We needed to renew our visas and decided to make a little trip out of it - so we took the long and winding road to Belize came back to Guatemala (Flores) yesterday evening, and will go to Guatemala City by bus early in the morning, and on to Antigua. Overnight, then return to Quetzaltenango on a shuttle bus.
Loooong time since the last post. Sorry. We've mostly gotten into a routine in Quetzaltenango (Xela) Guatemala. I've posted more often on Facebook, but I realize some of you aren't on Facebook, so here's a brief update of our activities:
Warren & I were some of the first to be nominated for Peace Corps Nicaragua August 2014 but now we have a Facebook group of 25! Not all are scheduled to go then - a few are currently there, or are returned volunteers. The group is split between Environment Education folks (which we are) and Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), with the majority being TEFL. Looks like a great bunch of people - we are by far the elders of the group.... We won't know until around mid-July where we will meet for a day in the U.S. for "staging" - and the date isn't fixed until then, either, but it will probably be August 12 and may be in Miami or Washington D.C. That's when we get our Peace Corps passports and briefings and get to meet our group in person.
Meanwhile, we are continuing to volunteer as tutors in Xela - English, Science, and Math (including the Mayan numbering system, which is based on 20 instead of 10 - they apparently used their fingers AND their toes.) I love it! Always good to learn new things.
The kids we tutor asked Angie, the non-profit director and mi hermanita, if I would be around for Mother's Day - they said that I am like a caring mother to them and they wanted to recognize me on Mother's Day. How sweet! We were on our Belize trip at the time, but we will probably do something when we return, plus go out with Angie's mom to celebrate with her.
I will put a few photos on this post - hope,to post more in the fairly near future. It's easier for me to do on Facebook or Google+, so if you want more frequent updates and are on one of those, let me know.
Here are a few of many photos from Belize. The snorkeling ones need to be processed because of the difficulty with the reds, so those will mostly come later.
Some from our kayaking adventures on the Sittee River - Hopkins, Belize - Hopkins is on the coast, south of Doringa, which is south of Belize City:
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| Warren, aka Jose, aka Chepe |
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| View from Curve Bar, Sittee River |
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| Patrick - hangs out near the Curve Bar |
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| Sherese, Curve Bar, who provided us refreshing drinks, like this lemon grass one |
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| Mangos hanging over the river |
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| Blue Land Crab (Cardisoma guanhum)? burrows - this is the "left side" of the "crab condo" |
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| Blue Land Crab (Cardisoma guanhum)? burrows - this is the "right side" of the "crab condo" |
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| Ringed Kingfisher (about 15 inches long beak tip to tail tip) - showing the tail |
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| Ringed Kingfisher - showing the breast |
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| Pygmy kingfisher - about 5 inches long (beak tip to tail tip) |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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Great Blue Heron
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| I had to put a spider in - don't know what it is yet.....but it's a beauty - look at the fuzzy parts on the legs! ~2.5" |
OKAY, THAT'S ALL FOR NOW - don't know how long my internet connection will hold...
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