Around the Corner!

December is here, and Christmas is just around the corner!  Ready or not...........  This was taken a week ago today.......  snow and cold have arrived right on schedule.

Frost Moon

 According to my calendar, the Frost Moon rose on November 21.  Except it was a snow moon here.....

Berry Pie Jam

I spent a day this fall with a canning friend who takes all 1st places in the State Fair on a large variety of jams, jellies, and other canned goods!  She taught me how to make pepper jelly that actually sets, so next year watch out!  You just might get some for Christmas!  While there, we sampled quite a few of her different jams and jellies.  One of my favorites was her very own Blackberry Pie Jam, of which she shared with me her secret ingredient.  I came home and the next day picked more blackberries and raspberries and made a Mixed Berry Pie Jam, which is pictured above.  YUM!  is all I can say :o}

Raspberry Custard!

Darrell had the creative cooking bug a few weeks ago, and whipped out this most yummy dessert :o}

Happy Birthday Girl!

I was able to celebrate Bethany's 24th birthday with her in Guatemala, the first time since she was 17 years old!

Two other Peace Corps Volunteers live in her town, Carolyn and Derc.  Carolyn made a fabulous lasagna dinner for us all, and we ate, drank and played several games that evening!

She had 2 cakes, one at our dinner, and then when we returned to her room, Fátima's family had cake and hot cocoa for us!  Such a nice birthday :o}

This finally ends my blogging on Guatemala, and gives me a record of my trip. Thanks to anyone who might have suffered through all of this with me :o}

  I had a wonderful visit with Bethany.  Thanks so much for your hospitality!

Country Folk

Though I could take frontal shots of animals, remember that the only way I could snap photos of adults was from behind........

Look at those big, sad eyes on the injured calf!  What a sweetie :o} 

Pigs have been a favorite of mine since I was a little girl. 

The tall legs on these chickens were something else! 

The woman in the middle shot is weaving ~ something many women do for selling.

 My favorite people shot that I was able to get!

A closer look 

In case you wish to see this little cutie pie even better :o}

Countryside Homes

Homes came in all sizes, shapes and colors.  They were built from anything, from cement blocks with or without stucco, to lean-to's made from corragated metal panels.

Here is the farm I would like to live on, should I ever have the occasion to live in Guatemala! 

Countryside

The final 2 days that I was in Guatemala, the sun came out to dry things up a bit!  At times the sky was a beautiful, rich blue, but mostly it was very hazy and sometimes outright cloudy.  Bethany took me trudging up and down the mountains to visit some schools, and I was in awe of all of the beauty that surrounded us!  I will do a few blogs showing just a bit of the countryside around her town.

The farmland seems to be rich and fertile, especially with all of the rain they had this year!

This isn't a great picture, but I wanted to show 2 more volcanoes that can be seen from her area.  This is on a stretch of road to the northeast of her town.

Peas, beans, cauliflower and corn abound

The banana trees are incredibly huge!  Remember the banana bloom I posted on the Tikal Motel blog?  Look at the humongous size of the bloom in the bottom right photo!

The photo on the bottom right is of a sink hole that has been forming this last year while Bethany is there.  She is watching the progress of it, and already one cannot see the bottom of it!

Trumpet flowers  in the wild (right picture)! 

I love this shot!  I loved the sun being out!  This is not too far from Bethany's home.

Bethany's Home

The house Bethany lives in is an old convent, still owned by the nuns who rent out not only the main house, but the several separate rooms off of the patio.  A family with 2 daughters lives in the main house, the dental student doing her practicum lives in the last room,  next to the chapel, and Bethany lives in one of the other rooms.  A few days before I arrived, the niece (Brenda) of the head nun moved into the last remaining room.  A small kitchen is between Bethany and Brenda's rooms.

Top left:  Looking at the home and front gate
Top right:  Looking out from Bethany's room towards the front gate.  Main house to the right.
Bottom left: Looking from the main house down the patio hall.  Bethany's room is the open door, first on the left.  Wet laundry hanging 24/7 in the rainy season..... never really dries.
Bottom right: Looking from the dentist's room back toward the main house.  Bethany's room door hidden behind the white towel

Left:  Looking at the chapel from Bethany's doorway. Courtyard (dirt) is full of plants
Right: Pila sits across the courtyard from Bethany's room

One rainy, cold afternoon we played Quiddler in the old chapel, which is now an office for the father of the family that lives in the house.

Flowers and fungi in the courtyard 

This is the small kitchen Bethany shares now with Brenda.  Brenda brought the nice 'big' refrigerator.  Apparently Bethany's was just a tiny, bitty one. 

Bethany's tiny room where her bed, books and anything else she owns call their home.  As you can see, the ceiling leaks, the water running down the back wall onto the floor, peeling away paint and leaving mildew.  Karen and I are trying to get warm in her bed (no heat), watching a movie on her computer. The ceiling is also home to rats, mice, ugly spiders and other bugs.  The roof boasts of chickens and dogs running across it.  I have no doubt, though, that in any other season except the rainy one, her room is a lovely place :o}

Thanks for sharing your home with us!  It was very cozy!

Birthday Girl

Shortly after I arrived in Guatemala, Bethany's 'little sister', Fátima, celebrated her 7th birthday!

Top:  In her party dress

Middle:  In a hammock outside Bethany's room

Bottom:  With her dog, Rocky 

Many of the party guests, which numbered around 200, were children from the orphanage

 The piñata is the main event of the party.  There is one for the girls, and another one for the boys.

Pigtail Friends!  :o}

IXIMCHE

The first capital of Guatemala was founded in 1470 on the site of a Kakchikel-Maya city, now called Iximche. It was abandoned in 1524 when the capital was moved to a new area.  In 1980 during the Guatemalan Civil War, a meeting took place at the ruins between guerrillas and Maya leaders that resulted in the guerrillas stating that they would defend indigenous rights. A ritual was carried out at the site in 1989 in order to reestablish the ruins as a sacred place for Maya ceremonies.

IXIMCHE is just a short ride from where Bethany lives.

The ruins are mostly buried underneath vegetation, but there have been archeologists working on the excavation of the different buildings.

As you can tell, the site is in various stages of rediscovery!  So much history happened here, too!

Casa Santa Domingo Hotel and Ruins

Casa Santa Dominga is a ruined monastery built by the Dominican Friars in 1542 in Santiago de Guatemala, now called Antigua.  It was largely destroyed in 1773 by an earthquake.  In 1989 the ruins were excavated, and a hotel built around it with an extraordinary outcome!

Near the front gate sits this wash basin 

 The Central Courtyard and Fountain

Bell Tower

You can see above ground tombs that extend down both sides of the walls.

Underground crypt

Bodies were laid out on a table until they decayed, at which time the bones were swept into a large bin at the foot of the table. Ready for the next!  Creepy.  Some appeared to be buried in casket-like boxes.

There were several museums housing wooden carvings of Christ and the different saints, crowns and other headpieces, and other artifacts.

It was a fascinating place to visit!