALAN KYDD

Due to his history of genius musings, we, the friends and complete unknowns to the said Alan Kydd, urge, no, we threaten him to continue his blog at his website or to begin a new blog. This blog should be for the entertainment of his friends and to confound the simpleminded. This blog should also be updated at least once each month on penalty of onehundredpunchesintheface. Proposed topics may be included with the eSignatures below.

Note that it has been more than 18 months since Mr. Kydd's last log entry

Waiter! Waiter!

What did Blaise just ask the waiter?



"Waiter! Waiter! I'm still waiting for my carrot stick."

"Waiter! Waiter! Could you bring me a napkin to wipe my chin?"

"Waiter! Waiter! Another ale for me and my friends?"

Post Blaise's comments as a comment.

my toil under the sun

Cell phone beeping wakes me up. Snooze. Fry an egg and fail miserably at it - it is burnt in areas and raw in others. Briskly walk to school and worship with 230 passionate kids. Teach grades 8-10 how to pronounce the silent "b" (as in crumb and lamb) and some conversation. During recess, I visit with Heber about brass instruments. He is a notable trumpet player now and feels he's ready to take on a second brass instrument. I think about bringing my trombone down here. Grade ten learns to name the music notes on the staff after reviewing rhythms.

It's noon now. Rush home and snack, sort through some sponsorship papers with Mercedez. Erick takes my car to Coban to get the windows tinted - they will rip me off if I go, so Erick spends 5 hours getting it done for me - we go for really dark. Mercedez and I drive the Toyota van to Chicoy and chat about Old Testament lore. We meet Hector and Carlos in the village and begin our afternoon of visiting families. With a clear sky and hot sun casting strong shadows about, we collect information about the students that attend our school and afternoon program. I photograph them, their family and their favorite activity. We visit 10 homes - completing 35 forms. By the end of the afternoon, all the children in the village are with us visiting the last home. Mary Consuelo (pictured above) was in the second home.

I drive back to Tactic, drop Hector and Mercedez off. Put Q100 of diesel into the van. Do some finances over the phone as I walk to the bicycle repair shop. Daniel, one of Erick's sons, is there and helps me get my bike looked after. I now have a working pedal and a higher seatpost. For 5 minutes of work while I waited, they didn't charge me - I gave them something anyway.

Blaise is gnawing on a piece of banana, then cantaloupe, then an aba (cross between a pea and a bean). It's gross and he's really sticky, as are my pants after holding him for 20 minutes. Amber feeds me delicious haystacks. I bathe the splash monster and remain wet the rest of the evening. I text chat with April in Montreal about learning disabilities and the UN's rating of best countries to live in (Canada is 5th). Then we skype with Carl and Michelle in Alberta about work in Africa about our lives.

I put the car behind the gate and lock it. Amber calls me onto the roof and we mention the stars and smile at the crescent moon.

The inscription on my ring is "ECCL. 9:9"

Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life and in your toil in which you have laboured under the sun.

I'm 100 blogs old

From a banged up door to a banged up nail.
From melons to melocoton.
From Anselme to Blaise.
From pregnancy test to teething.
From Alan and Kevin to Walter and Les.
From Sibelius to Stan Rogers.
From Montreal to Honduras.
From Jason and Myra to Daniel y Flor.
From NDP to Green.
From chocolate to Ché.
From racing in Montreal to coaching volleyball in Spruce Grove.
From paying off student loans to printing off pocketmods.
From Mont Tremblant to the top of my roof.
From candles on cakes to votives on graves.
From Amber gorgeous to Amber stunning.
From Chomsky to Rousseau.
From family together to family apart.
From CUC alumni to Living Waters.
From iPod to iMac.
From Tactic to Santiago Atitlán.
From Ester Buck to Kia Rio.
From doubling par to winning Risk.
From Queen Elizabeth II to Princess Stephanie.
From microbreweries to pipe smoke.
From baptism to missionary.
From ultrasound to ultrasplashing.
From the United Nations to homogenous Chicoy.
From Cirque du Soleil to Lady in the Water.

Generous and sincere applause to all those who left comments. You're a rockin' bunch.

CSS and the payoff

Take a gander at what I've been up to some of the time for the past couple months. I'm still waiting for Dave to finish the news and docs pages.