tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76751425575396535692024-03-25T07:57:41.059-06:00Chasing MarblesWho let this crazy woman out of her country? Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.comBlogger369125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-12609232288871505282024-02-23T02:17:00.001-06:002024-02-23T02:17:26.260-06:00Belize For My BirthdayFor my birthday this year, I decided to treat myself and go to a place I've been dreaming of since high school -- Ambergris Caye, Belize. As with most dreams, things didn't always live up to the imagination, but I have to say that visiting Belize was definitely worth the money.Obligatory photo of the San Pedro sign, actually taken on my 3rd day.Let's talk numbers first (some of my readers Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com1San Pedro, Belize17.9213664 -87.9610905-10.388867436178845 -123.1173405 46.231600236178849 -52.8048405tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-57444778356852566502024-02-05T23:15:00.004-06:002024-02-05T23:15:19.754-06:00Fully Experience the MomentHey, long time no see! I just wanted to post a little thing here about experiencing a Guatemalan moment in its entirety.Here is a 29-second video of riding on a chicken bus. That doesn't sound like much, but watch it real quick before you read what I've written below.
When you watch the video, you can experience only a portion of what it's like to be on a chicken bus in Guatemala. You can Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-71793177739378646492023-08-25T12:17:00.001-06:002023-08-25T12:20:01.287-06:00Visa Run to San Cristóbal de las Casas, MexicoHaven't been to San Cris in a while and needed to do a visa run, so figured why not.The city was great -- as usual -- but the trip there and back was soooooo awful. Twelve hours of hell in a shuttle bus. Bad driver, no seatbelts, speed bumps, construction, no air conditioning, my knees jammed up against the seat in front of me. Ugh. I try to justify that it's 24 hours of torture for 90 days Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0San Cristobal de las Casas, Chis., Mexico16.7370359 -92.637618616.47417778438065 -92.912276803125 16.999894015619347 -92.362960396875tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-79851629813390352722023-05-31T22:54:00.003-06:002023-05-31T22:55:59.475-06:00Trip To Costa RicaGot a bit of extra cash and decided to go to Costa Rica for a few days. It was steamy hot & wonderful. I definitely need to go back to see more of the country.Here is a video with some highlights. A few more pics and thoughts below.
I stayed at Verde Mar Hotel in Manuel Antonio. I got their cheapest room, called the Student Room, but it was sufficient for me. It had air conditioning and a hotCeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com3Manuel Antonio, Provincia de Puntarenas, Quepos, Costa Rica9.4092624 -84.1553848-18.900971436178846 -119.3116348 37.719496236178841 -48.999134799999993tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-52427021303991570672023-03-27T14:50:00.001-06:002023-03-27T14:51:16.815-06:00Semana Santa -- Beautiful Guatemalan TraditionMy wonderful friend and fellow expat, Iva, made a video of the Easter carpets being made here in Panajachel. They are called alfombras in Spanish and they are made from coloured sawdust.(Click the picture to be taken to her video on Facebook.)
If you want to read about Iva's amazing journey from Canada to the life of an expat in Guatemala (and many more stories!) you can visit her website --Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-8628440401371767152023-02-09T14:32:00.000-06:002023-02-09T14:32:38.900-06:00Revisiting the Nature ReserveBert and I went to the Reserva Natural Atitlán just out side of Panajachel on a warm Wednesday afternoon. Photos won't upload, so I guess the short video is all ya get.Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-1330796427486187762022-10-02T15:56:00.005-06:002022-10-05T08:29:53.565-06:00Horses and the Fair!The town fair is on right now to celebrate Panajachel's patron saint, San Francisco. I missed the big shenanigans but was lucky to catch the horse parade today. I smiled so much my face hurt! 😄I took some shaky video for you to experience the chaos of noise that was going on.
At 2 minutes in the video, the guy noticed me filming and showed off for me. If you look closely, you can see his hands Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0Panajachel, Guatemala14.7404929 -91.1520965-13.569740936178846 -126.3083465 43.050726736178845 -55.9958465tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-59444062372069315902022-07-15T11:53:00.001-06:002022-07-15T11:53:24.784-06:00Sunny Day Means Laundry It's rainy season in Guatemala so a rare sunny day means you lay out ALL your clothes to dry on the rooftop.This is a picture out my back window at my neighbour's house. There are clothes hanging on all the lines, plus laid out all over all the rooftops, including more to the left that I couldn't get in the picture.I have been hand-washing my clothes for years now. It's annoying but just Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-36073973965117892342022-05-13T12:00:00.000-06:002022-05-13T12:00:01.210-06:00Great Video from a Scottish Tourist It's so nice to see this guy enjoying his visit to our town.
Be sure to check out his other videos around Guatemala. I am happy that tourism is coming back to support the economy and give adventurous souls their travel fix!Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-57021627498228416722022-03-19T14:44:00.000-06:002022-03-19T14:44:37.825-06:00Because It's ThereI climbed a big hill today. 😊The view from the road. I want to climb up to that lone dark tree in the middle.Walking on the wall between bean fields and onion fields.The first look at the road up. Cobblestones!A trickling waterfall down rocks.Two black vultures looking kinda sus by the side of the road.It's the end of the dry season so the road was pretty nice.I wouldn't want to try to climb Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-26515875537183007812022-03-12T18:17:00.001-06:002022-03-12T18:17:11.502-06:00Still Here I'm still here in Panajachel, bumbling along through life as best I can.
Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-14724938867114835562021-04-17T11:04:00.004-06:002021-04-17T11:05:57.076-06:00No Booze For You!Bert and I get a kick out of what a big bunch of whiners the people in the U.S. and Canada are over COVID-19 restrictions. They have no idea! Guatemala goes over the freaking top when a new rule comes out. Back when coronavirus started, they were arresting and fining people who didn't wear masks. Arresting them! Compliance rates increased quickly, as you can imagine.The latest development here inCeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-8907847809648370562021-04-13T17:16:00.000-06:002021-04-13T17:16:12.052-06:00Rainy Day Walk to the MiradorWoke up late today and decided to go for a walk to the lookout on the way to Santa Catarina. I chose to ignore the dark blue clouds on the horizon as I set out.Didn't huff and puff too badly on the long upward walk to the mirador. I remember the first time I walked up there, six years ago, and I hadn't yet adjusted to the altitude and felt like I had a bad hangover -- dizzy, breathless, and pain Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0Mirador, Santa Catarina Palopó, Guatemala14.7238411 -91.139183814.719690535314172 -91.143475334423826 14.727991664685828 -91.13489226557617tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-77170238685843323062021-04-07T18:09:00.001-06:002021-04-13T17:20:57.444-06:00Easter in Panajachel 2021A very subdued Semana Santa this year. Lots of food booths and vendors set up, but no big alfombras -- the religious carpets of colored sawdust they usually put down in the streets for the procession to walk through. The only one we saw was in front of the church. I saw on Facebook that there were carpets in other towns around the Lake though. Maybe next year it will be back to Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-24158231642359132062021-02-22T18:18:00.002-06:002021-03-18T19:47:47.269-06:00Visa Run from Panajachel to Tapachula 2021Back at the end of January, I did my first visa run since the pandemic started.ZERO OUT OF TEN. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND.I have done these visa runs for almost six years now and you can look back in my blog to see previous entries. I'm pretty much an expert at going from Pana to Tapa, but that doesn't make it any more fun.If you are thinking, "How do I do a visa run to Tapachula?", well, just stop Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-47236450725008750742021-02-12T23:42:00.001-06:002021-02-26T00:29:57.412-06:00A Mexican YouTuber Discovers Chicken BusesI came across this great video by Luisito Comunica. He is Mexico's second-largest Youtuber with 35.2 million subscribers. 😲 He visited Guatemala in 2019 and recorded his "mind-blowing" discovery of chicken buses, the proper name being autobuses extraurbanos (intra-city buses) but what Guatemalans commonly call camionetas or burras (female donkeys). His rapid Spanish is quite a Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-63042456708201063562021-01-16T14:48:00.008-06:002021-01-17T10:04:08.573-06:00Flowers & GreeneryAnother post to brighten the day of my northern friends who are dealing with cold and snow. 🥶 Winter can't last forever, my friends!Went for a walk today to take pictures of flowers for my Mom. She was the one who got me interested in gardening when I was a little kid and I used to love going to the greenhouses with her in the spring and summer. I remember especially loving marigolds and Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-87840586293791324452021-01-05T17:16:00.002-06:002021-01-05T17:16:08.884-06:00Construction in Panajachel
Construction in Panajachel
Panajachel is a total mess right now. They started construction on a few different roads before Christmas and it's ongoing with no end in sight. Not sure why they decided to rip up the main streets now. I mean, why didn't they do it when we were in lockdown and there was no traffic?The past two weekends for Xmas and New Year's was a total disaster. City tourists have Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-55294642651443615332020-12-17T09:57:00.000-06:002020-12-17T09:57:02.775-06:00Day Trip to XelaAfter 9 months of staying home, Bert & I finally decided to take a trip to Quetzaltenango, more commonly known as Xela (SHAY-la). It was good to get out of town for a bit and see the "big city" but also a bit weird with all the COVID-19 restrictions still in place. Masks are mandatory still, of course, and the buses had dispensers of antibacterial gel bolted to the side of them. Technically, Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-81480363193305608522020-08-02T20:18:00.005-06:002020-08-02T21:20:47.746-06:00Five Things to Love About GuatemalaSorry I haven't been blogging. I was surprised to see how long it had been seen I last posted! I guess the coronavirus lockdown kinda makes time weird. I often don't know what day it is. 😁To be quite honest, I haven't been all that happy for a while. I'm not sure if it's COVID-19 or culture fatigue or just the blues. Bert and I were seriously talking about going back to Canada. Of course, that'sCeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-80103719171205565962020-05-17T13:48:00.001-06:002020-05-17T13:48:21.198-06:00A Relaxing Weekend At HomeSorry I haven't been blogging much. This past week was full of drama and stress! Nothing to do with COVID-19, thank goodness. It had to do with my pets!
First crazy thing that happened was last Friday, my cat Queso fall off my neighbour's roof into their yard. When I first picked him up, it appeared his back was broken. His back legs weren't working at all and he was in a lot of pain. But by the Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-35326928065505326982020-05-09T08:54:00.000-06:002020-05-09T08:54:22.149-06:00Some Perspective From Guatemala During The COVID-19 PandemicYesterday was a tough day. I ended up crying in the back of a tuc-tuc on the way home from running errands.
Was it because I was feeling sorry for myself? NO. One hundred freaking percent NO.
It was because there are people in my town who have no food. They go to bed hungry. Their children go to bed hungry.
There was a 60-year-old man who walked 4 kilometers from another town to beg for Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-39909356083595476882020-04-17T11:34:00.000-06:002020-04-17T11:34:01.090-06:00Easter Was So Different This YearA poignant article about how Easter celebrations changed this year in Guatemala. This Vogue feature was written and photographed by James Rodriguez and is worth looking at just for the awesome pictures of what life is like in Antigua during the COVID-19 pandemic. Click the link ↓
Holy Week Celebrations in Antigua, Guatemala, 2020
A girl helping at Easter Sunday Mass in Antigua, Guatemala in Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-34961191575220164702020-04-15T13:09:00.002-06:002021-11-14T11:45:29.971-06:00I Went Outside TodayA few pics of daily life in Panajachel during the pandemic. Mostly normal, with the addition of masks and the subtraction of some needed items.
Guatemalan women wearing traditional clothing (tipico) plus masks to ward against COVID-19. They are also selling masks that they sew themselves. (Not my photo.)Masks are mandatory for everyone now. If you get caught without a mask, they take you to the Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7675142557539653569.post-10112199635671460512020-04-13T07:22:00.001-06:002020-04-13T07:22:54.519-06:00The Corte Challenge
A corte is a traditional woven skirt. This video shows modern Guatemalan women and girls changing from their "regular" clothes into their traditional outfits. They are beautiful!
Ceehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11944597119225439282noreply@blogger.com0