Over and Out

We have now left Miss Lyla at a marina in Grenada. We had lots of adventures on our boat over the past few months. In all we traveled from the British Virgin Islands to Grenada, a stretch of about five hundred miles. Our boat served us well and we will miss her very much. We hope to do more sailing and boating on Lake Michigan at home. Our little opti sailboat is missing a name. We decided to name her the "Ti Lyla" which we were told means "Little Lyla" in French. We thank you very much for keeping us in your prayers over the past few months and for following our blog.

This is the crew of sailing vessel Miss Lyla ... over and out.                        EK

Traveler's Prayer

Port Louis Marina St. George's Grenada

We were blessed this morning by the congregation of Our Lady Queen of Peace of Belmont St. George. They were very welcoming and even gave the boys an Easter bag. For all visitors they share a bookmark with a "Traveler's Prayer" on it. Since we know many of you are traveling for spring break, we thought we would share it with you.

"O Almighty and merciful God, who commissioned your angels to guide and protect us, command them to be our companions from our setting out until our return; to clothe us with their invisible protection; to keep from us all danger of collision, of fire, of explosion, of fall and bruises, and finally, having preserved us from all evil, and especially from sin, to guide us to our heavenly home. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen


....we thought this seemed particularly fitting.

Things we've learned

God is Great

How to conserve

Yoga and fishing are harder than they look

More things sink than float

Kids can sleep through anything

The rings on a clam tell how old it is

How to make rum, chocolate, coffee, and...rum

The 10/20 rule. Boyd and Evan are comfortable with 10 knots of wind and 20 degrees of heel more than Adam and Joan.

The shells are sculpted differently on every island

We should never be teachers

Never say "once in a lifetime trip"

Dont judge a sailor by his knots

500 miles on a boat takes alot longer than in a car

Guests on board

For the past week we have had some guests on board. The Dunnum family from Colorado. They have two boys thirteen and fifteen. It meant that we got to go out to eat which was a break from mom’s cooking for a change:). We even got to go on a zip line tour through the rainforest. I think this was the best part. They would hook you up and then you would fly over the jungle. Many times you would land on a platform 100 feet in the air on a tree!! There were twelve zip lines and some of them had small hikes in between. The longest one was 800 feet long! 

At the zip line we met a “rapper” guy named “Winnie”  and taught him how to make rice crispy treats after we shared ours with him. He thinks he is going to sell them and make a fortune. We think he will either A: not be able to make them, B: make them and eat them all himself, or C: just laugh with his friends about “those dumb Americans”. 

We stayed in Marigot Bay a few nights and enjoyed their big rope swing. We invented a game where you would have to swing across the water and back without touching it. We would take turns and the first one to touch the water loses. There were some times when I was hanging upside down and my head was an inch from the water.

We left the Dunham’s left yesterday at a beautiful resort overlooking the Pitons and continued to the Grenadines. Today we went to a sea turtle reserve. It was really cool because we got to touch all the turtles.      EK

Guests on board

As you can see by the quality of the photos, the Dunham's are here! Having a great time and enjoying the company.

Mishaps

Look close, Pancho pulling Evan and Adam on his surfboard

Just a few notes to make everyone aware that life is not all sunsets and sailing. We thought our readers might enjoy hearing about a few of our mishaps. I am going to talk about dropping the coffee pot. In the morning after Mom and Dad have their three gallons of coffee, Adam and I have to clean out our fifty year old coffee making thingermagiger. It has a lot of parts that look like they are attached but are not… When I bent down over the back of the boat the most important piece fell off. In my clothes a made a brave attempt to save it by half jumping half falling in the water to save the coffee maker. It started to sink and was too deep to retrieve. Once it was gone I realized that I had my iPod in my pocket… I immediately jumped out, dried it, and put it in a big bowl of rice (hoping this would suck the water out of it). After a few days I took it out. Unfortunately it is broken from the salt water. This really stinks for me. The good thing was my dad was able to use the scuba tanks to retrieve the coffee pot. EK

Another day we went to a beach called shell beach. There were shells everywhere. It was a great place to swim. When we were leaving I got a little distracted and forgot my sunglasses. I realized it when we were a half a mile away and my dad and I ran all the way back. By the time we came back they were gone. AK

It is always a little disconcerting to leave the boat and not be able to see it anchored safely in the harbor. The wind changes a bit from time to time. It can blow stronger or even change direction. Recently, after leaving the boat to go into town and feeling like our anchor was secure we realized it was not. As we were walking back to our dingy and looking out towards the boat we realized the wind had changed 180 degrees. Needless to say, this had dislodged the anchor. We watched it drift slowly past a neighboring boat, missing it by what seemed like inches, and then slowly continue towards the open ocean. I am not particularly fast but you should have seen me do mach 5 down the dock, hurdle into the dingy, land perfectly upright, start the engine on the first pull and race to our home floating away.  No harm, no foul. All is good.       BK

We were just settling in on one of our first passages when we noticed the dingy had come untied. Fortunately we noticed!!! It gave us an opportunity to practice a “man overboard drill” and turn the boat around in fairly strong winds and seas to rescue our dinghy.

Another dinghy mishap I had involved a flying fish. I was quietly painting my dolphin paint by number after everyone had gone to bed. (one of those items you like on vacation but would never use at home...this may become a Christmas gift…:) I heard a flopping sound on deck. My first thought was “flopping pirates?”, then “kids messing around in bed?” Then I realized a flying fish had landed on deck. I first wondered if we could eat it, but then realized I was not strapping myself to the stern again this late at night to filet it. Also, they are a beautiful fish with iridescent delicate wings. We are all fond of them because we have flying fish races while sailing. Take turns and count how long they stay in flight. The person with the longest flight wins! My second thought was that I must save it! I scrambled up to the deck and tossed if over, only to have it land helplessly in the dinghy. Since we have all become quite nimble climbing all over the boat, I was able to jump into the dingy and save the fish just in time.         

We are currently at the south end of Martinique working our way towards St. Lucia. We will be having our first overnight guests, the Dunham family, meet us there on March 21. Yeah!         JK

Closet Crafter

First bath since ? Tubs heated by volcano

I have discovered that I am a closet crafter. I want to play games and cards with the kids, but I would really rather do crafts. Whenever we find a treasure, I want to take it home for display or make it into something. When at a market I see souvenirs and think ...I can make that. Have you ever bought a souvenir on vacation that you thought was the best thing ever only to realize at home you have no idea what to do with it or that you could never really wear it in the real word? I am certain this will happen with all my stuff, if it actually makes it home. I have no fear that customs and immigration will confiscate them like our Guatemalan coffee. It is my husband who constantly says “we can't take that home you know”.  In attempt to make him more empathetic, I  encouraged him to paint one piece of driftwood. Apparently he is not as sentimental as I am and feels no attachment to it. He also doesn’t tolerate the smell that some of the sea creatures exude after time.

Adam however, has inherited my crafting fever.  As we walk through the rain forest in Dominica, he continually picks up treasures. Finally our tour guide grumpily asked me “what does he plan to do with those?” I replied “Make a hat, a weapon, glue googly eyes on it, but most likely forget it in the back of your van.” As he trudged off I think he mentioned something about ants under his breath.

Later in the day we won over the tour guide by taking his girlfriend out to our boat. She lives on the island but has never been on a boat of any kind. She was so excited she called her mom and sister and took pictures. She would giggle as she described it to them, “….and flush toilets and a kitchen..and three bedrooms.” We enjoyed her company and gained an appreciation for Miss Lyla and the blessings we have. Adam of course gave her one of his bead animals as a parting gift.

We plan to do more land-based touring today as Dominica is revered for its rain forest, waiting for Martinique to dive some more. Martinique is 26 miles south of here and has several sunken ships in St. Pierre harbor due to the eruption of Mt. Peele volcano in 1902.                   JK

Diving and Gaudeloupe

For many days our one “quest” has been to find dive sights. The first and by far the best spot was the 

Jacque Cousteau underwater marine park in Guadeloupe. This “Jacque” guy invented the idea of scuba diving. Scuba diving is different than just diving. SCUBA stands for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. This means that you have a tank instead of a hose going to the surface that gives you air. Jacque thought that this underwater marine park was one of the best dive site(s) in the world. We did two different dives there. The first dive had a French name. It was like Pixcion or Pixconawhattheheckdoesthismean either way I couldn’t pronounce it. The next one was called the coral garden. We learned this due to my dads “great” French skills. The “Coral Garden” was the best dive I have ever done. We saw so many turtles and all kinds of trunkfish and feather-duster worms (yes I have been trying to identify all of the marine life). 

After the dive we went to a beach and picked up every piece of sea glass on it. My dad and I have a plan to make our counter out of all sea glass. Although we think we should save the sea-glass for the counter, mom and Adam think it should be for making sea-glass mermaids and jelly-fish. Dad and I devised a plan to steal the sea-glass mom used for her mermaid, but I think she got suspicious when one of the blue pieces disappeared.         EK

Today was another short passage. The sail was from Les Saintes (Guadeloupe) to Dominica. This was a great sail of about 20 miles. Adding to the fish stories we "landed" a 30in baracuda. Now if you have seen these fish they are a bit scary. Big teeth, stare at you when you see them snorkeling or swimming. They are equally scary out of the water. Getting him off the hook presented a dilema. As you know our other fish had rigor mortis and was not difficult to remove from the hook.  Solution: stunned him with a little rum in the gills. Settled right down and then swam away in a not so straight path. However I smelled like fish and booze after this adventure. Just trying to blend in. We continue to see multiple flying fish while sailing.  Would that be a school of fish or a flock, they are flying. 

BK

History lesson

Yesterday we got to play with a monkey named Frisky. He was a very funny monkey. He liked to bite and jump on people. While one person distracted him by jiggling a can with rocks in it, the other person dug a hole. Sometimes Frisky would see the person digging the hole and jump off the table spreading his arms and legs out. We stuck a stick in the ground and he jumped on it. It started tipping and he flung backwards. He loved the taste of lemons.     AK

Boyd and I have been enjoying learning about the history of the islands. The colonial period when France, Great Britain, Netherlands, and Spain were establishing colonies, developing plantations, and managing slavery is fascinating. We have been exploring ruins and trying to engage the kids in the history and culture, forgetting that we had no interest in history til well after college.

From Golden Rock Plantation on Nevis Island we were able to take a hike up to the rain forest, tour the plantation ruins, and even cool off in their pool.  www.goldenrocknevis.com.  It looked like a heavenly place to rent a room that doesn’t rock. 

Leaving Nevis at midnight, we sailed to Guadeloupe, which so far is high on our list of favorites. It has a memorial Jacques Cousteau Underwater Reserve as it was one of his favorite diving places in the world. Since he was the pioneer of SCUBA they commissioned  a “bust” of him and sunk it in 39 feet of water. Scuba stands for Self Contained Underwater Apparatus. Evan calls it Super Cool Underwater Bubble Activity.

We have purchased several books that are helping guide us and also give the history of the islands.  The other sources that have become very important to us are Windguru.com and Passageweather.com.                 JK

Let the heavens declare the glory of God

Sunset from Nevis

Fish On!

We finally got dive tanks at a scuba shop in St. Maarten. After much looking we found a place that would sell them to us brand new with air in them. So far we have only done two dives because the island we are at now does not allow you to  dive without a dive guide. 

After some time in St. Maarten we went to St. Bart’s (Barthelemy). This is a French island and we gladly enjoyed some of the french restaurants and cafes. We also went to a French beach… I’m not going to comment on this adventure. After the French beach we went out for my dad’s birthday dinner. We had a hard time finding anything that had food under twenty dollars, but we finally settled on a breakfast place. The only thing on the menu was a panini.  They were pretty good despite the fact that we were across the street from the place with a “cheeseburger in paradise” sign. I personally would rather have gone there but… guatever.

After weeks of trying, we finally caught a fish trolling from St. Bart’s to St. Kitts. I was almost dancing when I heard my dad call “Fish on! Fish on!” When we got him reeled in we realized that we had him on the hook since we left St. Bart’s. According to my parents he has rigor mortis. Which means that he has been dead long enough to turn stiff, or he went into shock because we dragged him at seven knots for about twenty miles with a hook in his mouth. My mom is skeptical that we caught him instead of just hooking him by accident, but the hook was in his mouth, so we think we caught him. At first we didn’t know what to do. So I grabbed our new knife and a tether and we tethered Mom to the back of the boat and made her fillet the fish.                 EK

S.O.S

For all the fisherman out there we need some help. Doesn’t this look like a tasty fish snack. We can’t catch anything. 

Since the fish on the reef potentially have a disease called cigaterra you can only eat the fish off shore like tuna, mahi, and some snapper. So we are trying to troll between the islands. We have now travelled from St. Maarten to St. Bart’s, stopping at lIe Fourche on the way. We are closer to catching a fish by hand while snorkeling then we are with our pole. St Bart’s is very French...we are underdressed and stand out like tourist with our Jimmy Buffet T-shirts and flip fops. Funny, but I find 4 inch heels to be impractical on a sailboat.

We hope to do a short hike today and scuba dive in a small cove. Then tomorrow we will hike to a fort and enjoy the afternoon at shell beach scavenging. The pursuit of shells and sea glass have become an addiction. On Thursday we will have a 30 mile sail to St. Kitts’ which will provide another opportunity to drag our lure through the water.

FYI, S.O.S. Is not really an acronym although some say it stands for Save our Souls or Save our Ship...we have changed it to Save our Sushi. The letters were originally used only as morse code. JK

Birthday at Sea

Sunrise over St. Maarten the Dutch side

Happy Birthday Grandpa and Adam

The things that wake you up at night are different on a boat. Once we have chosen a place to stay we put out an anchor. Seems like a pretty easy scenario. . . . However, when the wind starts blowing we become concerned that the anchor will not hold well and the boat will go floating  a) into other boats  b) onto the rocks or reef or c) we float out to sea. So every little noise seems to wake us up. It could be a rope hitting the mast or deck. It could be a wave slapping against the hull. Might even be a “coke” can rolling side to side in the cupboard. Either way, sleeping takes a little getting used to. 

Adam turned 9 years old in the middle (well not quite) of the ocean. Last night we crossed from the BVI to St. Maarten. This means a sail of 90 miles through the night across the Agenda passage. The wind, waves and current are typically against you when going the direction we needed to go. This caused a little apprehension in the captain and crew. (The noises out there at night could mean several other things). Many of our fears were alleviated as we took on captain Kim. CK is a very experienced off shore sailor and was willing to go with us. We all wore off-shore life vests and harnesses. It would be difficult to find someone at night in the ocean if they fell off the boat. We made it. The sail was beautiful under a sky filled with stars and a full moon. The lights from the cruise ship were very bright and looked like a small island. Do not want to land on that island. From here we will continue south visiting several small island countries along the way.   BK

Drift wood

We went to a really cool spot where we got to ride scooters. Mom was very scared! Then we went to a really cool bar and they had magnifying glasses. We burnt letters into drift wood. This one is mine.           AK      

Yum Dinner

Yum Dinner

We have decided that if we eat the conch or at least use it for bait, we do not have to feel guilty for keeping the conch shell. Everything is good fried in butter right? We found a particularly big and beautiful one while snorkeling by Agenda Island. Boyd intends to make it into a faucet in our bathroom at home. 

Our adventures in fishing have just begun as well. We bought a used pole and hook while on Agenda but forgot the sinker, so our conch has been skipping along the waves behind us. We pilfered through our tool box, but didn’t dare part with any nuts or bolts so we will need to find a real sinker soon. Adam almost caught a fish at anchor with the lure that came with the pole, so it has become a nice diversion for the boys as they attempt to hook another one.

While snorkeling today we saw a large Eagle Ray, many small sting rays, and a turtle. I also enjoyed watching the schools of juvenile fish near a shallow reef. Just like children, they are much cuter than their parents.

We are attempting to settle into a routine on the boat. Homework is difficult as the kids still seem to think they do not need to do any. They do enjoy having us read out loud while we sail, it is like listening to a book on tape while traveling. We just finished Number the Stars by Lois Lowry about a family protecting their Jewish friends during WWII. I find the evenings when I am tired to be somewhat difficult as that is when I miss home the most.  Although at this juncture, we have almost lived on this boat longer then our house. We continue to covet your prayers and interaction by email and blog, as it is a nice link to home.                                                    JK

The Baths

Thursday morning they finally fixed our anchor light  so we could leave the marina and began sailing. Our first destination was to Marina Cay. It is an island that is sheltered from the waves.  After stopping at Salt and Cooper island and a few hours of sailing we finally got there. We picked up a mooring ball and spent the night.

Friday morning we headed across to Virgin Gorda and The Baths. The Baths are a bunch of rocks that you can swim under and through along a shoreline trail. It was really fun because some of the time we would be rock scrambling and then there would be a dip from the trail into the water. At the end of the trail there are rocks that you can swim out to and jump off. We went to the same spot that we were in three years ago(trip along memory lane as I called it). From there we swam back to our tender and went back to the boat.

After lunch we went snorkeling around all the rocks and saw a few big fish and a lot of sea urchins.  EK

I'm certified!

For the past two days i have been finishing my open water diving tests while my parents and Adam sit on our boat and wait for me... great life. My instructors name is Kenny. He is really cool and has a one month old daughter.
The dives were all really easy. We did four dives total. The first day we went to Angelfish Reef and Pelican Island. They both got their names because you never see any angelfish on Angelfish Reef or any pelicans on Pelican Island. On those dives we didn't see much, but one of the lobsters we saw was about the size of my brother.
The second day we went back to Angelfish Reef and to some other place I don't know the name of. On these dives we saw lobster, two turtles, some spotted drum, and a lion-fish. One of the turtles was really cool. I was close enough to touch it. The other one only had three legs. You could barely tell because he swam so fast. We killed the lion fish with a harpoon gun. It took two shots to take it down. (Lion fish are an invasive species in the Caribbean). Now that I am a fully certified diver I am thinking about taking a semester off in college to work as an instructor down here.                        EK

Lion fish

Miss Lyla

After a record long travel day, according to Adam's watch, we finally made it to Miss Lyla. She is what we had expected and is comfortable and clean compared to our experience in Honduras.

We are staying in Nanny Cay Marina for several nights to provision and to allow Evan to finish his scuba certification. He is already asking if he can work here in college as a dive instructor. As always he is the glass half full guy and we love him for it. His dive master only dunked his head in a bucket of water twice on the ride back in today for his constant commentary. It is their custom to provide beer for the divers on the way back to shore, but Evan noted he preferred Honduran beer (SalvaVida).

Although we have many kinks to work out with equipment/etc., we did take our maiden voyage today to Peter Island. We tried a few sails, ran the engine, anchored using the windlass, and went for a short snorkel. Adam saw a turtle bigger then him.

The winds are heavier than normal for the BVI right now due to the storms up north, so we are not sure when we will leave for Saint Martin. Boyd's friend Matt is also here working on a boat and was hoping to meet us Friday night for dinner so we dont want to miss out on some adult conversation....22 counts for an adult right?

Highlight of today: Boyd backing the boat into our slip without hitting our friendly neighbors. (difficult in high winds)                      JK

Work Work Work

Clinic in the Village of Miami

Accommodations for the group

In the past few days we have been working on a mission trip in Honduras. We stayed in a town called Tornabe. The place we stayed was right on the ocean and had a lot of other kids to play with. While we were there we played a lot of soccer and went swimming a bunch.

A normal day at the clinic would be like this. First we would set everything up. My job was to give people PIP(parasite medicine). Setting this up was very hard because all the medicine was very heavy and sticky if you spilled it. 

Once everything is set up we start letting people in. The people get registered and then come to me for PIP. I have to ask them (in spanish), if they are pregnant (which is really embarrassing to ask), if they have epilepsy, and if they have had PIP in the last three months. If any of these are a yes I can not give them PIP. After getting PIP the patients go to triage.

Triage is the third station. I help out with triage as well. Triage is a station where we prepare the patients to see the doctors (my dad and Dr. Gary). First we take their blood pressure, temperature, and ask them what problems they have and write them down. My favorite part is if they have diabetes. If they do we have to give them a shot to take their blood sugar. Many of you know that I don’t like getting shots… well I love giving them.

The last station is the doctors. I don’t really get to help much with this but that is what my dad does.

Usually it would be really busy in the morning. After the morning we would eat box lunches from Kandita (more on her later) and go back to work. Actually our longest day was seven hours, sixteen minutes, and twelve seconds ( Adam times everything now that he has a watch), (this time did not include lunch break.)

Adam and I also made some great friends. Tommy-candy (his real name is Gabriel) was one of the translators. He bought us all kinds of candy and we like to call him Tommy so the name stuck. He is a big fan of my brothers Scobblegobble thing. Paulo is another one of the translators. He hung out with us a lot and was really nice. Jonathan was the last translator. His nickname is french-fry/boy. I’m not going to say how he got it. Matter of fact today is his birthday. Feliz cupleanos Jonathon. He did a lot of translating for me and was the main translator for triage. 

Our awesome cook’s name was Kandita. Her cooking was like eating heaven. Her husband (Carlos) is so funny that many of the team members want to take him home. Marcella was the leader of the trip. She has three boys all in high school or college but they didn’t come with. Lee-Ann is on her first mission trip. She talked to me a lot, ran triage, and is on our plane back to Miami right now. Carol is from England but lives in Canada. She wants to be our nanny on “Miss Lyla”. Most of the group was from Canada.

This last week has been all work but it has been my favorite week of the whole trip so far.                                                                 EK

It was a pleasure to work with the people of Honduras. This was true of the patients and even more so the wonderful staff and volunteers of MMI. I certainly do not want to leave out the volunteers from Canada, eh. Not really sure how to spell eh, eh.? . . . . In addition to the  staff from the US and Canada there was an optometrist and two dentists form Honduras. The people in the villages have a difficult time accessing health care and were truly appreciative of the care we were able to provide. The residents of the villages are primarily Garifuna, descendants of Carib and West African peoples.
As several of you know it is sometimes a little slow when I work...so it was not a surprise that between cups of coffee I was looking for something to do. There were two dentists available... right there.. I might be a little cheap....I decided to have my teeth cleaned even with the stray dog and the chicken looking on.        BK

Guats Up

We havn't had WIFI for a while so this post will be jam packed. For the past few days we have been staying at a youth hostel. It is solar powered and the only way to get there is by boat. The most fun thing we did was swing off a rope into the water and another hostel called Finca Titan. We also spent a lot of time playing cards. All the guests liked to play cards in the evening. While playing we came up with many new terms such as "Guats up, Guetever, Guatios" and some others. Several of our friends had traveled from Belize so they liked to say "you better belize it". We also spent a lot of time kayaking.  The first kayaking trip was very long. It was four hours of kayaking. It was hard but very fun. We were supposed to find a waterfall at the end of the river... but we didn't. Although we didn't find it we had fun swimming in a smaller one.

The second kayaking activity was fun but.. scary. We tried getting four people in one kayak across the river, but it did not work. The Rio Dulce (candy river) is about as wide as lake Macatawa and we flipped the Kayak in the middle. First we had started filling with water and then I jumped out, then Adam, and then my mom. My dad went down with the ship. Only  a foot of it was out of the water and we are treading in the middle of a lake. Adam was freaking out and all out stuff got wet. After like two minutes a boat came by and helped us. They dropped us off and we paddled back to a cave from where they dropped us off. When we got to the cave the opening was huge! We had to walk through a bit of water and mud. When we got to the end there was a place that you can jump through the dark into the water but we couldn't jump in without a ladder to get out. Apparently you need to phone ahead to get the guide with the ladder. I'm not even sure i would have done it with a guide. On the way back we took a boat... with a motor.            EK

After finding the scorpion in our room within the first few minutes of arrival...it took us a bit to get over the hibbiejibbies. Our flash lights were stuck to our hands like glue for a bit. However it only took a day to adapt, then the kids were swimming, catching crabs, and other crawling things. We even enjoyed family Yoga on the dock with Sarah who was running the hostel for a few months. I have never done yoga and am inspired. No, not by my husband's lack of flexibility, but by the relaxation I felt after. I think it helped us embrace the beauty of our surroundings. The backpackers staying there were also great about playing with the kids and engaging them in conversation.

We are now in Tela Honduras where we will meet the mission group on Saturday. We are going to avoid traveling and enjoy the beach for a few days before we begin working. Pray that we are a blessing to the people we meet.                                    JK

Just inside the cave of the Tiger

Bats

In the past few days we had many hard times but they were fun.  I am only going to tell you about one. Yesterday we went to the Lanquin caves. We first went during the day. These caves run for over ten kilometers back into the mountain. We only walked in them for maybe half of a kilometer. It was really scary because of how dark it was. We ended up turning off our lights and it was so dark! You couldn't even see your hand in front of your face.
After that we came back to our hostel. In the back of the hostel there is a fast flowing river. We were a bit unsure but we went swimming. There is a rope stretching across the river that you grab onto when you pass it. There are two ropes, the second one is for if you miss the first. But if you miss both you go off a water-fall and die. After swimming for a bit (well not swimming more like clinging to a rope and trying to keep the current from ripping your pants off) we decided to climb upstream and drift down to the rope. I was a bit scared at first so I caught the rope with my face. Apparently I tore my upper frenulum. I could need stitches but I don't think I will get them.
Once it got a bit darker we went back to the caves to see all the bats fly out. They were everywhere! We held a big spider. It was just a baby but and adult of that kind of spider can have a body as big as my fist and legs probably as long as mine!
Although we have faced some hardships, it is good here, but because of my Frenulum thing it hurts to smile... oh well, adios from Lanquin.                               EK

At the pools we swam,found caves,slides,rocks to jump off. We hiked a mountain. If you put your feet in the water the fish wold nibble your toes.                      AK

AC/DC

We took our 10 hour journey today to Semuc Champey. Not a highway, terrible winding roads. We all got sick except the golden child. After some relief from Boyd’s pharmacy we continued on our way. I thought listening to Evan’s iPod music would distract me...but after hearing his music choice from AC/DC about another familiar highway...I couldn’t decide if I was more distressed by his music or my potential journey to what felt like the end of that highway. I quickly switched to some Jimmy Buffet music to visualize myself in the islands. 

We appear to be staying at a popular hippie hostel, but it is too dark to see anything else yet. At this point we think it is called “the middle of no where”.                                      JK

Tikal

We have made our way from one jungle to another. Not one starbuck's on the way. Not sure what to do  between we want an iced lemon pound cake and I need a grande skim mocha with light whip. Grande we can get but is is usually followed by chicken and rice. Oh well, learning to live with what you have.

Grande does refer to the ruins at Tikal as well. They are amazing. At its largest the city was approx. one million people. It ruled most of Guatemala,  the yucatan peninsula, and south to Costa Rica. The boys have enjoyed climbing the pyramids and temples. When our guide mentioned that the Millenium Falcon flew past one of the temples in "Star Wars", interest peaked a little more. The area is deep in the jungle. Still quite worried about our eight legged friend. I do not believe he has followed us here. There are new and interesting animals and many brightly colored birds around. Power is only by generator wich turns off at 10pm. I guess if we can't see the spiders they aren't there.

Amazing that the height of the Mayan empire coincides with that of the Roman empire. The Mayans were at their peak at the time of Christ with no knowledge of His existence. They developed the only written language in the western hemisphere. Their fate, unfortunately, was similar to the Romans. Their territories became too vast, the amount of people they were required to support became too much and the civilizations eventually collapsed.                                     BK

things that go bump in the night

Instead of staying in the town of Flores, we chose to stay at the Natural Park Ixpanpajaul. It is a park where people from Flores would visit for a day to hike, canopy tour, or ride horses. The best part about the park was that they let the horses run free throughout the park. They would graze next to our room or lay near the paths we would walk. Beautiful. We also enjoyed riding them through the park. There were also 4 resident donkeys that the boyz enjoyed playing with. Dan, Steve, Randy  and the noisy one Joe. I am not sure where they come up with the names, but it helps keep them entertained.

The Howler monkeys were also a highlight of the park. The first time the boyz heard them they freaked out. The monkeys are amazingly loud for their size and produce a lion-like sound. Adam did not want to walk in the dark after that.

It wasn’t the monkeys that made me fear the dark….                           JK

Sounds of the Jungle

Two days ago we stayed in a hotel in Guatemala City. It was really cool because while we were walking  to dinner we saw this party bus which was really a huge traveling bus with a disco ball and no seats. We looked through the windows when it passed and there were a bunch of people in it dancing. Yesterday we had to get up at four-thirty so we could make our flight to where we are staying now. We are at a national park in Flores. When we got here yesterday we first took a hike called the sky walk. On the way we heard a bunch of holler monkeys. It was really scary. When we got back to our "house" we went on a horse back ride. After that Adam and I followed some ant trails into the jungle.                                                                 EK

Birds of the sky

Tomorrow we leave the comfort of our condo for travels to the north of Guatemala. Although Boyd and I have been to this region before, traveling can sometimes lead to frustration and the unexpected. Fortunately, our devotional this morning was about "worry" and has reminded us that God even watches over every bird of the sky. We particularly hope he is watching over Taca Airline.

This afternoon when we went to the park for the boys to play soccer and baseball, we saw at least 12 young men playing wheelchair basketball. It was an amazing sight. Most of them had spinal cord injuries but were equipped with "sports" type wheelchairs. The concentration of men with this injury seemed disproportionate to the size of the city, especially because we were only seeing the ones who play w/c basketball on this particular day. We speculated that motorcycle or falling injuries as well as the lack of quality medical care has contributed to thier plight. What a blessing that they were having so much fun.

"Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you."  1 Peter 5:7

Coffee

In the last few days we have done a few fun things. The first was a coffee plantation. In order to get around we used mountain bikes. There was a lot of sand and it was hard but fun. Adam said it was his "thorn" for the day. (we often discuss our rose and thorn at the end of a day) While we were riding to the coffee plantation we met a really nice guy named Field. He was from Texas. He had been saving money and is now traveling around the "world" on his budget of saved money.

Today we did a really fun thing too. Went to a coffee plantation... This time we went with school though. We even learned how to make coffee. There was this huge machine that would separate the outside of the coffee bean from the actual bean. The machine was huge and it went so fast!

The past two days were fun but the one bad thing is... I don't like coffee...                          EK

The tours of the coffee plantations gave us the opportunity to discuss "fair trade" with the boys. The farm did not advertise that it was "fair trade" so we were unsure of the expectations of the employees and children. Boyd's solution is that  he should just own a plantation and thinks we should start calling him El Hefe or El Senior. In spite of the plans to remove our "atrium" at home to make a more functional space, he is now planning to smuggle coffee and cocoa plants back into the states and maybe buy a horse for the yard. 

Although the work looks tedious the climate is nice. Coffee is also planted with shade trees overhead to protect it. The workers at the plantation Filedelphia live in one large house with one room per family. We are not sure if it has electricity or plumbing. I think I will keep my day job and hope my husband doesn't leave his.                                                                                JK

Homeschool.

Enough about the food already. I dont know why everyone is so hungry and complaining...I brought penut butter!

Adam taught us a card game tonight that his buddies Kebede and Tyler taught him. He appears to have inherited our competitive spirit but unfortunately for him, his father's card skills. It has been easier to engage the boys in games then homework. We have some kinks to work out with our home school system. Evan has made it clear that he prefers his regular teachers and does not agree with our ideas. However, we are all enjoying the book "The Cay" that was recommended reading for both boys. Evan has also started teaching Adam how to type using a computer program. Boyd and I have both enjoyed new books "The legend of Bagger Vance"  (about golf) and "Cheaper by the dozen". Guess which one Boyd read. As a family we are reading a devotional called "Jumper Fables". In addition to the books, we have daily lessons from the people we meet. We traveled this past weekend with 2 guys from London and 2 from Australia who have seen more of the world than we could imagine.        JK

Evan teaching Adam to type

Chocolate

We went to a chocolate factory today. I learned something new. I learned that the Mayans were the first ones to discover cocoa beans, and they learned how to make chocolate drinks and chocolate. They used it as money to trade with other countries. They had to make a stone pad and an oval rock to crush the beans and use fire to melt the beans. They would add spices to the drink and mix it all up.     AK

We could use a little chocolate. As we settle into somewhat of a normal routine, some comforts from home like chocolate are appreciated. Maybe we appreciate them a little bit more. Our little apartment is  comfortable, clean, and really has everything we need;  but has no oven. Safe to say Joan didn't notice until today. So far we haven't missed it as there is no frozen pizza section in the market.  We are learning to get by with what is available.

Meat is available. . . . .

We are now vegetarians. . . . . .  No meat related injuries here

Finished the day with a movie, "The Adventures of Tintin" at a small local coffee house.  In the morning we will attend school (unfortunately no field trip), then play soccer with a few neighborhood kids at the park followed by a coffee or cerveza. We will again end the night by sleeping on our spanish books hoping for osmosis.                               BK

Lago De Atitlan

This weekend we went to Lago de Atitlan. The lake was formed thousands of years ago by a huge volcano that blew up. The ashes blew as far as Panama and Florida. When it blew it made a crater 900 ft. deep. Then the crater filled with water and boom... a lake.
The first night we stayed in a hotel with a pool. We also did a lot of walking along the beach the first night.
Today was by far the best. In the morning we took a bike tour in some other cities around the lake. First We rode the bikes down to the docks. After this we took a boat across the lake to where were would start. We rode up and down the steepest hills I have ever been on for about ten miles miles. To end the day we went to a huge cliff over the water. You could jump off the cliff into the water. It was so high... We guessed about ten meters!    EK

The second hotel had 2 hot tubs, a dart board, fuse ball, ping pong, a wood burning sauna, a massage center, and lots of peacocks.
Before we got here we went for a hike to a nature preserve where there were spider monkeys, raccoons, and a butterfly cage.                          AK

I am on nose bleed number 7 and have decided to let doctor Strabbing fix it when I get home.                                                             AK


The ride to Lago Atitlan  was beautiful, however imagine your worst winding mountain pass and multiply by a zillion...in the back of the bus. We  also now appreciate of our country's emissions control.                                             
Since we are fairly obvious tourist, we are always approached by the locals selling their hand made crafts. The blankets, cloths, table runners, etc.  are amazing and require hours to make. We have seen many women kneeling with weaving looms for hours. I wonder about many things like arthritis and carpal tunnel and if they complain of repetitive use injurys in Guatemala. We also are suspicious that there may be a factory with machines making similar looking items in mass quantity, but so far have not spotted it. At this time I choose to be inspired by these patient and diligent women.                                    JK

boyz jumping off cliff
see photo gallery for more pictures

learning curve

After a few days of spanish school, Boyd and I have decided that we have passed our prime for language acquisition. Even sleeping with the books under our pillows does not help anymore. We shamelessly continue our efforts in the evening with helpless strangers and each other, but usually just end the day with a glass of wine.

The highlight of today was making the boys get their hair cut at a local barber. We had some concerns that our translation of “dont cut too much” may turn out to be “dont leave too much”. Alas, all went well and they still have some hair but are refusing to post the pictures on the blog.

muy Guapo                                                   Jk

Too Familiar with the Chicken Bus

We have had two adventures in the past two days using the chicken bus. The first was yesterday. To start off the morning we did the same fun thing we do almost every school day. Eat breakfast... No, of course not we went on a field trip in school. We walked to the public market. It is all outside except for a few connected meat and other food vendors in the back. It took a while to get there but we learned a lot about different foods. After school we went to the macadamia nut farm.(as we call it, tree hugger farm)

Back to the chicken bus. A chicken bus is really a school bus with many colors. It is like a taxi that carries lots of people. It is crowded and hot, and the exhaust was black and stinky coming from most of the busses. But the fun part is that it goes so fast it feels like a roller coaster. Adam and I thought it was awesome but dad was a little claustrophobic, and mom did't like the speed.

The nut farm was really cool because they were trying to use the macadamia trees to cure global warming and pollution. One of the other fun(or should I say tasty) things there was the macadamia pancakes. They were made with macadamia nut flower and macadamia nut butter over it. It was so good.

Today was fun too. In the morning we only did one hour of school before going on a field trip. After lunch we went to a convent which is a home for nuns. There were tiny bedrooms and it was kind of weird but they were really cool. We thought that one of the cool parts was the holding cells that people think they would torture the nuns in. People think they tortured them by locking them in a standing position and doing the chinese water drip on them. This this would make them go crazy.

After this we went to a park and played fut'bal(soccer) with some neighborhood friends. Since it was so hot we got back on the chicken bus because that was the fastest way to get home. EK

first days

We are now here. After two three hour flights we stayed at a hotel in the capital of Guatemala, Guatemala city. Then we taxied to Antigua which is where we are doing our language school. Sadly when we got there we could not get into our room so we went for a walk. We passed a lot of horse drawn carriages… peyew! It stunk so bad we had to hold our breaths. About an hour later we got into our apartment, and had to walk back to the market for groceries. It felt like we had walked five miles with two weeks of food on our backs, but it was really only one, and it’s eighty-five degrees down here!.                                                                                                                                       EK

On our flights we met two gentlemen that we decided to pray for as a family. The first man “Army guy” was being deployed from GR to travel to the “far east”. He was leaving behind his wife and his four home schooled children under the age of ten. That puts things into perspective. The second man “Tex” bought the boys movies on the flight because he felt bad that their parents wouldn’t.                                          

                                                                                                                                                JK

Today (monday) we did things twice as fun. In the morning we started our language school at San Jose el Viejo. It is a very pretty campus and we learned a lot. After that we walked up a mountain so we could look over the whole city of Antigua. We could also see the volcano called Volcan de aqua(water volcano). This volcano is about 3,765 meters above sea level. After this we went to a hotel that was made from a restored ruin of a church. There were a bunch of parrots on big sticks. It was so much fun with them only one could talk but we got him to say “I am an idiot” haha it was so funny!. The last thing we did today was going to the jade factory. Jade is a precious stone that is almost as hard as diamond. In fact the only thing that the factory is able to shape it with is… diamond.                                EK

Our first day of language school was not a surprise. Evan embraced it with enthusiasm, Boyd coasted by, it only took Joan one hour to convince Maestra Judy to go for a walk for local banana bread, and Mrs. Hossink at Holland Chr. just moved up a level in Adam's eyes since he doesn't like the spanish school because he cant understand his teacher. :)                                                                     JK

departure day

January, 5

Today we leave.
Today we thank God for this beautiful day he has given us to travel and for the blessing he has given us to take this great adventure.