post card from guatemala

all is well...so in love already...

met up with my friend Manu--who i met last time i was in guate...

spent a night with him and his roommates in Guate City...severyone greets with a kiss on the cheek--so sweet...spent the evening with Manu strolling the green spaces, eating gelato, drinking local beer, enjoying the local molta...discussions of economics & Noam Chomsky & literature (mostly in english for my benefit as my mind is slow to respond).

traveled to antigua where i browsed markets (abbi--i found lovely textiles)

and made it to pana on lago atitlan...incredible...lake surrounded by volcanos...

met up with my friend Kirk...his beautiful partner Saudee

shopped the local food market with fresh vibrant veggies

so aromatic & colorful...

saudee made tacos with handmade tortillas & mango salsa...

mangos are in season...
its 76 degrees ...

tomorrow we cross the lake to san marco

where hopefully i will rent a room in a house..otherwise will find a hotel...

and later go to a dinner party.

all is lovely...sun is shining...hope the same for you all.

Post Card from Vermont

i just came in from cross country skiing in my back yard
tossed a dry log to the fire
a cup of tea sits nearby patiently brewing.
there is always a book lying in wait on the table
scrabble, puzzles, and deck of cards are piled near the woodstove
cyrus rests on the couch with one eye partly open.

a typical scene in my house.
one i won't participate in for some time.
i always feel nostalgic before i travel.
suddenly my bed feels extra comfy.
the cold weather is refreshing.
the woodstove is a joy and not a chore.
ahead the unknown awaits.
i don't even have a thought out plan.
i did buy a one way ticket to Guatemala.
so far its Florida to Guate.
i leave today.

my bag is packed.
one bag for 3 or 4 countries for several weeks.
travel light. live light.
the less i take, the less i have to worry about.
its my approach to life these days.
i am just coming to an age (um, may be called adulthood) where i appreciate how little can be so much.

once while traveling in asia, i took a one hour flight from hanoi to siem reap, cambodia.
one flight. one hour. they lost my one bag--for longer than one day.
i had the clothes i wore in chilly northern viet nam and my courier bag.

siem reap was at least 20 degrees warmer than hanoi.
i went to the central market in siem reap and bought a light cotton tunic.
i wore the same blue pants & white tunic for 4 days.
there are pictures of me touring temples, hiking in the jungle, riding motos--all in the same outfit. anyone viewing my travel pictures may conclude that was one long day full of activities.

i was determined not to to fall prey to the tourist markets filled with kitshy ethnic knock-off sarongs. i managed. each night, i rinsed my panties and tunic in the bathroom sink then hung them to dry. it worked.

i did so much over the course of those days. the lost luggage was a glitch on the scale. a tale of misadventure for later. back to the moral of the story-- you don't have to worry about things, if you don't have them.

a friend in guatemala told me the super bowl will be on, the day i am to arrive in lago atitlan.
it's funny to learn a bit of main stream americana from someone abroad.

wonder what more interesting things i may come to learn on this trip.

beat feet...its 30 below...the kind of cold that makes your snot freeze

somehow i suspect the expression "beat feet" doesn't have polyrhythmic roots. rather, this phrase was derived to describe what one must do to regain sensation in the toes after walking to the mailbox in minus 30 degree temperatures.

when my employer, an international tour operator of national geographic proportions, kindly let me know that economics dictated no travel in my foreseeable future...and the temperature dropped to 30 below...while at the same time my heater decided to turn off in the middle of the night...conveniently after the fire had burned out...it appeared the universe was trying to relay a message. of course, i interpreted this message as flee, go on now, move it, and make it snappy!

being a girl who easily gives into her whims, i bought a one way ticket out of vermont.

to florida
now, now, please don't jump to conclusions.
no self identified adventure traveler would make flo a primary destination.
although i've heard the islands and keys can be lovely (note: diplomacy).
given my allergic reaction to strip malls, flo has never been a destination on my "to go" list.

my parents happen to live there at this moment.
and flo happens to be the mecca of cheap outbound flights to latin america.
spirit airlines has the best deals.
for $300 round trip i will venture further south...
to places like guatemala, belize, honduras, and nicaragua.
not necessarily in that order.
not necessarily those places.
but possibly all of the above.

at any rate, i leave in a week and 2 days.
not sure where i'll end up. just know i have this ticket to florida to start.

in addition to buying the plane ticket, i decided it was equally important to purchase new sandals. a gift to my feet so they can look forward to being liberated in the very near future.