another view of Guatemala

The last couple of days I have been relaxing near Lago Atitlan.  After living in Quetzaltenango for five months, it feels good to be somewhere that I can enjoy being outside.  Sunday afternoon I spent a lot of time down by the lakeshore.  Yesterday I went to the Atitlan Nature Reserve and saw butterflies, a few spider monkeys and some coati.  Choco bananas are a treat I have been eating, they are almost as good as ice cream but healthier.  Today I went to three of the different villages around the lake.  Each village is a little different, but one thing that they all had in common was a lot of vendors trying to sell things to the tourists.  The picture of the church was taken in Santiago Atitlan.

It is good to see another part of Guatemala before heading home.  Next stop, Antigua.  More tourist activities and spending time with Aunt Betty and Uncle Harold.

coffee and bananas

Saturday I visited a finca (a farm or plantation) near San Felipe called Finca Santa Elena.  The pictures above and below show coffee plants of various ages.  Although it was not harvest season, the guide explained the process of preparing the coffee for sale to a company who then gets it ready to sell in the store.
The finca has bananas, too, and I saw the process of how they dehydrate some of them to package and then sell.

Besides coffee and bananas, they also have bees and sell honey from the farm.  It was quite interesting, and worth the hour plus trip each way by chicken bus (I did not go by myself).

I also was glad to get out of the city....here is the road that goes past the plantation. 

to market, to market

My first months here in Guatemala I spent living with first one family, then a different family.  In December I  found a place to live where I have my own bathroom and get to do my own cooking.  So several days a week, I go to one of the local markets (there are plenty to choose from) to buy fruit and vegetables.  There are a multitude of women selling produce. It is a treat for me to have access to such fresh produce at this time of the year.  The vegetables are reasonably priced, too.  The picture above is what I bought one day for ten quetzales (less than one dollar and fifty cents worth)-two pounds of tomatoes, a red pepper, a half dozen carrots, a bunch of cilantro and a pound of onions.  The availability of fresh fruit and vegetables is definitely one of the great things about Guatemala.

treasure

Saturday I was on a walk to the mall when I happened upon a back to school sale in one of the plazas here.  There were tables set up under canopies with a variety of vendors.  Some had your basic school suppplies.  Others had something far more valuable to me-tables full of used books.  I abandoned my walk to the mall, choosing instead to look for a few novels written in English.  At my reading rate, I hoped to find at least a few books of interest to me as it is close to a month before I go home.  Each vendor searched the tables for an English book I would find suitable for purchase.  One young woman found several books in English at her table.  I hated to disappoint her by not buying the books she found for me, but one was a Bible (I have one Bible and one New Testament with me here), another was an English dictionary, and the third book was written for people who were married for the second time.  At the end of my time, I had found two novels (one by Eoin Colfer, the other by Debbie Macomber) in English and the biography of Joni Eareckson Tada in Spanish to purchase.  It definitely made my day to find new reading material.  If the books are still there this week, I may return there with more money and time to see if I can find anything else.

biking

This morning, I went biking. It was good to be able to get on a bike and see a bit more of the city.  It is a little scary biking in the city because the cars and buses do not seem to worry how close they get to you.  Later, I went a bit out of town in another direction.  It was good to be on a calmer and less used road.

It doesn´t take long to get out of town.  Soon there were cattle tied to a stake somewhere grazing.  As you can see from the green in the pictures, January in Xela is a bit different than Minnesota.  By the end of my bike ride, I had shed my sweatshirt and long sleeve t-shirt and was in short sleeves.

goals for 2015

Most of the time I do not like to share my goals with the world as it feels too personal.  This year, though, I am going to share a partial list of my goals in hopes to inspire you to make a few of your own.  Every year I make some, and though I never finish complete them all, I am always glad for the things that I did accomplish.  Here is a part of my list for the coming year.

1. Read 12 nonfiction books.  I prefer fiction 9 times out of 10, but nonfiction books help me understand things I would not get from reading a novel.  Foreign to Familiar and How Children Succeed are two great examples.
2. Finish the Spanish portion of Duolingo.  I started sometime last year or the year before, and have no excuse for not finishing this year.
3. Learn to can salsa or dill pickles.  Two foods that I cannot get enough of, why should I rely on others to make them and give them to me.
4. Complete my hexagon quilt.  I started it in the fall and has a good start.
   

What are some of your goals for 2015?