Saturday, October 28, 2006 10:11PM (Central America Belizean Time) --

A lot of time has past since our last journal entry.  I haven't really been able to keep this up to date.  Now that we are somewhat settled in Belize I should be able to keep this updated at least weekly.  To make this easy for those who know our story over the past months I'm going to make tonight's entry a complete update from my last entry in May; so this will be quite long and probably boring.  So if you are up to date already go ahead and skip to tomorrow's entry.  If not, read on. 

May 2006 update:
Dani and I left Yellowstone and made our way through the Grand Tetons.  While passing through the Tetons we were able to spot another huge male grizzly bear in the distance.  We didn't spend much time in the Tetons National Park since we were super tired from our stay in Yellowstone.  The cloud cover was really low so we couldn't even see the tops of the mountains.  From the Tetons we headed down through Wyoming in and out of Idaho and then into Utah.  We decided to stop in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Salt Lake was kind of weird so we just spent the night and some of the next day there.  From there we went to Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah.  Bryce Canyon isn't as big as the Grand Canyon but it is almost equally beautiful.  It's amazing to see how deep these canyons can get and you have to be there to believe the beautiful views.  We wanted to try to make to the Grand Canyon in the same day but it was just too much of a stretch since we had left Salt Lake so late in the day.  We were able to pass by Lake Powell which caught me by surprise.  I felt like there was part of the Caribbean in the middle of the desert.  I'm driving along and I wind my way up this mountain and out of no where is this greenish blue lake that is awesome.  I took a few shots and then jumped back in the Jeep.  We decided to stop in Kenab, Utah and stay the night.  I was so tired from driving and the only place close enough to stay without falling asleep behind the wheel was this quaint little bed and breakfast place.  We got there around midnight so the guy gave us a really good price so he could at least fill the room.  The room was really really nice.  It had huge bed and a big jacuzzi tub.  We finally splurged a little bit and it was worth it.  They prepared the breakfast for us in the morning and we had a great view of a really nice plateau across the street.  After breakfast we headed down to Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.  It's really sad to say, but since our Yellowstone stay was so awesome and probably the highlight of the trip, Grand Canyon really was that big of a stop.  We only stay for a couple of hours.  I'm not saying that it wasn't amazing, because it was.  We were able to drive and stop at all of the lookout viewpoint stops on the north rim.  I can see why it's named the "Grand" canyon.  It's really a sight to see; the heights, the colors, the way the Colorado river snakes it's way through.  It's breathtaking. After a couple of hours we decided to make our way out of the park and get back on the road.  You have back track and drive north out of the park being that there are no bridges to cross over the canyon, at least that I know of.  I was getting eager to see my family in New Orleans so I tried to push the drive as far as I could go.  So we back tracked out of Arizona, back into and out of Utah, then back into Arizona, out of Arizona and then we stopped in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  We stayed the night here and then got onto the road again in the morning.  From there we shot across New Mexico and started our way into the dreaded Texas drive.  We were able to contact some friends of mine and we stayed in Burleson, Texas, better known for being the home of Kelly Clarkson if I remember correctly.  We stayed the night there and almost moved in.  My friends, The Elliot's, didn't want us to go.  She was my old pioneer partner from Louisiana.  They are such a great family and the food was good but I finally managed to get on the road late in the afternoon.  Thanks again Kathy and Steve for the hospitality.  Our next stop was New Orleans.  Family here I come!!!!  After a long day of driving we finally arrived at my parents house in Abita Springs, LA.  Now this is where our hump in the road begins.  Dani closed her business and I quit my great job in North Carolina expecting to take this two month road trip, get to New Orleans, visit my family for two weeks, close on my house, and then get down to Mexico.  Unfortunately, the house deal fell through.  So instead of being in Mexico sometime in the beginning of June as we were hoping, we ended up staying in Louisiana for about five months.  I ended up having to put my house on the market with a realtor and waiting for it to sell.  I wasn't too disappointed though with the wait because I was able to help my brother build his house.  When I first got to Abita Springs he was only just completing the sheetrock.  By the time we sold my house in September we completely finished the construction on his house, so it worked out pretty good.  Dani was able to visit her mom a few times during the five months and her parents were able to come visit us in Abita and enjoy a good old New Orleans crawfish boil.  Um Um GOOD!!!  So within the five months we were able to get a lot done while in Abita.  Romeo's house, some work on my mom's house, sold my house, ate a lot of good food, visited family and friends, and made some new memories.  So now everything is done and it's time to go to Mexico.  Only one problem.  The city we were suppose to live in in Mexico (Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico) has become quite unstable over the past few months.  It all started out with the annual teachers protest in Oaxaca.  The state police tear gassed the protesters and things got crazy.  Then the same family that has been governor for the last 100 years was voted out of office.  On top of that, the presidential election in Mexico was up in craziness since the votes were so close and some fighting was going on.  So these three factors turned what was once a safe, artsy, calm, old mexico-ish market town into a social and political uproar city full of violence and turmoil.  The local police were ran out and people started there own government, the APPO.  The Jehovah Witnesses there were unable to now regularly meet for the ministry since the local transportation services were shutdown.  Buses were being hijacked and burned and road blocks of burning furniture and cars were now throughout the city.  If we were to go we wouldn't be able to help out the local congregation much since they themselves were unable to meet together in a stable environment.  I personally would have loved the adventure and trip down.  A friend of mine went down and a hard time making it.  But it's not just me I have to look out for.  I have to protect my beautiful wife and best friend Danielle.  So we had to change destinations.  A sister in our congregation had given us a weeks stay at her time share which we had scheduled for Acapulco, Mexico.  So I called the time share company and had them cancel Mexico.  Out of Trinidad, Costa Rica, and Belize, they only location they had availability in was Belize.  Belize is a somewhat small country in Central America where the preaching work in the English language is very fruitful and growing.  So we decided to book at trip there to see if we could help out.  After some prayerful consideration, we decided to not just go for the week and scope out Belize.  We decided to get six month roundtrip tickets and figure things out once we got there.  So that's what we did and this now brings everyone up to date with our current status.  I want to apologize for the lack of details and excitement in the above conclusion of our cross country trip and stay in New Orleans.  It's been a while since all of that has happened so I'm trying to think and write retrospectively.  I can assure you though that the entire trip was a blast and a trip of a lifetime.  Dani and I had so much fun and we wouldn't trade it for anything.  Our marriage has been a blast and we have truly become best friends and grow closer everyday.  I'm the luckiest guy I know. :)  I don't know if you'll read this but I love you babe.

Sunday, October 29, 2006  1:07AM (Central America Time) --

Belize has so far been awesome.  We flew from New Orleans October 21st.  We had a two hour layover in Charlotte (where we were able to give good bye hugs and kisses to Dani's mom, Beth) and flew into Belize City.  From there we flew a twin engine into San Pedro, Belize, our new home.  It was a surprise to find out that a couple that flew on the same planes from Charlotte and also Belize City were witnesses.  We didn't find out until we got to Belize City but it was such a refreshment to meet them.  They are really nice and they are also here for six months.  San Pedro is located off the coast of Belize on an island named Ambergris Caye (Amber-GRIS-kee).  Ambergris Caye is home to the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere and the second largest in the world.  You can actually see the reef from our room at the time share we stayed at.  Tonight is the first night in our apartment and things are much better.  Our stay at the time share wasn't the best.  It was a Belizean style room which means it's a lot different from U.S. accommodations.  For example, we have been getting bit every night by these little ants which I think are sand fleas.  Last night I had to shake the sheets out before we went to sleep.  When we got to the room every night we'd have to do a bug check to make sure we chase out the bugs and other living things (frogs, roaches, ants, geckos).  The shower was kind of funny also.  You couldn't get it hot or cold, it would alternate every five seconds.  Steaming hot and then cold, steaming hot and then cold.  Without air conditioning it can warm up pretty good here also.  It's definitely not the states.  For those of you thinking, "Wow, life on an island", don't get too excited.  :)  But that was just our first week here. We're now in our temporary/permanent place for the next six months.  I say temporary/permanent because we're in the permanent building but just a temporary room until the 1st.  We were walking 45 minutes each way to the Kingdom Hall for service and meetings.  It was pretty hot on the way to the hall.  We were walking the beach back at night so it wasn't so bad.  When you don't have a cart or bike you have to walk.  But now we are living two houses down from the hall which is going to be great.  Now I won't be soaking wet by the time I reach the meetings.  Now we only have to walk to the territory unless someone has room on their cart.  We've been out in service everyday except for today since we had to move.  Service is so much fun here.  The friends don't have cars which is a good thing with gas at $5US/gallon, that's $10BZ.  They either walk, ride bikes, or take golf carts if they have one.  Carts are the main motorized source of transportation here.  There are a few vans but they are taxi's.  So either we ride or walk to the territory for the preaching work (field service).  This one area we worked in last week, San Pedrito, is on the lagoon side of the island.  Most of the land there is flooded so you have to avoid pools of water and walk on planks to the doors.  Tip #1, DO NOT FALL IN THE WATER!!!!  Green water is bad, algae, but brown water is very bad, sewage.  And hope you don't get chased by dogs since they are all over the place.  Despite the exciting physical layout of the territory, the people are great.  Just last week in service we've started two potential studies,  placed 4 Bible Teach books, and placed plenty of Kingdom News tracts.  Dani did get stuck in the mud once, ankle deep.  She got mud everywhere but after the fact it was pretty funny.  She washed off in the lagoon safely.  The lagoon side of the island is inhabited by crocs so you have to watch out.  The attitude of the people here in service is great.  Even if they're not interested they are still nice unless they are American or European.  The congregation here is so nice also.  With only two elders and two ministerial servants I hope to be busy.  Besides the meetings and field service, we've been trying to learn the island.  There are only three main streets but there's a lot to learn.  Things here are quite expensive.  Everything has to be imported which raises the price and the area is also very touristy which doesn't help prices.  But with some smart shopping and buying local items I think we'll get by ok.  I was able to enjoy some recreation also since we've been here.  Yesterday Dani and I went spear fishing with a brother from the congregation.  He owns a business here on the island.  Can you believe that he makes a living taking people wake boarding and tubing on his boat!!!  How cool is that.  Now that's what I call work.  Hahaha.  He's a really good guy and we've been able to hang out a good bit so far.  On the spear fishing outing, Dani got a little sea sick but did pretty good.  We hit a few spots along the reef and man is it beautiful down there.  It's like being a shrunken person in the aquarium at your local dentist's office.  :)  The fish are so pretty and the water is super clear.  We were able to shoot a good bit of fish.  I was in the water and got a pretty good scare.  I was swimming back to the boat with some conch and caught a glimpse of a bull shark about 30 feet away.  It was about a 5 or 6 footer.  All I know is that it looked big at 30 feet away so I know it was big close up.  We had three other guys spread out in the water so I figured I had a 25% chance of being bait.  We ended up crossing paths with another bull shark later on in the day but thankfully no one was hurt.  Rob, (the wake board guy) was the only one with some pain...he was on his way back to the boat with an arm full of conchs and didn't notice the fire coral on the conch shell pressed against his chest...OUCH...he's got some nasty burns from it.  We shot about 12 smaller fish, one lobster, and about 10 conch.  We went rod n' reel fishing today too.  It stormed pretty bad but we stayed out.  It was freezing and the rain was stinging.  I jumped in the water and did a little spear fishing since the water is 80+ degrees and much warmer than the rain.  Man was it cold.  So far though spear fishing has been my favorite recreation thing to do here.  Next week we're going out in service to the north end of the island.  I think we're taking one of the brother's boats because it's too far by golf cart.  I'm trying to think about any other highlights before I go to sleep.  Let's see....oh yeah...we've seen some interesting animals out in service.  A pet raccoon on someone's porch, a spider monkey, and some wild iguana's (dark one's since green ones are rare because they make a good meal).  I saw a few huge rays today also.  I'll try to write more tomorrow.  It's 2AM now so I better get to sleep.  I'll see if Dani wants to add anything tomorrow.  I know I've bored ya'll enough already but I just like keeping my family up to date and anyone else who's reading this.  I'll be sure to describe our temporary apartment tomorrow because it's awesome.  Until tomorrow...

Wednesday, November 8, 2006  4:11PM (Central America Time) --

So let's see...the last entry was the 29th.  Since then we've moved into our permanent residence that we'll be in the whole time we're here.  It's not as cool as the loft we had but temperature wise it's much cooler.  From the loft we had previously we could see 360 degrees, both sides of the island and had awesome sunrises and sunsets.  Now the room we're in doesn't have the views but it is much bigger and now we have an oven so that Dani can bake.  She loves baking and we've had some pretty tasty deserts so far.  The past two weeks haven't been so great for me.  Last Tuesday I woke up and couldn't walk.  I had some excruciating pain in my right knee.  I'm not sure what happened but I couldn't move.  So I spent all day in bed.  The next day it wasn't any better so I went to the doctor Wednesday evening.  His name is "Master Lee".  He does acupressure and massage that targets arthritis and joint and muscle pain.  He did a little bit of work and then sent me home with an appointment for the next day.  So I come in the next day.  He cracks me up.  He's a Chinese guy that speak broken English.  Thursday he tells me, "You strong, but today you cry."  He grabs two points on my leg and says, "Now we fix, you cry!"  He squeezes the pressure points and works in skills and then says "You fixed, now walk."  I could now walk but still had a little bit of pain.  The next day I was fine though.  He's amazing and doesn't charge a lot for the locals.  So that was last week.  This week I have the flu.  The doctor says there is some sort of respiratory infection going around the island.  I woke up yesterday with a sore throat and a super aching body.  So I go to the doctor and get a shot in my butt...OUCH!!!  So now my right leg hurts again.  The shot was yesterday but my leg is still pretty sore.  So it seems like the last two weeks I've kind of been out.  Since I don't get sick very often I'm hoping that this is my last time down under the weather while I'm in Belize.  All in all I guess it's good timing though.  Up until two days ago it was raining cats and dogs here.  It floods really easy here so we had like 6 inches of water in the streets.  So I guess I haven't really been missing a whole lot. 

Besides me being sick lets see what else has been going on.  With the new kitchen Dani has been able to make some very tasty dinners.  We had Rob, Beth, and the baby over last week for dinner.  Robs the guy with the wakeboarding business, Board Crazy.  Dani made some Spinach and Peppercorn Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast.  Um Um Good.  Oh yeah, Dani was able to go to Belize City on the mainland last week with some friends.  She was able to get a few things that we needed that are just too expensive here on the island.  I think that's it for now.  I'll try to keep this updated more frequently so that it's not so jumbled together.  I hope everyone out there is doing well....

Tuesday, November 14, 2006  4:49PM (Central America Time) --

Hello everyone...It's only been a week but to me it seems like a lot happens here.  Dani and I went with another sister to Belize City last week to get some things.  We were able to buy some plates and other small kitchen items.  It an hour and a half boat ride to the mainland so it's almost a whole to get everything done...but we had to catch the early boat and squeeze it in in a half day.  We also bought some fabric while we were there.  We're fixing up our apartment so we needed some fabric.  We spent some late nights last week making our place home.  I hope to put up some "before and after" pictures of our place in the album section.  When we moved in the walls were white and kind scuffed up, the curtains were blah, and the futon and chair were kind of drabby looking.  So we figured it needed a little makeover.  So we painted the walls a nice crisp yellow.  We also made some curtain doors for the closet, a futon cover, a chair cover, and some curtains for our windows.  The closet, chair, and futon are covered in a 70's kind of looking material.  The curtains are a light breezy linen.  It took a couple of days to get everything sewn and put up but it feels so much like home now.  I can't wait to get the pictures online.  Sunday was a great day.  We had about 12 friends from the hall over to the house....good timing since we have everything all nice and pretty now.  We had so much fun.  The group we had over is great...it feels like family.  We had some really tasty food too...Dani made some cinnamon rolls and potato pancakes.  I made an egg casserole which was pretty good.  I squeezed two gallons of fresh orange juice and we had some fresh squeezed lime juice also.  One of the friends brought a super tasty fruit platter with papaya, pineapple, tangerines, watermelon, and star fruit.  Everything was so good and we had a great time.  Then this week Dani became sick.  I think she kind of had what I had.  I had only taken half of my medicine so when she started feeling bad she started taking the other half of my medicine and I think we nipped it in the bud.  She's feeling better now but she still feels a little down.  We've been trying to get out in service as much as we can between our sick days.  Service here is great.  It's so much different from the states though.  Everyone here is really nice, except for most Americans and Europeans.  Here you have to talk really slow, ask a lot of viewpoint questions and make sure they get the point.  I find that illustrations help out a whole lot.  We've both placed a good bit of books and we're starting studies.  There's really only two things here to put up with, heat and mosquito's.  The mosquito's are terrible.  I was at the dock the for two minutes and I'm telling you I had about 20 bites.  It's killer.  We heard the bug man come by last night so that was good.  All the rain we had two weeks ago created plenty of spots for mosquito's to breed in.  Today things seemed a little better so that was good.  Yesterday I went fishing with Rob again.  We had a blast.  We went out to the reef on a lobster hunt.  We ended up with a pretty good catch for only two guys.  The water was so nice...we're only in about 5 to 15 feet of crystal clear water.  By the time we got back to the dock we had only 5 lobsters...but we did have 6 spade fish, 8 snapper, 4 amberjacks, and my special catch of the day, about a 20 inch octopus.  We had so much fun.  I called Dani once we got back to the dock and although feeling a little sick still she was still awesome enough to walk out to the dock and snap a few pictures.  We end up having to come home to clean the fish though because the sun starting setting and the skeeters started biting.  We were only at the dock for 5 minutes and I had about 20 bites.  I hate to clean the fish inside the house since it smelled it up but I couldn't stand the skeeters.  We're going to clean the boat Wednesday to get it ready for the high season since he'll be busy working in it.  We're suppose to go out again this week so we can have enough fish to have some friends over this weekend.  The C.O. is visiting the congregation so we're trying to get more lobster so we can cook for him.  But I guess that's about it here.  I'll get those pictures up ASAP.  Until next time....

Tuesday, November 27, 2006  6:49PM (Central America Time) --

Today was a great day for spearfishing.  It's funny that I start with this, but I just got home a little while ago.  Today we only went out for an hour but it was a great hour.  We ended up coming home with a dozen nice sized lobster.  Although we were only out for an hour it was by far one of the coolest spearfishing days yet.  It was pretty murky out there today so I was kind of nervous about sharks.  What was cool was that I was able to pet my first nurse shark, I swam with my first sea turtle, and I saw the biggest ray today that I've seen yet...a huge spotted eagle ray at least 6 feet across.  So it was definitely a good spearfishing day.  Besides the spearfishing....

Monday, January 15, 2007  10:22PM (Central America Time) --

I'm not sure what happened to the rest of the above entry.  From what I can tell the hosting service I used messed a few things up.  But as for the spearfishing, it's been great.  We've been able to get some pretty nice fish and lobster.  I'll have to post up some pics of the marlin we almost landed also on rod and reel.  Some time has passed since my last entry so I'll have to cram a lot in.  We've pretty much just been doing the same old things.  Service, meetings, more service, having friends over for meals, and fishing.  I must say that island life is still pretty nice.  I wish we could stay here forever.  The weather has been kind of wet lately which can put a damper on things, especially the roads and service.  It makes it a little harder when you have to walk everywhere and there's 10 inches of water in the streets.  A recent highlight was that Dani's mom, Beth, came to visit for two weeks.  It was so nice having her here.  We both just love her so much and we wish she could have stayed.  We did some "tourist" things while she was here.  Two of the things that we did were amazing.  One was cave tubing where we hiked up a mountain and then jumped in this river with our tubes.  The water was super cold but kind of refreshing after our hike through the jungle.  There was this one spot in the cave that was just awesome.  It was completely dark except for the light strapped to my head and then out of no where there is this huge sink hole in the earth where sunlight is beaming into the cave creating about a 50' x 50' circle of life.  Just imagine how on movies when someone is on a dark stage and they are standing in the spotlight.  That's how this looked but under the spotlight in the cave it was lush green jungle with trees and vines and sunlight.  It was amazing.  Before our jungle hike and the cave tubing we did some zip lining across the canopy of the rainforest.  That was pretty cool also.  We had to hike up a bit and then strap ourselves to these steel cables and we zipped from platform to platform.  The scenery was amazing.  Once I get the next Belize photo album up you'll be able to see the pics.  Expect that in the next couple of days.  But more recently, we had a pretty exciting day on Saturday.  It started off with our usual morning, I took the group out in service. I didn't make it out with the group though because I had to get home to get ready. Get ready for what?? Well, Dani and I decided to head out of town with Rob and Beth. Beth's parents live at the Assembly Hall in Guatemala. They are the caretakers there and they handle all of the responsibilities at the facilities from administrative to maintenance to landscaping, etc... They share all this with another couple who assist them. So we headed out at noon with intentions on taking the water taxi from San Pedro where we live to Belize City. Unfortunately the boat would not have gotten us there in time so we had to take a flight to Belize City from the island. Once we landed in Belize City we took a cab to the bus station which is at the water taxi dock. We were thinking we would have a nice bus take us to Flores, Guatemala where we'd catch our second bus. When they said the bus was there we walked out and it was not a bus. It was more like a mini bus or big van. The luggage had to be strapped on top and the 20 people crammed inside. There's no air but at least the windows open and it was cool outside. We figured it was only this small bus for the first five hours so no biggie. So off we go into the mountains...about 4 hours later we get to the Belize border and it's time to get off the bus. Off the bus we go and we pay the exit fees for Belize and then walk into Guatemala over the border. From there we get the passports stamped and load back onto our little bus. Now this is where the fun starts. From Belize the roads start climbing as the elevation increases into Guatemala. Remember earlier I mentioned that we've had a lot of rain lately. So here we are on a dirt mountain road in a packed out van/bus trying to make it through the mud. Our little bus was doing pretty good but we ended up stopping behind a semi truck w/ trailer who was waiting on a big charter bus to move out of the way. You see, we came upon a slightly large hill and the bus in front of us couldn't make it up. He tried a few times but would just start sliding down and would have to back it down the mountain. So our driver decides to gun it and go. Hold on everyone!!! So we're shifting through the gears and our van/bus is fish tailing as we're trying to go. The back end is sliding all over the place and I almost thought we were going to slide back down and off the edge of the mountain.  After a few minutes I think everyone was getting nervous but some how we ended up making up. It was pretty intense for a second there. I was hanging out of the window watching the back tires to see if they were spinning as we're sliding around on the way up. I had opened my window just in case we'd start sliding and flip...I was getting my escape route ready. So we made it past the muddy inclines and get to a paved road finally where the driver is now pushing 80 mph on these pot hole filled roads with horses and cows and other types of livestock ready to be future road kill. It's like driving on a mine field. We finally make it to Flores, Guatemala at about 8PM so it's been about six hours so far. From Flores we load onto a much nicer bus and make our way to Guatemala City. That bus leaves at 9PM and we get there at 5AM the next morning. Phew...16 hours on a bus...I can't wait to get some sleep.  Beth's sister picked us up at the bus station and from there we drove to the assembly hall.  The assembly hall is really nice.  I'll have to get some pictures of that up also.  We're staying in an apartment on the grounds that is normally occupied by C.O.'s and other visitors.  Today we helped out around the assembly hall for a bit with cleaning and some maintenance.  We also went and toured the Bethel branch here in Guatemala.  It was so nice.  I have some pics of that also so I'll get those up this week.  Guatemala is really really nice.  I'd much rather be here than San Pedro.  You get island fever after a while.  The food here is so much cheaper.  I bought some raspberries and blackberries for Dani and it was only $7 Quetzals which is the equivalent of less than $1US.  It's amazing how much cheaper things are here.  Where we're staying at the assembly hall is in San Lucas which is up in the mountains.  Guatemala City is located in the valley at about 5,000 feet above sea level and San Lucas where we're at is about 2,000 feet higher.  From where we are at you can see a couple of volcano's.  It's so beautiful here...Guatemala is a beautiful country.  I think that tomorrow we are suppose to go climb a volcano or something like that.  I know that's on our agenda of things we want to do.  We're also suppose to visit a lake in the mountains that is surrounded by 12 volcano's.  All I can say is expect some good pics.  Before I go to bed I just wanted to say thanks to everyone that has signed the guestbook.  It's always encouraging and exciting to get new messages on there.  I guess that's it for now.  I hope to post up pics soon.  Good night from Guatemala.

Saturday, January 20, 2007  10:34AM (Central America Time) --

This week was definitely one of the coolest weeks we've had recently, minus the week when Dani's mom was here of course.  Guatemala has so far been an amazing experience. We were able to stay at the assembly hall for a couple of days so that was nice. From there we moved over to Beth's sisters (Lee) house on a different mountain. The assembly is in San Lucas and from there you have to go through the capital, Guatemala City, which lies in a valley, and then up to a different mountain. Lee's house here is really nice. Our stay here was very enjoyable. On Monday we visited Antigua which is a very historical colonial town. It was really awesome. You almost feel like your back in time as you walk down the cobble stone streets and see the sights. Pictures won't do it justice and neither will my attempt at describing it. It's surrounded by mountains and has some really old architecture. The food there was also very, very impressive as well as the prices. We pretty much spent the whole day there. I would like to say that Tuesday was the best day of the trip, but everyday was so great. On Tuesday we climbed Mount Pacaya which is an active volcano here in Guat. We had to drive up this dirt road thousands of feet into the mountains. At first we had no idea if we were on the right track as we cut through some very small, very poor villages. Everyone in these villages works including the kids. From what I could see, it looked like most people where picking coffee beans from the trees. We had to pass some very slim roads next to some very steep cliffs. Once we made it to our destination we had a two hour hike ahead of us. It can easily take four hours to get up to the top of the volcano but that's not too safe of a climb/hike because there are some very dangerous areas of activity that could easily melt you if you slipped. Since it was already around 11AM we decided on a shorter hike that only took two hours that brought us close to the peak but still a couple hundred feet away. So here we are hiking up this volcano, we're following an albino tour guide we hired to show us up. We're pretty much up in the clouds since the clouds are actually hitting us in the face. We're getting sort of disappointed as our hike is not taking us to the summit. All of a sudden the wind picks up to at least 40+ miles per hour, strong enough to make you lose your footing. We get to this cliff and majestically appearing before us is an extremely huge cold lava flow. The air temp transforms from a cold stiff gust to a warm toasty breeze. You see, the lava is cold and hard at the surface but a few feet below us is an extremely hot world. It's hot enough to warm the ground so much that your shoes melt. It's hot enough that if you spit or pour water on the ground it boils and steams away. I through a stick into a 10 inch deep crack and it burst into flames. Through these cracks you can see solid red right beneath the surface. It was awe inspiring. I've never seen anything like it. I've never been able to drop things into small cracks on the ground and watch them burn away. Rob's wife Beth actually melted a small hole on the sole of her shoe. So we hiked across this for about 20 minutes and from here you can feel the volcano's power. You instantly are reminded of Jehovah's endless supply of power and remember that you are nothing in comparison. From this elevation you can see Guatemala City and a handful of  other volcano's surrounding us. Now we are actually in the clouds. The clouds are moving so fast as they brush against us.  You can see them speed up to the peak and then split as they go around it. It's almost like they disappear from the heat of  the volcano. From here we turn back and we all raced back down the mountain. It only took us about half an hour to get down since we pretty much ran the whole way. It was so much fun. From there we hoped back into the truck and drove about two miles to our next stop. We had to drive up this road about the same width as the vehicle we were in. Whew...it was a long ways down if we went off the road, but we made it safely. Once at the top of road we were step up for our next adventure, zip lining through the jungle canopy, but this time even better...not just jungle...but on the side of a mountain. It was so beautiful. Before we zip lined we strapped on some harnesses and we all got a chance to swing on a rope swing on the side of  the mountain. It was similar to the swings we had as a kid in the woods. From here we followed this little kid to through the forest to the other side of the mountain. Now this was the swing I liked. No harnesses, rope swing, log for a seat...but even better was that when you would swing out you could see this lake nestled in the valley of the mountains and volcano and mountain peaks all around you. It felt almost like I was flying. A drop from this swing would not have been good as it was literally on the side of the mountain. But the breath taking view must much worth it. From here we trekked back to the other side of the mountain and began our zip line adventure. Zip lining here is much more primitive than Belize. Belize's zipping is setup for American tourist...so you have a double zip line, hard hats, platforms with rails, and much more safety devices. Zip lining in Guatemala is pretty much a harness clipped to a cable and these flimsy little platforms high in the trees. It was so awesome. Much better in my opinion than Belize. Since we were on the side of the mountain the views were amazing, like nothing I've seen before. All of us had so much fun. And the best part was that there were no injuries except for a few sore muscles....well a lot of sore muscles. For the rest of week we just hung out with Rob, Beth, and her sister. Doing some shopping and eating. Things we don't get to do in Belize. We actually got to go to a Burger King!!! Now I don't normally do fast food, you know the hydrogenated oils and all, but it's been a long time since I've had Burger King....um um um it was good. Such a treat. And we were actually able to go to a big grocery store with lots of a variety. Living on an island isn't all it's cracked up to be. Life changes when you're limited by the options and boundaries of a small area. Dani and I were talking and life in Guatemala may be in our future. We just have to learn Spanish first. Well I guess that's it for now. We are heading back to San Lucas today and will be leaving Guatemala tomorrow. Oh yeah...one other treat...we get to watch the Saints game tomorrow...NFC Championship. Man I wish I was back home in New Orleans. GEAUX  SAINTS!!! I know the city has got to be rocking. What I would do to be watching the game on a big screen putting down some 7 layer chip dip with chicken salad sandwiches and a Dr. Pepper... the good old days of modern conveniences. We're so spoiled in the states. Until next time...

P.S. Saints Geaux All the Way, Saints Geaux All the Way, I BELIEVE!!!!