ah pupusas- how we love thee!

It is almost shameful to realize that this far into our trip I have still not taken the time to explain the masterpiece that is the Salvadoran Pupusa.

For those of you unaware of this Salvadoran jewel, a pupusa is a Salvadoran food that is comprised of a corn or rice patty (usually corn) filled with your choice of beans, cheese, beans and cheese, pork, shrimp, etc, etc. etc. and then grilled.
They are eaten by many Salvadorans for both breakfast and dinner (but never lunch) and are a very affordable meal.
A pupusa can range in price anywhere from 25 cents to 50 cents....maybe more but i have only seen them up to 50 cents.

It's quite incredible to watch them being made by the women here- their hands fly with the dough as the put filling inside, roll them around, and stick them on the grill to cook.

yummmm.

I think my favourite part is the delicious salsita (tomato salsa) that you get to eat them with.
they are especially good cooked over a wood burning stove.
delicious.
plus it is fun to eat without utensils.

here is a photo i just found on the web of pupusas.
they also come with this coleslaw sort of thing- but tom and I don't eat that because we don't want to get sick and it;s hard to know how long it's been sitting around.



and for all those interested here is a photo of some people making the largest pupusa in the world! (actually, i here there is debate between this one and one made in Los Angeles) It was made in Olocuilta, El Salvador (the pupusa capital of the country- I have been told there are over 100 pupusarias all on one single road!)
The pupusa is ten feet across and afterwards they broke it up and people from the town all enjoyed it together!

i actually can't figure out if these are photos from Los Angeles or Olocuilta
i think they are from LA...








Here is a photo of us eating pupusas with David and Suzannah and some friends of theirs who just happened to show up at the same place as us.




and here is, finally, a photo of David and Suzannah for those of you who do not know who they are (or for friends who would like to see a recent photo)

We are the Campeones!

Today (october 31st) is my mom's birthday.

happy birthday mom!

This morning tom and I gave her a call to celebrate the happy day and send our love and best wishes her way.

Along with our birthday greetings, however, came some very surprising news! (no. it's not as surprising as what you are all thinking. hahahah. nice try.)

Thomas was quite excited to tell my mom that he had recently been mentioned in the sports section of a Salvadoran News Paper
no joke!
Thomas is practically a Salvadoran sports legend!

ok ok
so i am exaggerating- but only slightly.


Since we arrived tom and David have been playing badminton almost every night at a local badminton club.
The first night thomas came home exhausted, soaked with sweat, and unable to even lift his fork to eat dinner because he was so tired and his muscles ached so badly.
As time went by he got better in shape and was less sore.
After only a few nights of playing he decided to sign up for the Salvadoran National Badminton Tournament!

A week or so later the tournament began.


what can i say
Tom is a natural (and that is not just a girlfriend perspective)
He did GREAT
Since he is so quick on his feet and has long legs and arms he had great speed, nice reach, and quick thinking.

Tom was placed in the 4th division because he had only been playing for a short time.
He won every game he played (I will leave it up to you to ask about the age of most of his opponents. I am not sure i'm at liberty to tell....)
lets just say that in the second division a ten year old beat plenty of really good adult players to come in second place.
(there are the few amazing child prodigy badminton players........one 15 year old girl had won third place at the pan american games)

and while the finals were close he emerged victorious!



Not only did he get to take away bragging rights but ALSO a sweet trophy!
I am sure this will find a home on the mantel for years and years to come : )






David was also victorious and took first place in his division as well (which was one above thomas.......and thomas would like to mention that of the top two players in this division thomas, was victorious against them the majority of times that he has played them!)


As you can see they were both quite excited by the trophies.
And Suzannah's been very kind about making room in the bed for david's trophy to go between them.
hahah
kidding......????


vive el badminton!

Ants in my pants

"Ants in my pants"
no longer just a figure of speech for thomas and I ....but here I am getting ahead of myself.

Let's start from the very beginning (a very good place to start)

Last weekend thomas and I went on a camping trip with the youth group from Emmanuel Baptist Church (the church david and suzannah work with here)to a city about 2 hours away called ¨Alegria¨ (Which means joy in Spanish) Here we are getting ready to pile into our mode of transportation......a little pick'up truck that is made for 5 but can magically fit 13 people and their luggage! (they don´t make trucks like this in canada).


After a very long 2 hours of being smooshed together and driving up winding roads (Alegria is on top of a volcano) we finally arrived...only and hour and a half late for breakfast!
The purpose of this trip was to make some connections with the youth in Alegria. However, once we arrived we discovered that things weren´t quite how we had expected they would be. Instead of us hanging out with the youth group and doing service projects together it ended up that a handful of the older youth there were planning to lead a camp for our youth to build them closer together (encourage team work, etc.). All great things, but not exactly what we were expecting.

Suzannah said that things like this happen all the time in Latin America. Apparently people are not as direct when they communicate so it is not unusual to arrive somewhere and find out that things are different than you had thought they would be.
this time we were lucky that the miscommunication wasn´t a bad thing.



Within El Salvador there are two major opposing political parties that try and gain power. One is ARENA which is more right wing and is currently in power. They have been in power for the past 15 years or so i believe. David and Suzannah told us that the founder of ARENA was the man who ordered the assassination of Archbishop Romero (who we will talk about later on). It´s crazy to see how power is abused here.

The town of Alegria is an FMLN stronghold.
the FMLN is the name of a guerilla group that emerged during the civil war here. The group was named after a socialist peasant leader Farabundo Marti (whose photo was spray painted on a wall right next to Romero) who was killed by the military in the thirties.
I am by no means an expert on the subject, but i know that the group was made up primarily of peasants fighting for rights and an end to violence and injustice against them, as well as some left wing intelectuals. Basically they were a conglomerate of different groups fighting for rights in different ways, some of which were violent.
It was after the peace accords in 1992 that the FMLN became a political party and they continue to attempt to win elections, although ARENA remains in power.

Different areas of the country hold different political affiliations and it is easily depicted by the massive spray painting all over...well....everything. I wasn´t able to get any photos but if you drive down the high way in a pro ARENA zone you will see red, white, and blue (no, it´s not after the american flag...or the french.) spray painted on almost every single post, and even random rocks sticking out of the side of a cliff. Anything big enough to hold these three colours is quickly tagged).

Above is a photo from Alegria of FMLN spray painted on the side of a building

This photo above is also from Alegria and is a spray paint impression of Archbishop Oscar Romero who was a martyr here in El Salvador during the Civil war. Romero was appointed as Archbishop of El Salvador in....1977 i believe.
Romero was chosen because the oligarchy, the right, and military (who were controlling the country) felt he was a ¨safe¨ choice (someone who would not vocally oppose them). In march of 1977, however, Romero's close friend Bishop Rutillio Grande was murdered and many believe this was the point/beginning of his "conversion".
After this point Romero began to speak out against the repressive acts the military was committing and to stand with the poor. Jon Sobrino (who you will hear more about later) says that from this point on Romero recognized that the God he believed in was a God that stood with the poor and the oppressed. He could no longer separate the poor from God.

While we've been here thomas has learned quite a lot about Romero from an interesting book he is reading. Here is some of the information he has uncovered:

Although originally not a supporter of the church entering into the political realm, because of his fear of the church partnering with the government rather than the people, after his conversion it became apparent to him that the church should be rejoicing at the fact that in making a stand with the poor and the oppressed it was being a testimony of the church incarnate in the problems of the people. He was learning that it is to the glory of God to stand with the persecuted.
He was also learning that those whom he had thought were living out their faith by not entering into the political realm, by not recognizing the persecution of campesinos, they were showing that they had greater connections to power, rather than the people.
"A church that suffers no persecution but enjoys the privileges and support of the powers of this world- that church has good reason to be afraid! But that church is not the true church of Jesus Christ" -Archbishop Romero.

Although opposition from the institution of the church was very disheartening, it gave Romero solace to know that radical following of the gospel has historically always been met with opposition and division.

More than just learning about this great God who stands with the poor, needy and oppressed, and is their liberator, their defender and their life stream, and is crucified for them, and stands with them in their pain, Romero was learning that "With (these) people, it is not difficult to be a good sheperd" - Romero

(much of this information is my/thomas, interpretations of the book by jon sobrino ¨witness to the kingdom¨)

There is SO much to say about this incredible man whose life was a gift to so many Salvadorans (and still is even today).

but now that we have gotten incredibly side tracked
let´s continue with the story....



After a breakfast of pupusas (nothing says El Salvador like pupusas) we started to climb up the volcano. The plan was to climb up to the lagoon (in the crater of the volcano!) and then camp there for the night.
I had previously asked David how long the hike was and he reassured me that it was only 45 minutes or so. I was glad to hear this because I was still getting over my sickness and was weak from so many days of nausea and everything that comes along with that

I´m sure you can guess what happened next...

After hiking for about half an hour we took a rest and i was feeling pretty tired.
It was then that our guide, Pedro, said to us ¨only three hours left¨.
sorry. what was that?
I laughed it off and told tom that pedro was making a joke about it being three hours

A little while later, as i became more and more unsure, I asked Pedro myself....
¨so really...how much longer until we get to the top? it´s not REALLY three hours right?¨
¨No ¨Pedro assured me...¨it´s three hours more¨

THREE HOURS

oh brother.

and here is where the REAL adventure begins (although the 13 of us in a pick up was a good beginning as well).


Here are David and Suzannah with two of the Youth (Danilo and Carlitos) with only 2 and a half hours left to go!! (or so we thought)

so on we hiked....and hiked....and hiked
because we didn´t know that the youth group had planned this hike for us none of the kids had come prepared- almost all were in jeans and a few were even in dress shoes (one girl didn´t even have socks!)

but on we hiked....and hiked....and hiked...

Finally we made it to the top!!
And when we got there, guess what....
It was so cloudy that the beautiful view we had spent hours climbing up to...was no where to be seen!
Apparently, Pedro told us, you can normally see the beautiful green volcanic lagoon.
but all we saw was grey clouds.

BUT
don´t despair!
as we rounded a corner, through the clouds we caught a glimpse of green water
all of a sudden the youth were no longer complaining
it didn't matter that we had been climbing for hours in jeans and dress shoes, or even that it was starting to rain on us.
All of a sudden this feat they had accomplished (climbing to the top of a volcano- which none had done before) overtook all of the complaining and tiredness.
it was so encouraging to see these young people excited about what they were able to accomplish together.


When we got to the top of the crater we found a military base hidden in the wilderness. The soldiers were nice and gave us water to drink.
Part of me wondered what exactly they were doing high above this lagoon...

tom managed to snap a photo of them as we were leaving.

If we thought the way UP the volcano was tough, we didn't know what was coming!
On the other side of the military base we started down a single file path.
While on the way up the volcano we had been climbing up a road that was a good three people wide, all of a sudden we were enveloped by the volcanic jungle all around us.
Up ahead of the group one of the youth from Alegria led the way hacking down bushes and plants with a machete so we could wind our way around this incredibly steep ridge.
Pedro (who was walking at the back with us) told us that because of the altitude and the rainy season the foliage up here grows SO quickly. He said that within only FOUR DAYS this path would be completely covered up again!

As we walked down and up and around and down again along this very steep ridge (that at times was a little scary) the clouds began to dissapear and slowly the lagoon came into sight.
it was beautiful.






we came across a ton of beautiful plants, trees, and flowers including this bush below.
anyone know what it is?



if you guessed coffee than you are correct.
the seeds will turn red when they are ripe and then you harvest them, break them open and the white coffee bean is inside.



Here are tom and I with the lagoon in the background on our left.

Allow me to get back to the title of this post
As we were winding our way along the path i suddenly felt the most intense sting of fire on my leg
"OWWW!"
i yelled
as i pulled up by pant leg to try and figure out where this fire had come from I saw ants crawling all over my leg, all the way up to my knee
I had, unknowingly, been standing on an ant hill and they had climbed up my shoes and then UNDER my pants all the way up my legs.
The bites were awful
For the next few hours I continued to have various ants make their way up my pants and leave me with fire bites.

If i look at my legs, over a week and a half later, I can still see the red bumps from the dreaded "hormigitas".
Thomas also faced the wrath of these guys, although luckily his bites faded away quite quickly.

As we continued to walk the rain came. and came. and came.
sometimes in light spurts, and other times harder
by the time we were done our hike of OVER FIVE HOURS many of us were soaked.
As we walked tom passed the time by picking all the stunning flowers around us (although one was called "the flower of the dead"....so we weren't too sure about that one!) and beautifully adorned my hair with them.
By the end of the hike my head was a walking garden!










While hiking along I also asked Pedro a bit more about the paths
I was curious to know how old they were, if they were used by soldiers in the war, etc.
Pedro told me that, sure enough, this was the only path that had been used for...well....ever.
He also said that these same paths were used by both military and guerillas during the war.
It was powerful to think that we were treading upon such historic ground.




Unfortunately after our hike the batteries in our camera died so we couldn't capture on film much more of the adventure.

as if the 5 hours of hiking (in the rain...with the ants) wasn't enough, when we got back to the base camp tired and wet and hungry
it REALLY started to rain.
and it rained and rained and didn't stop
we saw two tents set up at the camp, and after a few minutes realized that one of the tents didn't have a bottom.
oh brother.
the lucky people sleeping in that tent would be soaked from the ground AND eaten alive by ants.
The other question in our mind was "how are we supposed to fit 13 people AND our luggage into ONE tent??"
as the rainy and windy afternoon continued we began to re-think this whole camping thing
Looking around we realized that NONE of the youth had rain coats. most were freezing cold and even one had chattering teeth (because he had no sweater! david lent him one though).
Eventually, after being freezing cold, soaked, and standing in the pouring rain playing camp games we convinced the youth from alegria that we should stay back in the town in a large hall.
The youth came around to the idea, but as one of the leaders was saying "maybe we should stay a bit longer" the huge tent (with no bottom) flew over from the rain.
it didn't take much longer to convince him we should leave right away!

we all managed to pile into the truck (this time over 15 of us) and got back to alegria where we ate dinner drenched and cold.

we were SO happy to be sleeping out of the rain though,and some nuns from a nearby church lent us mattresses to sleep on!
During the night the rain was INSANE.
under a tin roof it sounded even louder.
some people found themselves under big leaks and woke up with huge wet spots on their blankets.

In the middle of the night i woke up afraid
I was scared that there was so much rain that there would be a mudslide or that we wouldn't be able to get down the mountain the next morning.

As i sat there in the dark scared I thought to myself "I wonder if this is what refugees in camps feel like"
all of these people crammed together on thin mattresses, wet, tired, itchy from bites...I imagined what it would be like to be in a place like this AND be fearful for your life
I don't know what I would have done if men with guns had burst through the door at that moment.
The fear I felt and the pain i felt for people who are in this situation now or have been in the past was immense.
I'm sure it was only a fraction of what their real pain was like
but it all felt very very real.


The next morning we awoke to, you guessed it, more rain.
it was incredible
it just didn't stop!

The youth from alegria came and met us and we found out they had spent the night at the lagoon! All of them in one tent that leaked horribly. By the morning there was a little pool in the middle of the tent and only 2 of them had actually slept. (and one of them who got SOME sleep actually slept in a truck!)
we were very glad we had not stayed there. i just don't know what we would have done!

after breakfast and some games we were faced with the dilemma of the rain
there was 13 of us to get back to San Salvador (along with all our stuff) and it was raining outside.
In the end all of the kids managed to cram into the cab of the truck while tom, suzannah, and I sat in the back with our rain coats on and hiding under a big black tarp with the luggage
it was a very long 2 hours being cramped back there.

During this time I got to thinking again
Now I was thinking about what it would be like for someone to have to flee from their home under cover
Imagine being, for example, a slave trying to escape their master by hiding in a crate, or under the tarp of a truck
it must have been horrific!
cramped, dark, damp, scary.
Again my heart felt a little of the pain that so many people have had to face.

And just as i had imagined, there were quite a few mudslides that blocked peices of the road....unfortunately we didn't have a chance to take any photos, because our batteries were dead.

The whole ride wasn't a disaster though
Suzannah and I decided to sing as many christmas songs as we could remember
so as we sped along the high way streams of "O holy night" "jingle bells" and "what child is this" floated through the air.
once we had exhausted the christmas theme we moved onto musicals....annie, the sound of music, grease....
and eventually onto worship songs.

finally we made it to the church (after a few downpours and with very achy bums and backs)

after dropping off the kids at their houses we came home and rejoiced in the comforts of a roof over our heads and a warm shower to wash away all the dirt and grime from our trip.


there you have it
camping
El Salvador style.

A little more mini-bum

A big apology to all of those who are not kitten fans
but with these little fur balls around I must admit that at least half of my photos are now kitten-related.
but honestly- how could I resist??

enjoy : )

(for those of you who have not yet seen a photo of david and suzannah, here they are in the top one)

a quick update

sorry that it has been so long since we have posted anything
I have all these great plans in my head of what i am going to put up here
but David and Suzannah work during the day and take their computers with them so access to the internet is limited.

I have a few minutes before they head off to work and just wanted to write a quick little post to let you all know that we are doing well
My nausea is completely gone (thank you for your prayers!) although i woke up this morning feeling like i have a cold coming on. prayer for that would be great

We are having many Salvadoran adventures that I am very excited to tell you about
and I will get a photo of David and Suzannah up here soon (people keep telling me they would like to see a photo of them)

I am glad you are all enjoying reading this blog
it is fun to write for it (when i have the time!)

Peace of Christ to you all

em and tom

La Casa de Nacho

Thomas and I are very happy to Call David and Suzannah Nacho's home here in San Salvador our OWN home for these three weeks
We couldn't have asked for better hosts, friends, and accomplices (!)
We are having a great time enjoying delicious meals, wonderful conversation, and LOTS of laughter.

Many of you who know David and Suzannah may NOT know about the new additions in their house
Two weeks ago (give or take) their cat, Lechita (playing on the word "leche" which is milk in spanish...kinda like "little milky" in english) gave birth to 5 kittens
and they are the CUTEST
I wanted to make sure you all got to enjoy them as much as tom and I have
so here are some photos

Lechita is a little crazy sometimes though- she will take the kittens and hide them around the house...like in the laundry room!

they have opened their eyes now too
very exciting.

thomas and i have chosen names for them all (although they will most likely change when they go to their new owners). It's kinda hard to tell them apart because 4 are orange and almost identical
we are also not yet sure if they are boys or girls
but
here are our names
the black one is cusi (pronounced coo-see) and the orange ones are mochachito, caramela, mandarina, and mini bum (mini bum is the runt of the litter- and his/her name has a story behind it which involves all of us driving home from Guatemala behind a big semi carrying boxes of candy inside. All of a sudden the back door flung open and all these boxes came crashing down on the highway in front of us! We were going really fast but david managed to swerve and miss the boxes - although he did run over some of the candy! We honked really loud but the truck didn't hear us. so we stopped and picked up some of the intact bags of candy off the road! hahaha. and some of the candy is called "mini bum". super weird. but funny. and that is the long explanation of the name. oh, and then we chased the truck like mad to catch up with it and got him to pull over and close his back door. talk about and adventure!)

Las Ruinas de las capuchinas - photos

(main entrance to the convent)



(this is the only photo we have right now of this INCREDIBLE room that, apparently, is the only structure like this in the world. SOD people will remember this- in the middle of this outside "room" is a nail. but not just any nail. if you stand on this nail and speak you will hear an echo in your head- sort of like you are talking into a microphone....BUT YOU are the only one who can hear this echo. no one else can. it is only if your own head. VERY cool and odd at the same time. Tom,Suzannah, and David were all a little skeptical when i told them about it but they all came back very amazed at this wonder of the world. They tried to figure out how it workd but the jury is still out on the decision...perhaps a result of the surrounding room, or the room under ground...who knows!)

Disclamer

I think disclamers are always disappointing
this is no exception

because of something we, or my camera, did a memory card full of our photos from Guatemala city and antigua now needs to be "formatted"
if we click "format" then we lose all the photos....which we clearly do not want to do
and we are not sure how to fix this problem- so we cannot post any of the pictures we took that correspond to the next few stories
this is frustrating because many of the photos were taking with the thought "hey! this will be great to put up on the blog!"

so you will have to bear with a few photo-less entries until we catch up to the photos on our other memory card (good thing we brought two)

hopefully these photos are not lost forever and we can get them back once we get home

bienvenidos a zona 6

Tom and I had the wonderful opportunity to stay with Guatemalan families while we were taking our Spanish classes at CASAS.
We were placed with families just across the street from each other in Zone 6 of the city (I do not know much about this area-other than the fact that it is residential and doesn't show up in the guide books as a place to visit. I believe it is a poorer area of the city, but Carina can correct me on this if i am wrong)

the families we were placed with were fantastic.
It was a challenge for tom at first being all by himself in a house full of people who don't speak the same language as him, but as time went on he learned to communicate better and he did really well.
We were welcomed into their homes so generously and were cared for very well with delicious meals (lots of beans and eggs....and i had my first chicken drumstick in who knows how long. i didn't want to refuse the food they were so graciously offering me so i was happy to eat the chicken, it was a little weird though.)

My "dad", i found out, used to be a soccer player in the national league in Guatemala and now he works in a factory where they make clothing. He cuts the fabric for someone to sew together. I asked him if liked the work (unable to get the thought out of my head that this wonderful man might be working in a sweat shop to make cheap clothing for us to buy at Zellers...) and i was incredibly relieved to hear him say that he enjoys the work quite a bit.
I think he is really proud of it. one night he brought out all these shirts he had made and showed them off to me. He was radiant about the fact that he could make clothing to then give to his two grand children (who were very very sweet and live above his house).

Every evening my "mom" went out to a little church a few blocks away. The first night i stayed at home and watched tv with my dad. After watching a bit of "Brave heart" dubbed into spanish (who knew mel gibson had such a great accent!) we watched some of the evening news. this was hard to watch, mostly because of how my dad responded to it. He kept telling me that Guatemala is really difficult right now. There are lots of issues with gang violence (mostly with the gang Barrio 18) and it really scares a lot of people. My dad constantly reminded me of the importance of never going anywhere alone. One day, after taking us to the central plaza, he made sure that we took a cab home because he wasn't comfortable with us taking the bus.
It was special to have him care for me so much, but it made my heart ache to think of all the pain in this country.
It feels like it is never ending....
so many years of war, immense poverty, and now these problems with gangs.
it made me feel quite hopeless and despairing to see the eyes of my father so ripe with tears.
I just don't understand suffering- How God deals with it, and how I should deal with it.
I trust God is working here in this country, but i can't grasp the idea of so many people having to suffer and die in the process.
it is hard to reconcile in my head and heart
I spent a long time journaling and drawing and turning over my questions and aching to God- He knows how to hold it far better than I.

On the last night I was there my mom asked tom and i (very excitedly) if we would like to go to church with her. She was especially excited because it was the birthday of two congregation members and birthdays mean (you guessed it) PASTEL (cake)!! We, of course, jumped at the invitation (not necessarily because of the cake- which ended up being all soggy. You could literally see water dripping off the cake as it was placed on a plastic plate. must have been frozen for a while!). At 7pm we wove our way through the darkened streets alive with kids, adults, dogs, and blaring radios. We arrived at the home of one of the members celebrating a birthday and found some seats as the room quickly filled up with people. Soon a HUGE speaker arrived which was placed at the back door facing INTO the room so that the music and singing could be EXTRA loud (just in case we couldn't already hear everything in this small living room- tom was pretty sure he heard the music every night in his bed room even though the church was blocks away!)
It is always a treat to be part of a church service in a different country and to witness how the people there worship. I loved seeing the immense devotion of the people sitting in these plastic maroon lawn chairs as they closed their eyes and sang passionately to God. The pastor's "short" message (which was longer than most i have heard) was a great reminder of how blessed we are to have so many years in our lives- that birthdays are not days to complain about getting older, but to rejoice and thank God for giving us one more year of life.
How often we need to remind ourselves of this.

On our last day tom and I bought roses for our "moms" in the market for a ridiculous price of only $4 for a DOZEN beautiful roses!
I had sneakily found out my mom's favourite flower before hand and was very excited to offer these to her as a thank you for her gratitude and hospitality.
Tom got some for his mom as well and they both loved them and promptly displayed them on their tables. (perhaps a bit out of place against the concrete walls, but a beautiful symbol of gratitude).

Overall the experience was wonderful.
Unfortunately i wasn't able to get photos of anyone in my family except my mom (who was just...the greatest. She told me that her home is my home if i am ever in Guatemala again...and i only knew her for 3 days!). Out of desperation i took photos of pictures hanging on the wall so at least i have SOMETHING to go by!
Tom got some great photos of his family when they (his mom and dad) were using the camera to see how it worked
but, alas, they are on that silly memory card so we will have to wait to show you them
que lastima (what a shame).

follow the cobble stone road...

We apologize that these blogs are a little out of order at times
allow us to take you back a few days so we can recount to you our Antiguan adventures!

On saturday morning tom and I said good bye to our wonderful Guatemalan moms and headed out to find bus number 203. After watching two number 84 buses pass us by we figured that we must be standing at the wrong place and sought help from a man in a nearby tienda (store). After a few more sets of directions we ended up walking a good 25 minutes with very heavy back packs on to find out bus stop.
Eventually (after a bit of a crazy bus change) we ended up at Tikal Futura (A HUGE mall which SOD folk will all remember). We decided to grab some lunch there before embarking on our trip to Antigua (Guatemala's old capital city).

Getting on the chicken bus was also a bit hectic as i attempted to squash my huge back pack into the over head compartment (which was clearly too small to fit it). In the end the helpful money collector tossed our bags up onto the roof of the bus. While the bus was already close to full when tom and I got on it quickly enlarged its occupancy.
In less than 5 minutes tom and I found ourselves seriously squished onto a bus seat with another guatemalan man. (these buses are old school buses- who would have known that the seats were actually intended for 3- if not 4- people to sit on!)
It just goes to show that space is something we in North America are VERY picky about.
There appears to be no such thing as a personal bubble down here. Any inch of space is room for someone else to squeeze into- and if driving a bus is the way you make a living then you are going to squeeze just as many people as you can onto that bus!

On our ride we started chatting with a guy who is here in Guatemala working with the US peace corps. neat guy.

When we arrived in Antigua a man who works for the city's tourism agency came up and offered us free information (and it really was free!). He suggested that we stay at a hostel run by guatemalans so that we are supporting the local economy rather than staying at a place run by international people.
we found a great spot where we could stay for only $5 each per night with free water included.
it was a little muggy at times because there were no windows...and there was a cockroach incident one night...but the owners were great and there was a parrot named Arturo downstairs which was fun.

Antigua is a BEAUTIFUL city- and the pride of many guatemalans
It is an old colonial city with beautiful arcitecture, cobble stone roads, bright colours, and filled with ruins and incredible churches.
The very first thing we noticed when we walked into the city was the number of tourists
Antigua is DEFINITELY the tourist hot spot of Guatemala. While in Guatemala city i don't think we ran into another white person, here it was as if tourists out numbered the local population.
a very odd change.

(tom really liked the construction of the streets)

(this is the arch that Antigua is famous for- when people see photos of this arch they automatically know it's Antigua....or so i am told.)


When i was in Bible school three years ago i spent almost every day for a month and a half in Antigua hanging out, checking e-mail, or wandering around
it was fun to take tom to the spots i had been before and to know good places to find banana bread or where to get cheap internet.

On our first night we went to a pretty hip restaurant for dinner
Tom says it was just like a place you would find on Commercial Drive- hippy folk, chalk board menu, live music, free internet, and a few yin-yang signs hanging here and there.

On our second morning tom and I went to one of the most lavish and exotic hotels we have ever seen. It is call the Casa Santo Domingo hotel and you can check out this link if you want to learn more about it. http://www.casasantodomingo.com.gt/
It is a five star hotel and one of it's claims to fame is that Bill Clinton stayed there a number of years back. It is a beautifully restored monastery still very ripe with history and culture. They have restored lots of the ruins and many tour groups stop here to take a tour of the property which includes a number of museums and art galleries, underground crypts, a candle making shop (the hotel uses over 5,000 candles a month!) and much more.
it was incredibly beautiful. wow.

Unfortunately the second day in Antigua was filled with less exciting activities which centered around nausea, upset stomachs, and frequent rest room stops. That night our "dinner" consisted of apple juice, chamomile tea and banana bread because both of us were feeling pretty under the weather.

The next morning David and Suzannah came to pick us up and whisk us away to El Salvador- but not before they went with tom to see Las Ruinas de las Capuchinas (a beautiful old convent). I was too ill to go so i hung out in the truck trying to contain my nausea.
Tom can write more about the ruins, but here are a few photos they took there. Suzannah thoughtfully carved "wish you were here" into a plant where lots of people had left messages.
I wish I had been there too.

unfortunately this computer is acting a little strange when i try and upload photos
so i am going to have to put all the photos of the ruins in a separate post....

so that is antigua
in a nutshell
we had more photos of our hostel and such but, alas, they are all on the memory card that is also acting up.
if we get it working we will put them on here too.

nervously diagnosing my system

it is now a rainy afternoon in San Salvador
it was sunny just a few minutes ago, but rain seems to come very quickly here- one minute blue skies and the next an outpouring of the heavens.

I have not posted for the past few days because I have managed to get quite sick
I am currently facing the third day of almost completely continual nausea.
From morning until evening (with a most welcomed break while i sleep) I have felt incredibly nauseous.
I do not know exactly what the reason for this is, but it started in Antigua the afternoon before David and Suzannah came to pick us up.
It was a rough ride to San Salvador speeding down winding roads for four hours, but the gravol (and God) somehow got me through it.

Yesterday I had an interesting experience
after almost 48 hours of nausea Suzannah took me to the doctor she goes to here
The woman is a licensed doctor...but she is also licensed in reflexology and some other more..."cosmic" practices.
She had me lie down in a darkened room with soothing music playing and poked around in my ear with a sort of wand
by the nerves in my ear she was able to diagnose me and she said that my nausea and stomach pain is a result of my nervous system being down...and something wrong with my gall bladder and colon.
She then put some crystal rocks on my stomach and chest and these little electric charges on my ears and had me lie there for a very long 15 minutes.
parts were a little bit funky, but Suzannah has said she's always been helpful in the past so i am giving it a go.
she also prescribed some medicine (don't worry- it's not "cosmic" in any way. just an over the counter drug) which i have started taking- we will see if it helps
i still feel nauseous today but it is much better than yesterday

I am trying to eat at least a little bit at every meal, although the idea of food is often not a welcome thought
Thomas and suzannah have been taking great care of me- making tea, driving me to the pharmacy, rubbing my tummy when i feel like i am going to throw up.
and i am looking forward to this sickness passing

in the mean time your prayers would be VERY much appreciated.
It is frustrating being here and not being able to get involved in anything
all i have really seen of El Salvador is the inside of this house it feels like!
I have been lying around for the past 2 days reading lots, watching a bit of tv, or just resting.

today, as i am feeling a bit better, I discovered a fun photo program on this computer
as you will see Tom and I had lots of fun
now, unfortunately, i feel nauseous again (the excitement was too much i guess!) but i am learning to deal with the feeling and am able to get a few things done.

Please keep both of us in your prayers with an added emphasis on health.

peace to you all.
enjoy the photos!

love em and tom