Time to get down to business...

I am back from a wonderful couple of days in the mountains with some of my favorite students. So, now it is time to concentrate on Guatemala, as this will be my only destination out of the country this summer.

We plan to study at the Pop Wuj school in Xela, Guatemala. Their website is: www.pop-wuj.org. I absolutely am relying on the testimony of a woman I met in Belize last year. She went to this school and really enjoyed it. We get 5 hours of private Spanish a day, and then our afternoons to do whatever we want. There is also a volunteer program in which we can participate.

I have been reading up on Guatemala and what other activities that we'll be able to do. It looks like a hikers' paradise. For about $50 us per person, we can hike for 2 days near Santiaguito, the most active volcano in Guatemala. I'm thinking this might be fabulous. We have our weekends free.

We have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday for Jacob to get his vaccinations. He'll have to get the 3 that I did last year: typhoid, tetnus, and Hep A. We both will have to get malaria meds and probably dysentary meds. I will also get us the digestion aids that I got for me last year because I never got sick in Mexico or Belize. I will get us Acidophilus to begin taking 2 weeks before we go, ginger pills for the motion sickness and altitude sickness, etc. We will have to replenish the first aid kit. I will refer back to my own post last year about the medicine chest I carried.

I also just ordered a Spanish guide from 30Words.com. It is a passport sized language guide. Maybe I won't need it after the summer.

I am a little nervous, I have to admit. When it is just me, it's just me. However, now that Jacob is going, more responsibility... I guess. More very soon!

damn damn damn

So one of my most favorite items to travel/camp with is a Sea to Summit Lite Line clothesline and I CAN'T FIND IT!!!! It's tiny (and that's probably why I can't find it) and it is so handy. Google it and you will see. So I went to the outdoor store here in Flotown and they don't have any more and can't get any more right now. If I order it online, I will pay as much for shipping as the item. dammit! I know I can use other things, but I WANT THAT ONE!

On a brighter note, my friend, Jeff loaned me his backpack so that Jacob won't have to use his Vietnam War issue pack that his uncle gave him. Thank you, Jeff!

We are now creating piles of things to pack....it's all underway!

Errands, errands, errands

Schools out for sum-mer.....(thank you Alice Cooper) and I'm beginning my neverending list of errands. I took a lovely bike ride this morning before it gets so hot. Yes, we're already in upper 80s and 90s. So today: I have to go....ready?...wash the engine of the car (are you kidding me?) so that my mechanic (who was just in Guys and Dolls here in Flo, by the way...I know weird) can find the oil leak before we go away; then to get new glasses for driving and night vision because I lost mine after a particularly fun party (I think there was something not quite right about them anyway); then to the grocery to get food for Jacob (THAT is never ending); I was going to go to Barnes & Noble to get a new Mexico City guidebook, but found the one from last year. I am really glad about that too. It is Eyewitness Travel's Top 10 Mexico City. It is a great book and much used. Good maps of the city and subway. Later, I hope to talk with my friend, Gene, who is hopefully going to Mexico with me later in the summer. We have to firm up some plans so that I know what to tell people.

Summer adventure news: I will be spending the 4th holiday in Austin with my couchsurfing friend, Jennifer! I am so excited. THAT should be another very fun party.

Hola Amigas y Amigos...

Leg 1

Once again, I am beginning a big summer adventure. At this point, I know that Jacob and I are going to Guatemala to study Spanish for 2 weeks because I booked it today. We are leaving June 6 and returning the 21st. We will fly into Guatemala City, take a 4 hour bus ride to Xela, Guatemala. Last summer on my Mexico/Belize adventure, I met a young woman on Tobacco Caye from the US, but living in Berlin. She told me about Xela (it's official name is Quetzaltenango) and that there were numerous Spanish schools for English speakers there. So, we are going to stay with a Guatemalan family and study Spanish for 5 hours a day...all for $175/week at a school called Pop Wuj. Crazy, huh? However, getting there has proved to be challenging.

I read several travel blogs that said that Chicago had the best rates to Guatemala City. However, a friend told me to check Spirit air out of, are you ready?...Myrtle Beach. And yes, it is as cheap to fly out of Myrtle Beach that it is to fly out of Chicago. But Spirit, or course, charges for EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING. My cheap tickets after they added taxes, fees, baggage fees...and ready for this???!!!!....seat charges ($8 each if you want to sit together) ended up being just a little cheaper than the Chicago flight on American - about $700 for both. Sigh..oh well, it is still a little less challenging than trying to get to Missouri, then Chicago, then Guatemala.

Leg 2

I was asked/I asked the Witte Museum in San Antonio, TX to archive their carpa collection. It will help me with my research and give me experience in archiving, which I'm interested in. I got a research grant to do that from FMU. It is also a great excuse to see some of my couchsurfing buddies that I met last year.

Future legs... Stay tuned. There may be other fabulous legs to our adventure...maybe Mexico, maybe Tahlequah...who knows....

Just a little professora ranting...

So we cast The Vagina Monologues last week with 35, that's right, thirty-five, women. One woman, who has been in the show before twice, as well as had very large roles, emailed me because her role for this year "concerns her." The deal is, she got a smaller role this year because last year: 1. she did not take direction well; 2. she showed up at 7:20p for a 7:30p curtain (that was the big one); 3. she was late to the cast party where she had agreed to perform, thus missing her performance. The moral is: don't piss off the director. And then to have to gall to email me complaining about the role she got....????!!!! She says she's going to grad school. Uh huh...good luck with that, getting out of grad school without pissing off your professors - THAT is the trick....

I need a vacation...

Summer 2010 Adventure

Howdy kids - I'm planning my summer adventure. So far, I think Jacob and I are going to go to Xela, Guatemala for 2 weeks to study Spanish. Then, after Jacob leaves to go stay with his dad, I would like to spend a week in Mexico, at this point either in Puerto Angel or Zipolite Beach. Both are little hippie tourist towns south of Oaxaca. Then, I'm off to San Antonio to archive the carpa collection at the Witte Museum.

Would anyone I know be brave enough to visit Puerto Angel with me? huh huh huh? come on, I triple dog dare you....

Burn Baby Burn....

Burning Man tickets go on sale tomorrow 1pm our time!!!! Weeeeeee!!!!!