Asheville, North Carolina

In the last post, I mentioned that we were going to the Science Museum in Nashville. When we were there, we did something we have always enjoyed doing, going to the planetarium. For those in Tallahassee who have never seen a show at a planetarium, there's one at the Kleman Plaza. It's alot of fun and very educational!

Anyway, this show was about the life cycle of stars. Fascinating!! After the show we decided to head on over to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area. We found a hotel in Pigeon Forge for $34, including tax and it was actually pretty decent. We had been staying in a hostel in Nashville, so it was nice to get our own room.

Tuesday we decided to hit the arts and crafts trail in Gatlinburg. There is an 8 mile circle where over 100 artists have studios and shops. We spent all day browsing and talking to the artists and managed to get to most of the shops. There were woodworkers, potters, candle makers, iron smiths, you name it. It was very inspiring! It gave both Joe and I the creative bug. I graduated with an art degree (ceramics and fiber arts were my favorite classes) and Joe loves to work with wood. The weather, however, was horrible. Tennessee is going through a cold snap right now and it rained all day. By the time Joe and made it back to our hotel, we could barely feel our toes.

Today, Wednesday, we walked downtown Gatlinburg a bit before heading over to Asheville, North Carolina. The drive was gorgeous! It took us a little over an hour and we had such a pleasant drive through the mountains. When we got here we found a hostel, checked in, and headed downtown. Joe was getting tired so we found a coffee shop attached to a local bookstore to hang out at. Just our luck, as we were walking in, they were setting up for a local radio show that was being taped there. We spent the evening being entertained by stories, music, and poetry. It was a lovely evening.

Clarksville/Nashville

Well, for the last week we've split our time between two cities: Nashville and Clarksville. The whole point of this trip was to show Joe around where I've spent 8 years of my adult life and also to meet up with some dear friends I haven't seen in a couple of years. Clarksville is a little less than an hour's drive from Nashville. It's located right next to the Kentucky border. Ft. Campbell, the army post, straddles both the Tennessee and Kentucky borders. Unfortunately, there isn't much to do in Clarksville. When I lived there, I was involved in the arts, which kept me busy, but visiting is another story. Things definitely slow down once you get there. We did get to meet up with a couple of my best friends: Ken and his wife Melody. Ken used to teach me ceramics when I was in school and we formed a friendship that transcended the normal teacher/student relationship. They both have helped me get through some of the most difficult times of my life and they will always have a special place in my heart.

The rest of the time was spent in Nashville. We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame. It's apparently a "Nashville must-do", but since neither of us listen to country music we left feeling kind of confused. Other things we did over the last couple days included: going to Centennial Park to see a replica of the Parthenon, going to the zoo, and I took him to my favorite restaurant, Demos'. Today, we are going on a city tour and then heading over to the Science Museum.

Atlanta

Right now I'm at a Motel 8 close to Atlanta. Today we are on our way to Nashville Tennessee. I used to live near there for 8 years and Joe and I are going back to visit. Joe's never been before, so I thought I'd show him around. This morning, however, we are going to spend some time bumming around Atlanta before we get back on the road.

Climbing an active volcano! April 8th

We wanted to do something fun on our last day, so we decided to climb Volcano Pacaya. It is an active volcano almost an hour from Antigua. On the trip up, we met a family from Michigan, a couple from Denmark, and a couple girls from London.

After we got out of the vehicle there were 2 ways to climb up: hiking or riding a horse. I chose the horse. While everyone else was huffing and puffing the 2 miles up the mountain, I was enjoying the scenery.

When we got to the hardened lava flow, however, we had to climb across on foot. That was a little insane. It was very treacherous, with many crevices to fall into. Also one of the peaks of the volcano would erupt. We would hear the explosion, than see lava shoot into the air. We climbed to one of the other peaks that wasn't erupting. Every so often, we would hit a hot spot and feel the heat from the lava below our feet. When we got to the peak, we looked down into the crevice and could see the red heat from the lava. It was a little scary and I was very happy to see grass again.

That adventure wiped us out physically and emotionally. It was amazing, but later on I realized that I may not do something like that again. It was just too easy to fall into a lava hole. I think I have found my danger boundary. That was our last adventure on the trip. That evening was spent packing. The next morning we boarded the shuttle to take us to the airport. What a great trip!

A Dying Cathedral! April 7

Today we hopped on another shuttle and headed back to Antigua. Our flight was leaving on Friday from Guatemala City and even the locals won't spent the night in the city, if they don't have to. Antigua was about 45 min from the airport and a natural choice to end the week.

We got into Antigua in the late afternoon. We checked into a beautiful hotel, Hotel Rustica.

It it one block from the main square. The hotel was wonderful. There's a cental courtyard that is a very nice way to relax in the afternoon. The hotel also had a pool table, kitchen, and four very sweet dogs. After checking into the room, we went to explore the city when there weren't a million people crammed into the streets.

We found a beautiful cathedral and paid 3 quezales (about 40 cents) each to get in. It was very deceptive. The facade of the cathedral was very ornate with lots of sculptures and paint. When we walked in, the roof was missing and it was heavily damaged. There were still remants of sculptures on the inside, but it gave it a really sad impression. The cathedral was being taken over by the outside world. Plants were growing up the side of the walls and the center of the cathedral had lots of grass growing in it. I think it made it even more beautiful than the facade. I could've stayed there forever. Apparently, a couple of hundred years ago, the church was heavily damaged by an earthquake and it was never rebuilt. It made me contemplate how short our human life really is.

Last day in Pana April 6th

Today was a lovely day! We went to Casa del Mundo (the magical hotel across the lake) for breakfast than went back to the village we went to last week. Joe did some magic and juggling for the kids and then we started handing out goody bags for the kids.

The bags didn't contain much: 3 crayons, a couple stickers, and 2 pieces of candy. However, all hell broke loose. Kids started grabbing at us and trying to be the first to get at the bags. I was trying to pull kids off the ground and keep them from being trampled by the other kids. It was a mess! We had to give the rest to an adult in the village who could distribute them in an orderly manner.

We then hopped the boat to visit a couple of towns around the lake. One town, San Marcos, was a very hippie, new age town with many different courses one could take. I told Joe I would like to come back and take 1 or 2. My pick would be a Spanish course or weaving course.

This was our last night in Pana, so we sat out on our balcony that night and just enjoyed the sights and sounds of the town.

Monday April 5th

Not much to tell today either. I was able to get out of the room a bit. Joe and I went shopping for presents to bring back. Still feeling pretty weak.

Sick, sick, sick! April 3rd and 4th

I was so sick from the ice cream I never made it out of the room these two days. Happy Easter!

Good Friday, April 2nd

Today we were supposed to come back home, but we didn't. Joe and I said goodbye to the rest of our team, then got on the bus and headed to Antigua (a 1 1/2 hour ride from Pana) for the biggest celebration of the year in Central America. All week there was partying all over Guatemala, leading up to Good Friday.

The holiday is called Semana Santa and Antigua was the place to be. There were all kinds of processions, floats, and these beautiful paintings in the street made by colored sawdust.

Of course, there was lots of food. Since the food is really cheap, Joe and I got really experimental and ordered everything. We had no idea what was in half the stuff, but it was soooo good! At a quarter to four, we headed back to the place where the shuttle was coming to pick us up to take us back to Pana.

It never came! We waited an hour and a half but no shuttle. This was a problem, since we were stranded with limited money. Everything was back in Pana. We found several travel agencies and were told the same thing, no shuttle after four pm. To add to the complication, we tried to book a room several days back, but we were told unless we booked at least 5 months in advance, we weren't going to find a room.

Guess what! We found a room! It was in a hostel attached to a travel agency. We checked into our room and headed back out on the town. About half an hour later, I started feeling bad. I mean REALLY bad. I had to get to the room, NOW! Unfortunately, a procession blocked the way to our hotel and we couldn't get there. I sat down on the curb and started to cry.

We made it back to the room where I spent most of the night in the bathroom that we shared with several rooms on the floor. I'll spare you all the details, but I'll just say it was a really rotten night for me. It turns out it was the unpasturized ice cream I ate that day. We did catch the shuttle the next morning, but I have no idea how I made the ride without making the driver pull over every five minutes.

Ziplining and babies! April1

Today was another free day so the group of us went ziplining in the morning. Joe and I went ziplining in Alaska last year, but this one was longer, faster, and higher (also more scary). In Guatemala, there are lots of volcanoes (most of them still active) that form mountains. This adventure was a series of 8 ziplines set between two mountains. None of the guides spoke English, but my faith was restored when on the 5th zipline the guide kept me from crashing into a rock at 45 miles an hour. My hand slipped off the cable and I couldn't break in time. On the very next line, Joe almost crashed into a wall along with one other person from our group, so the guides must get alot of practice. It was very very fun.
In the afternoon, we headed out to a village to visit a family that Lloyd and Melanie supports. Two of the family members just had babies, so the group wanted to see them. One of the babies was wearing an FSU Seminole jumpsuit. In Guatemala. Go figure.

Joe told me later if he would've known what we were in store for, he's not sure he would have gone. The communal area of the village was down by the main road, but to get to the homes we had to climb up a mountain. Of course, there were no roads leading up, so we had to climb the mountain on foot. Climb, and climb, and climb! The house was located near the top of the mountain. It was exhausting for all the Americans! We then found out that one of the women that had her baby had to climb it in labor to make it home in time before the baby came! She climbed up the side of the mountain with a rag in her teeth praying to God she would make it in time. Of course, when she got home, there wasn't a nice epidural waiting for her. No doctors or hospitals. Everything was done the old fashion way. I'm not certain the family even had clean water for her. Most people have to go down the mountain to fetch their water. Life is tough in Guatemala!

Anyway, after we played with the babies, we shopped! The family had made many beautiful things. Scarves, belts, purses, jewelry, etc. The pricing was fantastic and went to a good cause. I loaded myself down with more things than I knew what to do with, got lots of hugs and kisses from the family, and we headed back down the mountain.

Last work day, March 31

Today was pretty similar to Monday. The morning was spent doing construction and the afternoon doing VBS. Joe was feeling better, so he was able to join us. In the morning, we did more manual labor: carrying blocks, cutting wire, carrying water to the site, etc.
It was also our last VBS which made me sad. I really enjoyed being with those kids. Their faces would break out into huge smiles when they saw us, and after we left, they ran behind our van until they couldn’t anymore.

During VBS, a drunk woman named Marie showed up. She started singing the songs and crying. When we started to do crafts, she ran into the church, clung to the alter and started praying. It was so sad. We have met a lot of drunks here. Biologically, the indigenous people have a really hard time processing alcohol. Also life is so hard here, that many turn to drugs and alcohol as a way of coping. My heart really goes out to these people.



Anyway, after Lloyd and Hector (another person leading VBS) talked with her it was agreed that she would come with us. We took her back to Pana, a couple women got her cleaned up and she was taken to a doctor to sober up and get help. I really hope she will be ok and gets the help she needs. After talking with Lloyd about this, I’m not certain she will. The problem in Guatemala is, even if she wanted help, she may not receive it. There aren’t the resources here like in the US. There aren’t halfway houses or rehab clinics. Once they sober up, there is no one to help them and they go back to their old lives where it is all too easy to slip up again. It breaks my heart.