Day Tripping to Rabinal

My buddy Shane decided to stop into Guatemala for 5 days on his way to Belize so I decided to take him and my family to Rabinal for the day yesterday. I had never been there before.



Salamá is on the way, so we stopped in and walked around the central park.



We got to shop around a book sale where we picked up some sweet deals (all in Spanish): A Hundred Years of Solitude, Guatemalan Mayan Dress cards (61 in total), Guatemalan Cooking, Never Again (about the Guatemalan Civil War), and My Clinical Observations on the Lemon, Garlic, and Onion.



On our way from Salamá to Rabinal (30 km), we were stopped by a roadblock put up by people who were upset by an incident between two bussing companies in San Miguel Chicaj.



Because of inflating fuel prices, one company wants to increase fare prices while the other doesn't. So one guy flipped another guy's van over. With people inside (no one seriously hurt from what I was told).

The delay was about 2.5 hours. We returned to Salamá for lunch and eventually got through.



Rabinal is on the other side of a mountain from Salamá. The road is very windy (not air windy, lots of turns windy).



I visited with these two guys on the right in the central square. The told me about the peanut farms of Rabinal and how rich the soil is. I would have liked to have visited a peanut farm, but our traffic delay prohibited that. There are also some nice pools that we were thinking of swimming in too, but alas, it was not meant to be.



Then we visited the market where we bought some of the famous native pottery and some local fruits (grenadinas, coconuts and mangos).



I thought this skinny puppy was dead, but it was only sleeping.



We stopped into a couple pottery factories and Edgar gave us a neat demo of the wheel and explained how their kiln works.



Our trusty car got us there and back unscathed (except for a little nausea. . . ).

thanks to Shane for photos 4, 8, 11.

A Long Time Running

This chap is from Tactic. Óscar Ramos just won the ultramarathon and set a new record for the race, an 80 km run along the highway that runs in front of our house. His time was 7:08:25 hours. I remember him passing by with a number on his chest and not seeing anyone else come after him. Second place was 53 minutes behind him. My buddy Erick says he works at the sawmill two doors down from my house.

I've challenged Walter my neighbour to run the Cobán half marathon in May. Since we both have small children, sleep and helping our wives usually takes precedence to going for a run. We both love running and so a 21 km run shouldn't be too bad. The furthest I've run is 12 km, so I would like to run at least that far once again before the race. If we do it.

My Father the Adventurer

This is the schooner my uncle just bought. My father is visiting him in Australia for the first time since his brother moved there in the early 70's. They are going to fly up the east coast of Australia, fix up the vessel, then take a couple weeks and sail back down the coast.

I'm a wee bit jealous. I wish I had a brother who owned a schooner in Australia.

My Mother the Actress

photo by Chad Hipolito/Red Deer Express

My mom, Debby, has been involved in Central Alberta Theatre (C.A.T.) for about ten years now. She's had parts in 1 to 3 plays each year and is now a real veteran so directors just handpick her for parts - though she still gets worked up over auditions now and again.

Right now she's playing a dog in a comedy called Sylvia. The reviews are great, especially for mom (Red Deer Advocate and Red Deer Expresss).

So, Congratulations mom and another part well done. Sorry we're not around to see you shine, next one though...

absorbing

When I was taking pictures of our shoe and sock distribution this week, a grade 1 boy's zipper was all busted up and his penis was in full view. It was both funny and sad.

I brought a team to a sinkhole/cave where Maya ceremonies are performed and a priest suspended a live chicken over his fire where it was burned alive. It was shocking. He chanted and recited for about 40 minutes.

With the same team we visted several families. We prayed for each family. A man wept when we blessed him as a father - he works far from home to provide for his family. A fatherless boy wept as we prayed for him.



I bought a 66¢ rock that I thought was jade. It turns out to be a piedra de rayo or lightning rock (my neighbour Walter explained it to me. The Mayans believe that a rock comes with a lightning bolt and splits a tree. Too bad it wasn't jade.

One of the women we visited, a widowed mother of three of our students, asked me to help her with some health problems. She showed me a test result form for some diseases she was tested for: Syphilis - Positive. Ouch. I filled her prescriptions this afternoon from our clinic.

Super Bugs II

This is what I shook out of Blaise's galoshes. You should see this mountain of insects move!

I sprayed 50% bleach on almost everything in our shed. It didn't do much for the boots, but other areas seem clear. We'll see where the infestation goes from here . . .

Super Bugs, Tiny Super Bugs

What looks like sawdust from a distance are actually thousands of tiny bugs.



I have no idea what they are, but they are on everything in my little shed behind the house where we have a spare shower, toilet, washing machine, bike, and my goat milking outfit and goat feed. We cleaned it out a week ago and sprayed it down with water, but nothing was different the next morning.

I'm going to spray the whole shed down with bleach next chance I get. Little stinkers.

Canada Fading

I´m in the Hotel Dos Lunas in Guatemala City right now. Yesterday I drove my former principal and his wife here to the capital from Tactic and we talked the whole way (as we had done the previous day coming from the capital).

Last night at the hotel I chatted with a Quebecois working for government in Ottawa. This morning over breakfast I visited with a British Columbian working in Ottawa as well.

I find it incredible how distant Canada is to me now. I have been away for 13 months - my longest stretch yet - and though it is a core of my being, I feel quite disconnected to it. I guess if I had thought about it before moving away, I would have understood that this would happen, but it has come as a surprise.

One of my fears (not an overwhelming one) is that I won´t integrate very well when I return to Canada. Then I will truly be homeless - but not completely, Amber will be with me.

Superlatives, Numbers, and Thoughts from our trip to Mexico

Most number of my family together in years: 9 (Papa, Mom, Sister, Sister, Brother-in-Law, Wife, Son, Daughter, Me). Great to relax, eat, drink, and play with my family in a luxurious and beautiful place for a week. I am truly blessed.



Visit number 5 to Tikal for me, visit number 1 for my sister Salomé.



Best part of seeing Tikal this time: the birds (toucans, redheaded woodpeckers, wild turkeys, macaws, etc.).

Number of border crossings: 4 (2 there + 2 back).

Cost of these border crossings: 855 pesos + Q40 + $171 Belize = $172 CDN

Worst border crossing ever: Mexico into Belize. A customs officer listening to her iPod while getting her shoes shined tells me that even though I'm only passing through Belize and a resident of Guatemala and citizen of Canada and had been in Mexico for 8 days I would have to unload my entire car of its luggage (16 pieces including food, baby beds, and purchases in Mexico) and carry it all 100 M into the building, get it searched and pay duty, then drive through the customs area then load up the car again. After bringing all the luggage in, the man assessing our purchases, upon learning what I had told the woman, said that there really was no need for us to bring all the luggage in.

Most stressful part of the trip: Finding out at the Guatemala-Belize border that Acadia (traveling on a Guatemalan passport) needs a pre-issued visa for Mexico and that the Mexican embassy in Belize (2 hours away) closes in 30 minutes (Friday noon) and reopens 3 days later (Monday).

Most benevolent person on our trip: Señor Miranda. After talking to a woman at the Mexican embassy on my phone, I talked to this man and he said to come out before 4 PM and he would issue the visa for us. This guy rocks.



Strangest experience in Mexico: watching the timeshare lobby burn to the ground on day 2.

Subsequent funniest sight: watching neurotic tourists running out of their hotel (very far from the fire and very unaffected by the fire) with their suitcases.







Most number of pregnant sisters at one time in our family: 2 (due in July and August) (I'm going to be an uncle!!)



First time my family has met my 9-month old Acadia.









Time spent in water and sun: lots.



Hottest lady on the beach: Amber



Best deal in Mexico: 30 original DVDs with an average price of $5.

Coolest people I met on the trip: Geraldo (hitched a ride with us from Belmopán to Belize City rather than just give us directions), Philip Henry (a traffic cop in Belize City who readily gave us directions to the Mexican Embassy with a heavy Garifuna accent), Señor Miranda (already mentioned him, but by far the coolest), Howard (an oil driller from Wyoming who blessed me with a great conversation after the SuperBowl in Belmopán), Oskar (a Polish Jew who grew up in Kazakhstan, Israel, and NYC - he was staying in the suite above ours in Playa del Carmen), a biker born in Angola who had riden his motocycle from So. Africa to Egypt, around Australia and currently from L.A. to Brazil.



Most annoying piece of luggage: a guitaron my father bought for a friend 2 years ago.

Most disgusting part of the drive: cleaning up Blaise's vomit after the first hour driving.



Distance from Tactic to Playa del Carmen: 1000 kms (600 miles).

Amount of time to drive those 1000 kms: 16 hours

Clinic Highlights

I managed a 2-day medical clinic in Purulha on Monday and Tuesday. We brought in a Guatemalan doctor from the capital at the last minute so that a visiting student doing a missions practicum could experience a medical clinic. We served about 80 people in all over the two days. Usually we serve many more, but since the doctor spoke Spanish, the patients talked to her a lot more. My sister who is visiting for a few days helped work the pharmacy too. Here are some of the things that stick out in my mind.

It's so easy to make the women here laugh... and the babies cry.

Jonathan, the visiting intern from a Bible college in Ireland, got to do his first rectal exam. He didn't want to keep the glove!

The people were the most understanding at this clinic than at any other when we turned them away for lack of time.

There was one girl, 14, who had been born premature and then was subsequently malnourished so she looked pretty rough and appeared to have some mild brain damage. The doctor gave the mother a sharp, very sharp reprimand for not following doctors orders for treatment when she was a baby.

Then the standard deworming experience where the child doesn't want to take the one time dose of Combantrin and spits it all over his mother.

I think I have just three more clinics before I leave Guatemala in July and as exhausting as they are, it is some of the most rewarding work I get to do down here.

Sweet Mother of Death

I don't like it that parents (a majority) in Guatemala give their infants candy.

I like it even less when they give candy to my infants. Back off sugar pushers. I want my children to have

• appetites for non sweet foods
• whole and white teeth
• bodies they can run with
• good metabolism

Music Mentors

Through my life, I have been introduced to many bands and singers that have stuck with me. This morning I put together a playlist to listen to during breakfast and a few of the bands made me think of these mentors.

R.E.M. was introduced to me by my grade 10 & 11 classmate Jennifer. She made me a mixed tape of "Out of Time" and some Pet Shop Boys. The Pet Shop Boys never really stuck. I'd always fastforward that side of the tape.

Manu Chao was introduced to me by college and traveling buddy, Ty. He discovered them while riding down a road in Tibet with some Europeans.

Arcade Fire, Great Lake Swimmers, and Feist were introduced to me by another college and traveling buddy, Kris. He gets a lot of his music from his roommate Glenn. They were still on the college scene when I grew up.

k-os was introduced to me by fellow cross-Canada cyclist and church co-worker Kurt. He gave me some tunes while he was discovering Motown.

Dave Matthews Band was introduced to me by one of my groomsmen and one of the greatest musicians I know, Justin. He likes a lot more pop, hiphop and jazz than I do, but still respect his taste a lot.

Audio Adrenaline, dc Talk and Sixpence None The Richer were introduced to me by my summer camp boss and good friend Todd. He found me at a time when I was craving Christian alternative music and he had a huge collection of the stuff.

Emmylou Harris and Cake were introduced to me by my own dear girlfriend Amber. I married her for her musical tastes (she almost lost me when I found out she liked Roxette).

Jean Sibelius was introduced to me by Kiki Boum Boum through my father. This Frenchman made some tapes for my father and I listened to them over and over and then I bought up every symphony of Sibelius on CD.

Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, U2, Bruce Cockburn, Daniel Lanois, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Gordon Lightfoot, Sheryl Crow, Edie Brickell, and Stan Rogers are all part of my DNA as they were passed on to me through my papa. He's a musician and never stopped looking for music and building his collection of records (which were all lost), then tapes, then CDs.

Tracy Chapman and Van Morrison were introduced to me by my dear mom. We listened to Chapman's debut album over and over again on our 1988 move east from Alberta to NB.

Everything but the Girl was introduced to me by Daisuke, a fellow camp worker. He had a fabulous CD collection and this was one nugget I snagged from him.

Moby was introduced to me in the car on a drive to Edmonton with Brian. He explained to me that Moby was the most pursued DJ.

Jonathan Richman was introduced to me by a high school friend, Ted. He introduced me to all kinds of music that he got from his older brother (Cocteau Twins, Red House Painters, His Name is Alive, Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir). Ted later became a member of The Young and Sexy, an independent band from Vancouver. He always told me he would be a rock star when he grew up.

Family Update

My secret to having such gorgeous kids: marrying a Wonder Woman.



My son is a talking machine. He currently practices conversation skills and inflection. He's 2 1/2 today.



My daughter tuns 9 months today. She's funny.

Shock and Awe

First the awe. These three volcanoes are almost exactly 100 km from where I took the photo. They are (from left to right) Agua, Fuego, and Acatenango. They are the three volcanoes that tower over Antigua Guatemala, the tourist hub to the south.



Now the shock. Mild shock. This is in Antigua. Zach Braff would probably find this funny. Or maybe he would want some royalties.

inter-mitt-net

Sixteen days after my internet was cut off for one-day repairs, I have internet again. Sort of. It cuts out a lot more now and as of yet, I can't update my website significantly.

My ISP moved to another town, so the antennas that propel the internet around town had to be moved. My ISP used to live across the road from me, so I had the best signal out of anyone. Now the satellite dish is 1 km away and the signal goes from an antenna there to another 400 M, then to another 800 M and then to my access point 200 M. The signal diminishes with each antenna: 75% X 66% X 50% = 25%

I also had to invest into a new access point as the one provided by my ISP burnt out (who knows how) and a new antenna of 9 dB. Last night we got it running and finally got our emails. I had been checking mine occasionally at the office and at internet cafés.

Yesterday, while attempting to catch up on three blog entries, a gravel truck took the power out of the school that houses antennae #2. So we were without internet for 24 hours again after a mere 14 hours with it.

Life goes on. It forces me to do other things like washing the car and learning the rules to LeTarot (a French card game) again. (I should really get to my documentary and to reading my books)

Traveling Light

Last weekend we drove to Copan, Honduras (again) to show April, my sister-in-law some of the sights. I skipped out on the ruins and took care of Acadia during that time so Amber could spend some quality time with her sister. Then in the afternoon, we headed to the El Jaral waterpark. Yippee!! There were three waterslides for adult-sized people and I hit all of them twice and then assumed some parental responsibility. . .



. . . like watching this sad little one. Acadia had a fever and a runny nose our whole time in Copan. Otherwise she was fine.



I also took Blaise around until I smacked my head a good one on a hanging bridge. It's still tender 5 days later.



Some orchids were in bloom at the butterfly orchid place. Most of the orchids bloom in January and February, some for just one day and other for a week or a month. We were lucky to see these ones.



One way home I stopped to see where the stoves I've been delivering and installing are made on the outskirts of Chiquimula, Guatemala. It was closed.



Also on the way home, we stopped in to see April's sponsor child, Byron. It took us 4 tries before he was home finally.



His older brother was flying a homemade kite.

Oh, and one of my recent favorite songs is Traveling Light by Eric Clapton from the album Reptile.

sleeping with the creature

Besides the scabies that we have had a close encounter with in recent weeks, I have had the unique opportunity of sleeping with my son as we have been on holidays: 2 nights in Honduras and 2 nights in Antigua Guatemala. When we sleep in hotels, I am the designated sleep companion to Blaise and Amber sleeps with Acadia.

Blaise can't fall asleep unless everyone goes to sleep - if there is light, conversation, any opportunity to play, he stays awake.

Blaise shifts and turns and wiggles and sits up and crawls deep under the covers for about 40 minutes while I lay still and remind him to stop moving, lay down, and go to sleep to which he replies "oh, yeah, hee hee, sorry."

Blaise talks to himself under his breath and sometimes out loud in his sleep.

Blaise kicks me in the gonads at least five or six times in the night.

Blaise snuggles with me before finally drifting off, but this includes repeated karate chops to the windpipe.

Blaise falls out of bed if no one blockades him in on the bed. I know this.

Gotta hang on to these precious moments.

Internacional

I am a French Canadian living in Guatemala, but currently weekending in Honduras, reading a British news site about the death of a Pakistani politician who was assassinated by her own countrymen or Saudi Arabs based in Afghanistan who used to be funded by the American CIA.

Midnight Clear

This was our Christmas Eve moon. We saw it rise over the mountains as we got home from a Christmas program at church (we left early as it started 1 hour late). We ate some traditional Christmas food (lentil-chicken wraps), opened some gifts from my old school in Spruce Grove, and then watched 2 Wonder Years Christmas episodes.

The local bars kept us awake (some, we were pretty tired) with loud music and other neighbours had firecrackers and gunshots going into the early hours of the morning.

Acadia woke us up this Christmas.

I'm currently waiting for Blaise to finish bathing so we can get to the rest of the presents. I have 3 DVDs under our little tree. I've already opened some new underwear and a Macworld magazine. Blaise has to bathe because he has scabies and so we have to cover his little body with poison at night and wash him good in the mornings.

April, Amber's sister, is here for the holidays. We picked her up from Guatemala City on Saturday. It's good to have some family with us this year - especially one who will help with the diaper changes and dishes ;)

¡Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noël! Merry Christmas!

Game 7: Oilers vs. Flyers

After waiting 9 days of patiently downloading 160 MB each day, my iTunes purchase arrived: 1987 Stanley Cup Final - Game 7 - Philadelphia Flyers vs. Edmonton Oilers.

I was in grade 5 and a new fan to hockey. My favorite players were (and continue to be)

• Glenn Anderson (9)
• Esa Tikkanen (10)
• Craig MacTavish (14)
• Grant Fuhr (31)
• Kevin Lowe (4)
• Craig Muni (28)
• Jari Kurri (17)

I haven't as into hockey since the core of this Oilers team disbanded over the following years. Watching them play again was quite a trip. The game is completely different today. Back then it was wide open and the passing and skating was incredible. They almost always carried the puck into the zone, only dumping it in when there was a line change.

Aside from the thrill of seeing the amazing plays by the Oilers and the great saves by Ron Hextall of the Flyers (he won the Conn Smyth even though the Flyers lost the Cup), it was interesting to watch from a historical perspective. The fans were pretty unruly and ignorant throughout most of the game too. They booed Hextall when he got the Conn Smyth. They threw garbage on the ice frequently throughout the game. The worst came at the end. When the cup was presented to captain Wayne Gretzky a bunch of Edmonton fans already flooded the ice - tugging at the cup and at the players. It completely ruined the moment for the players and you can read their lips as they yell at the fans to leave the ice. After watching that, I can't blame Gretzky for moving to L.A. a year later.