What I Did With My Summer Vacation

For anyone who did not know, I just got back from a week plus trip to Guatemala. I have a friend who is in the Peace Corps down there and thought that this would be an excellent opportunity to visit her and to get a chance to see a part of the country that I would not be able to see if I went down there on my own with just a Lonely Planet as a guide.

We spent our first day in Guatemala City, hanging out and waiting for another friend of Audrey's to get fly in. We went to the Natural History museum where we learned about volcanoes, native birds, and native trees. We then went to the grocery store, which, believe it or not, is owned by Walmart. Anyone who thought you could escape them was wrong.

The next morning we hopped onto a chicken bus to visit Antigua for a few hours. Antigua (see pic above and many more to be posted throughout this note) is a beautiful city. It is a bit overrun by tourists, but that does not make it any less beautiful. The buildings are old, many of them left around since the time when the Spanish were in charge. Many of these buildings are now crumbling, but many are still in great shape. The city is bright and colorful and full of life.

After checking out Antigua, we caught a few more chicken buses and headed to San Vicente where we were meeting another Peace Corps volunteer who would take us up to Volcán Pacaya. While on the bus still, Audrey mentioned that we should prepare ourselves to be attacked by children with sticks. While this sounds violent, she wasn't kidding. As soon as we got to the trailhead we were surrounded by children looking to "rent" us sticks for our hike. It was an interesting scene. On one hand we wanted to help the kids earn a little extra money, but on the other hand we did not want to support them as they should have been in school, not hanging around waiting for tourists.

We hit the path at a decent hour, there were still a few tour groups, but we were toward the tail end. That would give us a chance to set up our tents and let the last group of tourists clear out before we went down to see the lava. I struggled getting up the mountain as it had been a little while since I had done a challenging climb, but it was well worth it. The views from the top were phenomenal even if clouds were beginning to come in and cover up the peaks of some of the mountains.

Once we got to the top we set up camp and gathered up some food to take down to the lava to cook up for dinner. They all had sausage and I got a bag of beans. Sometimes being a vegetarian seems like getting the short end of the stick.

To get to the lava you have to run down this fairly steep slope of little tiny loosely packed pieces of petrified lava. I, being the coordinated one in the group, was the only one that did more falling than running. Once again, it was well worth it. We walked across some larger pieces of petrified lava and made our way to where the lava was flowing. It was quite an impressive site. We made it right as the last tour group was finishing up, so pretty much perfect timing. As soon as they cleared out, we started making our dinner. Audrey was in charge of cooking the sausage, and all accounts pointed to her doing a fantastic job. You cannot tell from this picture, but being that close to the lava was HOT. And if you poke it, flames kind of shoot out. Not so much shoot but show up. We all got in for our photo op, and then backed as far away as we could because it was so warm. We ran out of rocks to stand on close to the lava, so I am a bit away from the rest in the picture.

After dinner we had to climb back up the loosely packed little rocks which was quite a challenge. By the time we got to the top we were all beat and headed right for bed. It was a good thing we did as shortly after we zipped up our tents it started to rain. This rain is NOT like the rain in the Pacific Northwest. This is rainy season in a tropical climate rain. This is what makes the landscape green in a country that is HOT for nine months out of the year.

When we woke the next morning all of the clouds had lifted and we stepped out of our tents into an amazing scene. It is not often that you can wake up and feel like you are in one of the most beautiful places on earth, but we got our chance. Mara commented that it looked like we were in an REI ad. She even took some great product placement pictures. We're hoping we can get them to give us so free stuff. Like a tent.

We packed up quickly and headed back down the mountain. At about 7:30 we caught our first chicken bus of the day and headed back into San Vicente. After six very memorable buses we finally reached San Carlos Sija, Audrey's site. The bus ride took us nearly seven hours even though the drivers were driving with a lead foot. Let me tell you a little bit about chicken buses. These are old school buses from the states that find a new home in Guatemala. They get a new paint job, and new engine (that can go well over 55 mph), and a new name.

The drivers of these buses seem to be fearless. This is their livelihood though, so they have a vested interest in keeping the bus safe, regardless of how dangerous it may seem to those riding. Since the speed limit is not exactly enforced, the buses spent a lot of time passing cars, trucks, and other buses. One driver passed traffic going both directions while on the left shoulder of the highway. Keep in mind that cars drive on the same side of the road in Guatemala that they do in the states. This same driver also passed a truck down the center of the lanes going both directions. But like I said, the drivers do not have another source of income outside of these buses, so they need to keep them out of accidents and therefore a probably some of the safest drivers on the road.

Once in Sija, Mara and I got ahold of Audrey's buckets and went about getting ourselves clean. Bathing becomes much more difficult when you do not have a shower and have to clean yourself off by dumping water on your head. We also made the mistake of not heating the water up, and after sitting in the Pila all day, that water was COLD! I don't have any pictures of this as they would not be appropriate for the blog, but just take my word for it that it was an interesting experience. After we had cleaned an napped we went to a comidor for dinner. The food was good and the coffee, though most likely instant and probably not even Guatemalan was pretty darn good too. We hit the sheets early in anticipation of a busy day of tree planting the next day.

On Tuesday we hopped into a truck and headed up the mountain (large hill?) to plant some trees. The trees in the area had been wiped out by a pest, most likely the pine beetle, so we were going to plant something that the pine beetle would not like. As part of their project they will be planting several thousand trees. We made a small dent in that and planted 100. Not too bad for four hours of work.

We then headed back down the mountain to go to the market to get food for dinner. Audrey made an amazing mango salsa and Mara cooked up some good veggies while I was trying to clean all the dirt from the day off. It was a delicious meal, even though it was the beginning of the end for me.

Wednesday we headed out bright and early to go on a field trip with folks from the Muni that Audrey works with. They were checking out another eco-tourism site in hopes of getting ideas that they could use in creating their site. The site was pretty and laid out really well. Unfortunately, I was having a bit of a reaction to the food/water and was miserable. By the time we got home the only thing I wanted to do was sleep, which I promptly got to do.

Thursday Audrey and Mara went to work on the trail that is the other project that Audrey is working on. I stayed in, in hopes of recovering from whatever it was I had gotten ahold of. When they got back from the trail, we packed up our stuff and headed for Quetzaltenango (Xela - pronounced Chala with a hard "a" in the first syllable). Xela was a really pretty city. Apparently it is popular for hot springs, but we did not go and check those out. Maybe next time? We explored the city a bit, had a great dinner, and then I went back to the hostel to gear up for the road trip to the lake the next day. Audrey and Mara went out and did some serious partying. Not too serious though as they made it back at a decent hour and were chipper the next morning.

When we got up Friday morning, we headed for the lake with two touristy pit-stops along the way. First we went to check out the zip line and then to a coffee farm near Santa Clara. I skipped the zip line as it had a bit of a hike attached to it, but Mara and Audrey seemed to have a good time zipping through over the lake. I am a bit sad that I missed out, but that's ok. Maybe next time when I do not get sick.

The coffee farm is what really excited me. I spend all this time accounting for coffee, I want to know where it comes from. Unfortunately it was not coffee season, so we did not get to see the full process, but we got to see quite a bit. It was amazing to see all of the trees, and to think about all of the work that must go into getting the coffee that makes up the latte that you buy every morning. Anyway, we checked out some coffee trees, and drank some of the coffee. Well worth it in my opinion.

After the coffee tour, we left Santa Clara for San Marcos where we would be spending the night. San Marcos is a town on the lake that is overrun with tourists. It has become the place to be for the yoga people. It is a BEAUTIFUL spot though. I imagine it would be a great place to come and practice yoga for a week or two or more. We checked out the sunset on the lake that night, got some curry at a restaurant owned by some British dude, and then headed back to our hostel.

On Saturday the plan was to head accross the lake to Panajachel, which we did, and to spend the day, and the night in that town, which we did not. Panajachel is the lakeside town where Guatemalans do their vacationing. It was a busy little town that had a pretty active market. Unfortunately, it did not seem to have any hostels and therefore no cheap places for us to stay. After checking out the town for a bit, we hopped back on the boat and headed for Santa Cruz where there was a hostel at which we could stay. The best part about this hostel is that on Saturday nights, they do a big barbecue. Even better news for me was that most of the food that they made was veggie. I was in heaven. We had a big day planned for Sunday, so we hit the sack early in order to be awake and ready to go pretty early.

Sunday was our last full day in Guatemala. We left Santa Cruz fairly early and took a boat back to Panajachel to catch a bus to Antigua. Mara and I needed to do some shopping and pick up some souvenirs before we headed back to the states. Again, Antigua was beautiful, and the market was full of life. All that bartering looked like hard work, though thankfully I had Audrey and Mara to do my haggling for me. I don't think I would have had the spine for it! After spending some time in Antigua, we headed back to Guatemala City so that Mara could get some rest before her early flight on Monday morning.

On Monday Audrey and I chowed down on some breakfast at the hostel and then I headed out for the airport, and she started to make her way back home. All in all it was a great trip and I cannot believe how much I was able to see in such a short amount of time!

To the Lighthouse

(Or my adventure to the Discovery Park West Pt. Lighthouse)

After checking out the Ballard Locks, I headed up to Discover Park. And by up, I mean I walked straight up a giant hill to get to the parking lot that is at the base of the park. Once I got to the parking lot and took a moment to catch my breath, I walked toward the nearest direction marker to decide where to go. While the beaches and bluffs sounded fun, I thought the most interesting place to visit would be the "Historic Area." After climbing up another hill to get to this historic area, I ran into a housing area that I thought might be off limits. I proceeded back down the hill to check the signpost again. Sure enough it pointed me back up the hill, so I went that way again assuming that the area was not in fact off limits. When I'd gotten about 50 yards further than before, a really big dog on a flimsy looking leash started barking at me. I decided that however interesting this historic area might have been, I wasn't going to brave the dog to see it.

Instead I turned back down the hill and onto another trail. From a maker a little further along the trail, I saw a sign for the beach and "Lighthouse." The lighthouse sounded interesting, so I decided to head down that way. And when I say down, I mean down a hill the size of the one I had just walked up. Now, you might ask why I didn't just stay at the bottom and go straight to the lighthouse. Unfortunately, this was not an option. So down the hill I went knowing that I would regret it when I had to climb back up. If you are wondering what the deal with these pictures is, you have to understand that the most interesting scenery was these trees. Plus in this picture, you can kind of see the hill I was climbing down.

Once I made it to the bottom, I was at the beach. Not the real beach, but the beach that's up against the Puget Sound, so I think that is about as good as I get. The beach was pretty nice, the view to the left is what I saw when I looked West over the water. I won't post the pictures of what it looked like to the North (somehow during my walk down, rain clouds had followed about a mile behind, but where I was going, it was clear and bright).

The lighthouse was not far from the bottom of the trail. I had kind of expected something bigger. Exactly what, I'm not sure. But I think it was supposed to be bigger. This lighthouse is no longer operational, but it's really neat that they've kept it up. I really liked this picture because it looks a little like one of the old houses you would see on a puzzle (if you don't look close enough to see the chain link fence).

Once I saw the lighthouse, I wandered around on the beach and tried to take pictures of the sail boats. I think I need a camera with better zoom to get them, but I did an okay job. You can kind of see him out there in the middle. Notice the gloomy skies overhead. That is what I had to look forward to seeing on my walk home. Needless to say, I stuck around and took a LOT of pictures, only some of which I can post here because I'm running out of narrative.

The view of the water from the beach was amazing, and I can't wait to go back when the weather is nicer. It's not exactly an area where you can sunbathe, but it would be nice to enjoy it without grey skies right behind you.

Once I finished up down at the beach, I had to head back up the hill. I still had a good view for a little while, and then back into the trees. At least the view of the water made the climb back up the hill worthwhile. I thought for a while I wasn't going to make it back to the parking lot, but then I saw a guy on a bike struggling up the hill and decided that if he could do it on wheels that looked like they wanted to slide backward, I could do it on foot.

When I made it back to the parking lot, I realized that I still had to walk a mile back home. Thankfully, the weather had turned around and the grey clouds were now at my back (where I had just come from) and the skies over my neighborhood were as blue and clear as they could be.

Needless to say, when I finally made it home I was wiped out, but I did enjoy the walk and the neat view from the beach. I may try to go back again with a map and try to find this historic area, though I'm guessing it's not much to speak of since it was so hard to find.

While Virginia Woolf's novel by the same title was more entertaining I'm sure, I hope you enjoyed all of my picture from my trip To the Lighthouse. And, I made it there before the third book, so I figure I'm one up on her characters. Also, please don't ask about the picture of the seagulls. I like them, and they were walking around like they owned the place, so I took a picture and decided it needed to be included here.

Ballard Locks

The goal for this weekend was to go to Discovery Park in Magnolia. The quickest way to get there on foot is to go over the Ballard Locks, which are about a mile from my apartment. Since I had never been to the locks either, I figured this was as good of a time as any to check them out. Once again, the weather was great, and I couldn't wish for more sun.

The gardens around the locks were really neat, and I'm sure really pretty in the spring and summer when everything is in bloom. The locks themselves were pretty interesting as well. I didn't get to see any big ships go through, but I did see some little sailboats pass.

All in all, the sight was fairly interesting. I wish I had more to say about the locks, but I think they are pretty self-explanatory. I really just wanted an excuse to post my pictures.

Gasworks Park

Gasworks Park was another area in Seattle where I didn't understand what all the fuss was about. So what, it used to be the home of the gas company and now it's a park. In fact, isn't that kind of disgusting? This used to be basically a power plant! But everyone kept talking about it, and saying how neat it was. Mom even sent me an article from her AARP magazine that mentioned it.

Since Gasworks is only about a mile away from Fremont, we decided to head that way after seeing all of the sights that Fremont had to offer. I'd have to say, Gasworks was BEAUTIFUL. It's funny how structures such as tanks and pipes can become works of art (if you will) after they have outlived their useful life.

The first thing we came upon was a play barn for kids that was put together out of old parts from the original setup. This thing was massive. It was full of gears and pipes and all sorts of other giant pieces of metal. And everything was painted some sort of bright color. The strangest thing was that as we walked into the play barn, it looked like a modeling photo shoot was taking place in there. I suppose there's nothing sexier than a 15 foot gear...

Past the play barn was a bunch of green, grassy open space with occasional structures from the original gasworks company here and there. Just a little further south was Lake Union. What we didn't know about Gasworks before we went is that the park looks south across the water with the most amazing view of Seattle skyline. We watched for a while and got to see boats and even some kayackers float on by. It amazed me how much different this view of downtown was from the view I see every day while taking the bus to work.

After poking around Gasworks for a while, it was time to head back to Fremont (truth is, we were hungry, and had discovered that there was a McMenamin's in Fremont). Once again, we couldn't have picked a better day to explore a new park. And as an added benefit, since it was still the middle of winter, the park wasn't over crowded, though you could see people throwing a frisbee or studying out in the sun.

Fremont

I've lived in Seattle for about six months now, and people keep telling me that I have to go and visit Fremont. I didn't see what all the fuss was about, really. So what, they have some odd statues and stuff. Well, we went this weekend and it was AWESOME. First off, it was the nicest day we've seen since maybe last summer. Second Fremont is a really cool neighborhood.

I decided that since Fremont isn't too far from my house that I would walk to meet the girls there. My not so far walk was probably closer to two miles, but the sun was shining what what did I care. Anyway, once in Fremont, the first thing we had to find was the signpost (how else would we know where we were going?). The best thing about the signpost is that it gives clear directions to the center of the universe - straight down.

From the signpost, we were able to locate the Fremont Rocket. Yes, that's right, a rocket. It was apparently a piece of space surplus/scrap or something of that sort. Anyway, the thing is attached to a building at one of the street corners. The rumor is, that this is the rocket that brought the original inhabitants of Fremont here from outer-space. Makes sense with all of the quirky shops and art around. When this rocket was first brought to Fremont, it was painted purple. It has since been cleaned up, which I thought was a bit of a bummer. All the same, it's a rocket attached to a building.

From the rocket, we headed north to a "larger than life" statue of Lenin. Not the Beatles star, the Communist dictator. And they were not kidding when they described the statue as larger than life. It is huge. The story goes, this statue was being sold for scrap in a former soviet country after the USSR fell apart. Because the value of the metal was so much greater than the price it was being sold for, a man bought it in hopes of selling it for the metal. Unfortunately, shortly after getting the statue back to the states, the man died leaving his family with this giant statue of Lenin. The family in turn donated the statue to the city of Fremont. A little odd, once again, but the statue is just so big it's hard to believe it ever would have been scrapped.

After seeing Lenin, we went off in search of the Troll (the real reason we'd come to Fremont in the first place). He wasn't hard to find, as the signpost pointed us in the right direction. When we got there it looked like some film students were setting up for a project so we had to take pictures fast. The students were kind of milling around him though, so they were in all of my shots (just in case you were wondering who the boys were). The Troll wasn't nearly what I had expected - I kept picturing the illustrated trolls from children's stories like the Three Billy Goats Gruff. Instead what we saw was a much rougher, and a little bit scarier version (note the one eye...). He was still a unique and fun sight - notice the VW bug he is crushing?

From the Troll, we headed toward the water to try to find the statue of folks waiting for the Inter-Urban - the old transit system in Seattle. On our way there, we ran into a museum, outside of which was a really interesting collection of stuff from a fire engine to some gears (yes, of course mom, I took a picture of the gears). Even the gate around the museum was a work of art. Because we had headed out so early, the museum was not open when we went by. (Who, knowing me, would have thought that I would have been out and about before the museum opened?)

Since we couldn't go into the museum, we continued on our way to find the Inter-Urban statue. It was a pretty interesting sculpture too. What better than a group of statues to keep you company while you wait for the bus? Apparently people in the neighborhood dress the statues up for special occasions (Husky games and whatnot). There is even a website with rules on how the statues can be decorated.

After the Inter-urban, we wandered down to Gasworks Park (see next blog) and then back to Fremont for lunch. For all of you McMenamin's fans out there, lunch was at McMenamin's (yes, they are in Seattle too).

After lunch there was one more site in Fremont to see - Jurassic Park. That's right. Dinosaurs right in the middle of Seattle - well topiary ones at least. When I read that there were topiary dinosaurs, I expected them to be fairly small and carved out of bushes. What we found instead were ivies that had grown around a wire cage. There was one big dinosaur and another much smaller one. Unfortunately we went exploring in the middle of winter, so the big dinosaur was not much to see, but the small dinosaur on the other hand was fully grown in. Another unique piece of art for a unique neighborhood.

We really could not have picked a nicer day to go exploring in Fremont. First the we went on the first nice day in months, and second, Fremont is situated right along the canal so we got to see beautiful blue water, sun, and lots and lots of green.

Visiting Seattle

I realize that I actually live in Seattle now, but I've never actually visited the city. Today I went out to do all of the tourist things that I never did before moving up here. First we went to the Market. I'd been through it before, and couldn't see what all the fuss was about. Apparently it's because I took a wrong turn somewhere and only saw the backs of buildings. Today we saw the guys throw fish at the entrance to the market, checked out all of cool vendors and their wares, and got coffee at the first Starbucks. We also went down to Pioneer Square and went on the Underground Tour.

The guys throwing the fish really startled me. They just start yelling and then throw the fish to each other. Ginny told me they wouldn't throw them at the people standing and watching, but then they launched one at an onlooker. Turns out the fish was stuffed, and the guy they threw it at got to yell and throw it back at them.

I was amazed at all of the interesting items that vendors were selling in the Market. There was food, flowers, figurines made out of volcanic ash, matted art, and other crafts. We didn't buy anything, but I know where I'm going to get everyone's birthday and Christmas gifts this year! I was really impressed by how many booths were open, and how many unique items were on display.

Seeing the original Starbucks was really exciting. We spend so much time at work focusing on how the business is now, that we lose track of where the business started. Amazingly enough, the store was fairly empty so we were able to see all of the Pike's Place merchandise and check out the store. We walked by a little bit later and the store was packed. It looked like the line was coming out the door.

The underground tour was pretty interesting. The tour guide was full of trivia about the city around the turn of the city. Unfortunately we were one the family friendly tour, and they had to clean up some parts. It looks like they have another tour that tells a little more about the dark side of the early underground. I think the girls at work are planning on going on it when it opens up again.

All in all, my adventure in Seattle was a lot of fun. I can't wait to explore more of the city!

It's Official!

I am now officially a Washington resident. After much arm twisting, and lots of stalling on my part, I finally got a Washington driver's license and license plates. It only took me four hours at the DOL (here apparently they do not have a DMV and you have to go to two separate agencies to get your license and plates). It was really sad taking the Oregon plates off and having them punch a hole in my Oregon driver's license. I guess there'll be no more getting out of paying sales tax now. Anyway, it's official now. I'm here for the time being, and had better get used to it. Enjoy the pictures of the conversion. *Notice the subtle plug for good ol' Oregon in the license plate cover...