September 21-October 2

Buenas noches!

Hello everybody! 

Ethan and I have been super busy as always!  Like I briefly explained in our last post, Ethan and I went on a trip last week to Volcano Santiaguito and then to a very beautiful lake called Lake Atitlan.  Here are the pictures!

Volcano Santiaguito is one of the most active volcanoes here in Guatemala.  The place we went to is not open to tourists, so it was a privilege to get to go see it so close.  We went with a group called INSIVUMEH which is a government organization here in Guatemala which helps monitor the volcanoes here.  We spent the night at the observatory of the volcano and then rode in the back of a pick up through coffee farms to the lava flowing out of the volcano (fun fact:  the coffee farm we drove through produces coffee for Starbucks).  Overall we were able to get to approximately 4km (2.5 miles) from the top!

Vicky standing outside of the observatory of Volcan Santiaguito. 

David gazing at the volcano we were going to go see.  Volcano Santiaguito is on the left and on the right there is the "mother" volcano called  Volcano Santa Maria.

 A close up of the volcano we were about to get super close and personal with.

Ethan taking pictures of a channel where lahares (hot water with mud and rocks) and pyroclastic flows (giant clouds of gas and ash) come down from the volcano during an eruption.

  

The channel

The bottom of the channel.  We drove across it to get to the volcano.

Ethan and I in the back of a pick up enjoying the view and being careful of the bumps.  Huge pot holes mixed with a hard truck bed equals a sore butt.

The view of the coffee farms we drove through.  

Another picture of the beautiful farms.

A close up picture of the volcano.  The black streaks coming down from are the active lava flows.

The lava is on either side of the ride in this picture.  You can see it steaming!

This is where we were going... 

Everyone seeing the craziness that is the lava/volcano combo as well as getting a lesson from the INSIVUMEH gentlemen.

David and Alvaro (from INSIVUMEH) getting very close to the steaming lava flow.

Boys will be boys--climbing on top of the lava with glee!

  

A view from on top of the lava flow looking down into the ravine.

Ethan and I having a photo shoot on top of lava.  No big deal. 

The view down to the others who didn't climb up the lava.  We were quite high.

This is what a coffee plant looks like.  When the buds turn red they are ready to be picked.  Harvest on the farm will begin within a month or so. So think of us when you drink Starbucks in the next few months!  This could be in your cup!  :D

INSIVUMEH also took us to see a site where part of a community was destroyed from a lahar.

This is the swinging bridge that went over the channel.

A portion of a community used to be here before it was wiped out after an eruption.

The group on the bridge.

Our next stop, Lake Atitlan!  It is so beautiful and I cannot wait until we can go back!  It's everything you could want--beauty, relaxing, and AMAZING!

Views from the lake!

Our view at breakfast!

Ethan enjoying some coffee with the view.  It was a tough morning of work.

Vicky and her cup of joe.

David enjoying his coffee and first experience at Lake Atitlan.

In order to get around the small communities around the lake, they have these little carts.  They are called Tuc-tucs.  

Ethan and I at an overlook on a hike.  We only got lost 5 different times, but we finally made our way to our destination!

One of the small cities around the lake called Santa Cruz.

The amazing scenery!!!

So many pictures of the lake!

We actually did go to the lake for a reason.  We met up with another government organization called CONRED who took us around to look at landslide potentials.  This was one of them, during the rainy season this location has debris flows which come down and cover the road and cause a lot of problems.

 

The first site we saw.

More pictures.  The boys and Vicky working!

Everyone talking about the projects.

Besides this trip, Ethan and I have officially submitted all our paperwork for our legal documents!  WHOOHOO!!!  Now it's a waiting game, but the steps are officially being taken!  :D

In other news, there was a huge landslide here in Guatemala City last night.  Investigations are currently underway, but the most recent reports say there are 20 people dead, 25 people injured, approximately 600 people missing, and 129 people displaced.  It's very tragic and if everyone could please keep those affected and their families and friends in your hearts, prayers, and thoughts during this time.

Below is a link of an aerial video of the landslide.

https://www.facebook.com/conredgt/videos/10153615250760349/

We hope all is well.

We love you all!

September 5-September 20

Buenas noches!

Hello everybody! 

Ethan and I have been two busy beavers these past two weeks.  Here's the run down:

Our good friend Vicky's little sister recently turned 15.  So what does that mean?!  Quinceañera time!  For those who do not know, a quinceañera is a big bash for 15 year old girls.  From my understanding, it is a party to mark the transition from a girl to a young woman.  It was really fun!  There was a ton of dancing, Guatemalan food, and a lot of people.  

Me and a stud from the party.  He danced all night long with all the ladies!

Me with the party favors they handed out.

The following day, September 6, was round one of voting for the next Guatemalan president.  They had elections and narrowed down the options from a bunch to just two.  Now the next round of elections is going to be Oct. 25.  This day is when they should actually elect the President.

We worked all last week--me in the office and Ethan and David in the field.  Last Friday we had a meeting in El Salvador with some people from an organization called M.A.R.N.  The people we were meeting with are taking rainfall data and using it to help determine and warn people of landslide risks.  It's a cool project and we are hoping we may be able to become partners or collaborators with them.  I think it's really funny, we just drove to another country  for a meeting.  No big deal.  I guess that's what happens when you live in a country much smaller than the US and have other countries really close by.  :)  

While we were in El Salvador, we ate SO much and got to see some really awesome things!  Right when we arrived in San Salvador (El Salvador's capital) we went to see a big lake (Lake Coatepeque) in the area.  All I can say is that it was stunning! 

Lake Coatepeque

After we saw the lake we went straight to our meeting.  It was really interesting and Ethan, and I left really excited about their work.

Ethan, David, and Vicky at a meeting with MARN

The next day we went to go check out a volcano!  We went to the top of Volcano San Salvador (also known as Volcano Boqueron).  It was so cool and amazingly pretty.  We could see down into the crater and see where the lava comes out of.  Sadly we didn't see any lava, but it was still really cool.

Me, Ethan, and David in traditional El Salvador clothing.  Also, everyone needs to note the shear happiness on Ethan's face.  Why doesn't he always smile like that?!

Ethan and I at the top of the volcano.

Inside the crater.

After we left the volcano, we had lunch at a restaurant towards the top of the volcano.  This was the view we had of San Salvador.  Gorgeous!

Our view while we ate lunch.

Ethan and David enjoying each other's company while they check out the view.

The turkeys who hung out and chased me in the parking lot.  I had never been that close to a turkey before.  They were rather rude.

El Salvador cuisine is known for a certain dish called pupusa.  Basically, it's a very large tortilla with various foods (ie.  beans and cheese, pork, beef, etc.) stuffed inside of it.  It is usually serviced with cabbage (to put on top) and salsa.  They are absolutely delicious!  We caught a ride to El Salvador from a friend who works for the UN.  He gave us a ride, attended our meeting, and then dropped us off with another friend on his way to Honduras.  We had very limited transportation, so a lot of our meals were what we could walk to or where our friends took us.  Since Ethan, David, and I had never been to El Salvador before, for our first meal we went to go get pupusas.  Then we spent the night at a friends place, and walked to the closest place with food and had pupusas for breakfast.  We then went to the volcano and had lunch at the overlook, where we had more pupusas.  We met up with some other friends that night and they took us to the "best pupusas" in San Salvador.  We then woke up and had pupusas again for breakfast.  Needless to say, we ate a TON of pupusas--every meal to be exact!  By the time we left, I can honestly say we had pupusas coming out of our ears!  Totally worth it though!

Pupusa Meal Number 5 of 5

When Ethan and I arrived back from El Salvador he took me out for a date!  Date night!  When we moved here, he told me there are three places he is going to take me to.  A week in we went to the first place, then last week we went to place number 2.  It was amazing! It was so romantic and had such a cool vibe.  Also, the food was AMAZING!  Probably some of the best food I've had in a long time.  Uttery great!  We enjoyed dinner and then hung out for the rest of the night.  It was really nice.  :)

Date Night!

 During the middle of last week, Ethan was out in the field and I was in the office all day.  When Ethan arrived back at the office he had brought me flowers and a Guatemalan flag.  He hand picked the flowers just for me and the man he bought them from gave him an old plastic bottle to put them in.  :)  They were such a great addition to my desk.  

My flowers and flag.

So, David is a pro baker!  He has told us that he loves it and I asked him to teach me.  So what did I learn over the past two weeks?!  How to make home made biscuits and home made bread!  They both were amazing!  It was surprisingly really easy, and I can't believe I had never tried making it before.  I had never made biscuits before and I had only made bread in a bread maker.  They both were super easy and came out delicious!  We've had biscuits and gravy twice now and shared some (good ole American cooking) with the people running the hostel upstairs.  The bread we made is gone literally 24 hours later.  We ate SO much of it!  I just couldn't stop.  SO DELICIOUS!

David and me with our bread!

A close up of my bread.  Perfection!

While we've lived here there are certain things that I just find really funny--like everything being put into a bag--it just makes me chuckle.  Here are two pictures to try to explain my personal chuckle-humor.  

We were driving on the highway and pass this truck.  Who needs a bus when you can fit the same amount of people in the back of a truck?

We went to the grocery store the other day and found cheese locked up.  I guess they were very serious about people not stealing them.  

 

We had to get some passport pictures taken for our legal documents the other day.  After going to 4 different places (it was obviously much harder than we thought it was going to be) we found a place that could take them.  We walk back to his studio and we see this camera.  Ethan and I were talking about how cool it was that he had such a vintage camera.  Then he has me sit in front of it and starts adjusting it.  It was the camera he still used!  It was awesome.  I had never seen such an old camera still working.  The best part was when he went to take the picture.  He put a cartridge of some sort in the back of the camera (containing the film), then he held a piece of metal in front of the lens, he removed a piece from the cartridge (I'm assuming he's exposing the film), and then he takes the piece of metal that he was holding in front of the lens and removes and then replaces it really quickly.  He did the shutter by hand!  Manually!  Haha it was so great!  

The camera my passport pictures were taken with (front).

 The camera my passport pictures were taken with (back).

We were walking around the city the other day and saw some gentlemen working on the overhead lines.  The picture is really hard to tell, but they leaned the ladder up against the lines overhead and had the man climb up the latter that way.  Who needs a lift of anything when you can just use the cables to hold the top of the ladder?!  Then, yesterday I saw some other men working on the cables and they had climbed up the ladder and where just sitting on the cables while they were working.  No tie-off, no ladder, just hanging out while they worked.  Haha.  It made me so nervous!  

Men working on the overhead cables.

This evening, I should have known something was wrong.  Just like when there are kids around and everything gets really quiet, you know something is going on.  That's what happened this evening.  Our apartment gets rather quite, I hadn't heard Ethan in a while, and I decided it was wise to see what he was up to.  What do I find?  This (see below)...

I don't even know what to say...

Other than that, Ethan and I have a 4 day trip planned starting tomorrow and going through Thursday night.  We are going to go see a volcano here in Guatemala called Santiaguito (located in a town called Xela) for two days and then we are going to another town called Panajachel to look at some landslides.  Panajachel is located on Lake Atitlan.  Ethan took me to that lake when I came down here last summer to visit him and I can honestly say it's one of the prettiest places I've been.  I'm really excited to go back!  We are going to be working with two different organizations and we are going to be looking into some possibilities of partnering with them on some projects.  It's all very preliminary, but we are super excited!  :D

Well, that about sums up our lives for the past two weeks.  We hope everything is going really well with all of our lovely friends and family.  

Love you all!

Saludos!