Christmas in Idaho

Fish on the shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene


Bald Eagle on Lake Coeur d'Alene

Bayview on Lake Pend Oreille

Trying to convince Keely to drive to Idaho

The little cabin in the woods :)

Summer 2009 adventures

Here a just a few things we've been up to this summer....

On one of our many trips to the beach, Matt is taking the crab pot out to deeper water using his new float tube.

A day at Safeco field...we played the Blue Jays and actually won!

Thousands and Thousands of sand dollars at the beach

Yummy crabs we ate for dinner while camping on the Pennisula!

A recent trip to Mt. Rainier National Park. We hiked to Upper Crystal Lake, in
the Northeast corner of the park. The lake was fogged in...that is the sun
reflecting on the lake in the middle of the day.

Turkish Eggplant, purchased at the farmer's market. Super tasty.
A little sweeter than the big purple ones.

Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Shark Ray Alley, Belize

Nurse Sharks (Apparently, not aggressive, but still a little scary getting in the water with them. They were more interested in the fish our guide was feeding them, however.)





































Southern Stingrays and a green sea turtle




Leatherback turtle

Belize and Caye Caulker

We've been on Caye Caulker a few days now and are settling into a routine of relaxing. We went snorkeling to a place called the Hol Chan Marine Reserve. We saw hundreds of different kinds of fish, including nurse sharks (Matt even petted it!), Green Sea Turtles, some other kind of turtle that was about as big as me, and some really, really big sting rays. We have been eating great seafood, including a snapper that Matt caught out on a guided fishing trip. Today, we rented bicycles and explored the island. We are hoping to catch a sunset sailing tour and maybe a manatee tour before we leave. We are loving Belize, but are also ready to come home (I miss my bed and my cat!).

Belize so far...

We arrived in Punta Gorda, in Southern Belize from Guatemala on Friday. We spent the day kayaking up a crazy mangrove stream and swimming the in Carribean. We ate at a fantastic restaurant overlooking the water, where I had my first plate of rice and beans, the Belizian staple. Matt also ate some of the cook's homemade hot sauce-it looked for a moment like he might pass out from the pain.

We spent a night in Placencia, a quiet little pennisula. Here's a photo of Matt in the beautiful blue water.

Tobacco Caye

We then moved on to Dangriga, the second biggest city in Belize. We just spent the night, then went out to a beautiful island called Tobacco Caye. The island is only about five acres, so there's not much going on but swimming and snorkeling, which is exactly what we did for two days. (our guide book likened it to Gilligan's Island). We had a fantastic time relaxing and playing in the water. We saw big rays, a squid, and some really unique fish while snorkeling. Matt even got in a bit of fishing time off the porch of our cabana and caught a baby baracuda. We're now on Caye Caulker, a island just southeast of Belize city, and have snorkeling trip planned for tomorrow.

Our cabana

This is the view from our cabana. Life doesn't get better than this!

Tikal

Belize!

We arrived in Punta Gorda, Belize this morning from Livingston, Guatemala. We are hanging out here for the day, but then moving on to the beach town of Placencia, about two hours north of here. We will probably be there a few days to do some snorkeling and possibly a dive for Matt.

Our last week in Guate was a whirlwind of the area of Peten, the most northern state. We visited Tikal, an ancient Mayan city. We saw spider and howler monkeys, as well as a coatamundi in the jungle and some pretty incredible ruins. We then went south a few hours and stayed near the village of Poptun at a really nice place called Finca Ixobel. We ate great food and went on a cave trek in the morning. However, the most memorable thing for me was the GIANT tarantula I found hanging out in my room. I had a minor melt down until the bartender, a very charming man named George, came and removed it for me. (Not before Matt got some pretty cool pictures, of course.) I bought George a beer later to thank him. I will try and put some pictures of the spider up soon-Everyone said it was a 'baby' tarantula, but it was the nastiest, biggest spider I have ever seen. Apparently, they are not even poisonous, but I don't care. I had bad dreams about spiders all night.

We spent last night in the town of Livingston, a small town where the Rio Dulce meets the Caribbean. The interesting thing about Livingston is it's mixture of two different cultures-Mayans and Garifuna. We met an interesting gentleman at a restaurant named Paulo, who took us on a tour of the 'real' Livingtston. He was a musician and has toured in the States, so he was quite knowledgable about American culture and spoke very good English. He showed us the Garifuna section of town, where they have an orphanage that we donated a bit of money to. There is obvious tension between the indigenous Mayans and the Garifuna people here, and it was strange to see the way the two cultures interact (or don't.) Livingston is definitely an anomaly in Guatemala and now I am hoping to learn more about Garifuna culture and people.

Sempuc Champey and Coban

We visted Semuc Champey National Park today, a great place to swim and check out the Rio Chabahon (River). The river goes under ground for about a mile and on top are these really beautiful pools of water that are warm and green. We spent the day lounging about and loving it. Tomorrow, we're off to Flores, in the state of Peten, where we will be exploring Tikal, an ancient Mayan civilization in ruins.

On to Coban

Just a quick update for those who like to know that we are still alive...

We left Xela on Thursday and after an excruciatingly long and twisty ride, made it to Coban last night. We stayed in a super cute hotel called Casa D'Acuna and visited a working coffee farm. It was really amazing to see the process from plant to cup, and we got to drink a really, really good cup of coffee at the end. We then hopped on a bus to Lanquin, to stay at the super "hip" hostal, El Retiro, on the banks of the Rio Chabaon. We are headed to Semuc Champey National Monument tomorrow, which is supposed to be an incredible site to see. I'll try and post some pictures tomorrow.

I'm feeling better after a scary bout with food poisoning...at least that's what i think it was. It's been a good week since I've had a solid meal and I'm looking forward to chowing down on some home cooked food tonight. Unfortunately now that I'm well, Matt isn't feeling too hot. It doesn't seem too serious yet, so we're keeping our fingers crossed it goes away quickly. Hope everyone is well!

Nueva Esperanza and Quetzaltenango, AKA Xela

We have had quite an adventure these past few days in the Western Highlands. We left Lago Atitlan on Sunday evening and arrived in Xela. We spent Monday shopping for our donations for Nueva Esperanza, the school in a smaller village about an hour south of here. Tuesday morning, we hopped on a Chicken bus (recycled American school buses painted very loudly, often with blinking lights we like to call ¨bling.¨ They are called chicken buses because people often have live animals with them. I can attest to this, as there was a box of chicks above my head.) to get to the school. This was quite complicated, as the bus is cramped and we were carrying brooms, balls, and buckets. We were the only white faces on the bus and I´m sure people thought we were nuts. Then, in an error in communication (probably my fault) the driver dropped us off about 1/2 past where we were supposed to go, requiring a trudge back up a steep hill carrying the aforementioned things.

Once we got to the school however, we were so happy we had made the effort. I´m pretty sure the kids there don´t see many white folks, and so they all congretated to watch us speak with the director, Marvin. We brought school supplies which Marvin said they will hand out to the students who cannot afford to purchase their own. We also brought cleaning supplies for the classrooms, and 7 gallons of paint to paint the students´ desks, as this is what Marvin said would be most useful for them at this time. The teachers and students treated us like guests of honor and the kids who were brave enough to talk with us were very friendly and curious about us. We were feeling pretty good about ourselves, and then the best part happened.

The next day (today) was a special celebration at the school. Marvin asked us to come back today and ¨observe¨ the event, an athletic/dance competition. Before we really knew what we were getting ourselves into, we said sure. So...we arrived this morning around 8 am. Turns out, there were 26 schools competing against each other, Nueva Esperanza included, and we were 2 of 5 judges who were going to decide the winners. There were probably about 1,000 people in the crowd, and again, we were the only white faces around. The other judges were dance teachers and PE teachers at nearby schools. We found out that this competition happens every year, and that it´s a pretty big deal. Needless to say, we felt a little out of our element, but smiled our way through it. It turned out to be a blast. I didn´t get to take many photos because I was busy with my judge duties,which is too bad. The kids were all wearing costumes and you could tell they had practiced for a long time. Some of them were downright adorable. There were even a couple of all boy schools competing. We got to choose 9 teams to win trophies (one that we bought and dontated) and we even each announced a winner (in Spanish!) in the microphone. Nueva Esperanza won the third place trophy, and after the competition was over, all the girls who had danced for the school gave me a hug and said thank you. The whole day, Matt and I were treated like special guests, even receiving our own round of applause and thanks from the crowd. It was definitely the best part of the trip so far.

On that note, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to our friends and family who donated money and supplies to help us in this adventure. It is truly helpful to these kids and we could feel the sincere appreciation from the school community. You helped us to make a contribution to this beautiful country and it´s people, and we love you for that.