Note to self: red-eye flights are not a good idea

I am currently in Chisec, Guatemala. It´s day three and I´m just getting over the ¨What am I doing here?" phase. Chris and I just finished dinner at a street stand and witnessed the owner beat up his son for leering at me. So now you all have proof that my safety is in very good hands. Or maybe I should just bring this guy around with us. Actually, we´ve been surprised: we feel very, very safe and there hasn´t yet been a threat of theft that we´ve seen.

We´ve definitely had some amazing experiences thus far. We´ve ridden in three buses with three very different drivers: #1 was medium, #2 was fast, and #3 was faster. On that 3rd bus we weren´t sure we were going to make it...

I have to brag that we´re doing very well, too, especially considering this is only our third day here. Our Spanish keeps getting better, and we´re strating to know how to ask the right questions, such as ¨does the shower have hot water?¨ We´re learning how much is a reasonable price for a banano, which is what they´re called down here. Note to the Mestizo woman at the market in Coban: I may be a gringa, but I´m not going to buy 1 banana for 5 dollars.

Today we visited La Candelaria caves and were led on a private tour down the river, underneath the caves. The best part was that our mode of transport was innertube!

Pictures soon, I promise. I have to go now or I´m going to melt away into a puddle on the floor of this internet cafe.

The Great Send Off

Chris and I spent all of April packing and moving our belongings into a storage unit. Thank the universe for those great lutefisk and lingenberry-eaters in Ballard with their inexpensive facilities. Here's us the night before we left Seattle for Oregon, drinking some amazing champagne from some very lovely people (thanks to the Benton-Bozzo fam and the Fresenius crew). Guess what, guys? You've opened our tastebuds because neither of us really liked champagne all that much until we had that particular sweet, sweet nectar. It was especially delicious out of our classy martini glasses from Walgreens.

Appropriate photo, too, because if you haven't heard, Chris and I are going to get hitched. He popped the question while we were at his 3rd cousin's ranch in Eastern Oregon. We were out there for about a week, taking care of livestock, digging ditches, and laying down irrigation pipes. So, anyways, champagne for all! But first, all of you must take a trip to Walgreens to the "seasonal specials" aisle near the picnic supplies and get your own classy glasses.

We just found out our flight to Guatemala got bumped a day, so now we leave the country on May 27th. That's in about a week --we're gettin' down to the wire!



Yee-haw at the ranch!



Sunshine and daisies and fluffy bunnies...