Ghosts

Yes, that's right. Tomorrow night at 9:30 PM I plan to take a ghost tour of the city, seeing the spots where people were murdered, etc.

Today I gave up my car because I felt it was too dangerous to dry and drive it here in Edinburgh. This is a bigger city. And parking in the city is hard to find. So I took a bus (not a double decker this toime, though I saw several) from Dundee to Edinburgh, where I am now. Saw some more highland cows on the way. This hotel is old but has wifi so I can do this and use MSN and email.

Supper tonight was a big piece of deep fried fish (haddock) and I have lots of cold drinks (water, coke, OJ). I also have a few Guatemalan cookies left, and a couple more tht the hotel provides. Come to think of it, I feel a craving for something sweet and a drink....

Sheep, Wildcats and Scottish Cows

Well, I ahve not actually seen a wildcat, they are almost extinct, but in pictures they look like house cats only bigger. Sheep are everywhere, as are shrubs with yellow flowers called Broom and Gorse. I saw Stonehenge, and the old Roman baths at the city of Bath. I also saw a bit of London from a double decker bus tour - it was hard to stay awake after only 3 hours sleep on the plane. I even saw a double decker school bus a few days ago, but it is from a private academy they tell me.

I've been in Scotland since Saturday night a week ago, and looking for traces of my ancesters. It was pretty cold here, but had not rained except for two days when I was in Aberdeen camping. I visited a Cub group in Fyvie, a Scout group in Banff, and then a Scout group in Fyvie. Yesterday we drove to the coast and walked over a bunch of sand dunes to see the lighthouse that my great grandfather built. It was really nice there. Today was sunny and warmer, with snow-capped mountains in the background, and driving along a large lake and also a river. Tomorrow I take a ferry to an island, a bus tour to the other end, and then a short ferry ride to a place called Iona built in the year 800 by St. Columbus (NOT Christopher Columbus!) I'll be back here at suppertime, and then driving back to the eastern side of the country to continue my explorations for about 5 more days. And that's the truth!

More Market Pics

Sacalu on Market Day

This is a traditional market in a small town near Xela.

Wendy´s?

I don´t know if there is a connection but I ate at Wendy´s before I got sick. And now my teacher is sick after eating there (not as bad as me but still not great). Are those fast food places as safe as we think?

Pictures

The kids in my host family - only the baby I´m holding lives in our house, the rest are cousins. At least two are missing. The oldest is Juan Carlos (7 years, will be 8 the end of June)

A Few Pictures of Cubs & Scouts

Members of Grupo Cuadro en Xela al parque Simon Bolivar en Zona Una

Signs are optional!

Stop signs, one way signs, speed limits - who cares what the signs say! But the speed bumps, now those you take seriously if you want to survive!

You also want to keep a head´s up for cars coming behind and in front of you, and for the dog poop that is everywhere! And when walking at night on the sidewalk in sandals, watch out for the missing pieces of cement and stone. Last night I stubbed my toe at a corner on a piece of pipe sticking up out of the sidewalk near a corner - it was probably a sign once. And remember, some of the sidewalks are no more than one foot wide!

What I See Here

Hiking and camping on Volcan Pacaya - you can walk right up to the hot lava! But for an old guy like me is wasn´t easy even with Fernando (on the right) carrying mi machilo.

Pictures at Last

Tap Water Is Not for Drinking!

At least not for us gringos (white foreigners)who are used to everything being so super-clean. The tap water can do nasty things to you - just ask me! So for everything from brushing your teeth to washing your fruit to drinking, make sure "agua pura" (bottled water) is used. In Canada, most of the tap water is better than the bottled waterf you buy, because there are so many government rules and inspections for it, but bottled water is not supervised or controlled much. AND those plastic bottles it and other drinks come in may turn out to be not good for us at all. So in Canada, drink tap water. But here, you have to be "tonto" (silly, foolish) to do it.

The Paper Goes Where?

Yep, just ask anyone who has been in this part of the world. When you wipe, you do NOT put the paper in the toilet! The reason is that most of the pipes are very old, and made of short pieced of clay pipe with many joints. If you put paper in, it catches on the joints and clogs the pipe. So there is a reason why every bathroom has a waste basket right becide the toilet! Just hope they empty it every day! Up here high in the mountains it is not that hot for long in a day and there are not many flies or other bugs, so it isn´t so bad as it sounds. You soon get used to it, just like you get used to not brushing your teeth with tap water. Right?

Puke Fountain!

Yep, that´s a big part of my diet now, mixed half and half with water according to doctor´s instructions! Appaarently I was very dehydrated. They think I had an amoeba, a parasite, and Typhoid Fever. I spent two nights in hospital after being really sick. I spent one night in the bathroom puking and crapping at the same time - a difficult feat and not much fun! My first blast of puke covered a good part of the bathroom, including some of the shower and some of my clothes! But I´m getting better now.

Again I have no new pics cause I forgot the card adaptor for my camera at the house. Maybe tomorrow, now that I feel better. Mi estomago (stomach) is better, and I´m ready to check out the senoritas!

I hope to meet more Cubs and Scouts on Saturday because most of the groups meet Saturday afternoon around 3 PM and I now know where three of them meet.

I have to keep my bedroom door shut when I´m not there because there are a couple of cats who come in looking for food. I don´t share!

Time for a quick stop at Xelapan (a great bakery with several locations in town) and then home for some rest and some studying maybe. Supper is about 8PM so I have lots of time. But first, Facebook! Hasta lluego.

Hey, I Like the Food!

OK, I moved to a different family and house. So no dog now (a cat visits sometiems over the roof). I don´t have to wind my way through the clothes on the line, try to miss the dog caca, the dog toy, the empty washtub, the iron rods sticking out of the floor, or the slanting pole that held up the clothes lines that criss-crossed the whole patio! Now I have a big patio with a roof and a light to myself, a private bathroom with a good shower, and a room with a steel door and a lock. Luckily it has a small glass window, because the lock was not working, and the string I had to use to get it open broke Sunday night. In the end they had to break the glass to get into the room. The lock is fixed now! But not the broken glass yet.

This family are great: a young couple who treat me wonderfully and she feeds me excellent food. For breakfast so far I´ve had chololate rice crispies, pancakes (twice) and this morning french toast. I´ve been to a birthday party they had for their five year old nephew, and I can use their TV and living room anyt time I want - I can also use their computer but they have no internet. I can burn CD´s or DVD´s and put pics on my memory sticks, which I hope to do real soon. Sorry, no pics today cause I don´t heve my card adaptor with me.

School is great cause I have a great teacher - and cause I study more than some students he likes me. Its fun to learn another language, though sometimes its very hard, but my teacher is very patient. I am his only student so I get lots of attention. Today after break we all played a guessing game, where someone put the name of a well known character on your back and we had to ask questions - we got 5 questions each round but I never did guess that I was Garfield!

Just before the end of our time at the hot springs I got talking to one boy about 10, and then his older brother, and then about 3 more sisters and brothers. So I gave them some flags and tatoos and a badge, and they let me take their pic, then they called me back to take a pic of them and some more family members who were there. So that was fun even though I could not understand much of what they said. I gave their mother my card - they were suyper friendly after the older boy found out I am a Scout leader cause he is a Scout too. They live in the capital - I know you know its name!

Tomorrow I meet another student at the park for a visit - he is not st our school but he´s been thgere twice now. Thursday, there´s no school in the morning, but I start at 2 PM (a las dos), and at 5 or so we walk downtown to see a parade of children (something to do with Easter). Friday is a holiday too, so only one day of classes left this week, and only one more week of study probably. I might go to a lagood called Chikabel with soem friend here. I´m working ahrd but also ahv ing fun meeting people and learning lots of things. Hope you have a great Easer holiday!

Lost again!

How could I get lost when I had the address, phone number, and a map? Well, the map sucks, nobody was answering the phone, and there are more dead ends and cresents around this area than you 'd ever believe. Plus, half the streets are not marked with their names!

We got to Xela on Sunday evening and went touring Monday. My daughter and boyfriend left Teusday morning at 7AM. So I had my first day of Spanish lessons yesterday, and in the afternoon I set out walking to another aprt of the city where I used to go to see the Cubs and Scouts. I found the place, left a note, and had a cold root beer at a brand new Wendy`s (the music was rather loud). I forgot my camera today so I can`t send pics, but maybe tomorrow.

I had fun visiting with a boy about 9 or 10 years old at the hot springs on Monday and have some video of him. And Sunday at the nature reserve by Panajachel, a boy about 2 years old came and chatted to me, climbed up on the couch beside me, and later climbed up on my knee. Most of what he was saying I could not understand but he called me "papa" until his real Dad showed up! But at least I can talk to people a little bit now.

Monday we also went to a place where they blow glass into all sorts of things: glasses, bowls, light covers, etc. It was real interesting. And we saw lots of fields of vegetables in the mountains and in a village close to here.

There is a dog at the house where I stay, but I don`t know his name yet He is not too big, has kind of long hair, is grey, and I call him "mi amigo el perro". There are lots of stray dogs here, some of them sick and with leg injuries, probably hit by cars.

Today I go back to the school at 3:30 for a talk on Maya culture and religion. Supper happens around 7 PM here. Before then I have to find the laundry place again and get the clothes I left there this morning when my teacher led me there. It costs Q16 for one load washed, dried and folded (about 9 pounds). And Q5 is almost $1 Canadian.

Now it is 2:30 so I'd best get moving. ¡Hasta luego!

Did you see that rock?

I´ll send pics later, but a rock the size of a football came through the windshield of our van and covered us with pieces of glass! Some people climb mountains for excitement, and some of us just drive through them in Gutemala! We saw enough hair pin bends and steep cliffs yesterday to keep us awake for a while. But it is fantastic scenery, and Lago Atitlan was impressive, with a mist always in the air over it. We stayed with a Mayan family on the cliff overlooking the lake. Also there (besides the Mom and Dad) were grandma and grandpa, and a brother, and three nephews, and a little girl called Ingred. The smallest boy was called Otto, but I didn´t get the names of the other two (Ihope to back there on Saturday. But this afternoon we drive part way up an active volcano, and then hike two hours to the top. Tonight we sleep up there somewhere in tents. Want to come?

Having a ball!

¡Hola! Did you ever sleep in an airport, on those benches with metal arms between every seat? I have, in Dallas, Texas! And I almost didn´t get back on the plane in Mexico City because I didn´t go through customs (How was I supposed to know you have to go and look for them?) But here I am in Guatemala City right on schedule - almost. Actually we were supposed to leave here this morning by shuttle (no, not the space shuttle, just a semi-private van). But somebody in Saskatchewan (or was it Alberta?) ordered a snow storm for Saskatoon yesterday morning, so my daughter and her boyfriend (Rachelle and Vitaliy) were late getting to Denver and missed their connection to Dallas and beyond. So I´m here all alone and they are supposed to get here tonight.

But its OK. I´ve met two very nice (and young) women from Canada (unfortunately one left after meeting me and the other has her partner here!) I walked back to the same zoo I was at three years ago (it takes about 45 minutes from here each way). I wanted to go to the museum or the children´s museum, but it turns out you need exact change and I didn´t have that. But I found a great craft market to shop at and look around - that took a while and cost me some money. I bought a bottle fo cold water and a hat - and OK a few other things too! And

Hope you´re having fun cause I am - its great to meet new people and to see new things - and some of the food is OK too! ¡Hasta luego!

Ice and snow in Saskatchewan? Who cares!

In two days I'll have checked out of Esterhazy, and four days from now I'll be in Dallas, Texas, and the next night we'll be sleeping in Guatemala City at Hermano Pedro. There the temperature will be about 15°C. And that's just the beginning of a great adventure - wish I could take you all with me. I hope you will join me by checking this spot at least once a week, and I'll try to make it entertaining and exciting! For those of you who sign up as "Followers" and post a word or two each week, there'll be incredible prizes: post cards, book marks, balloons, coins, stamps, who knows what fabulous things I might find! So tell all your friends and watch closely for secret clues to treasures. You might even impress your teacher with what you know about things like how to drink juice from a plastic bag and how many Scouts it takes to pitch a tent! And yes, there will be pictures!

Want to know more? Check out my main blog at travelblog.org/Bloggers/Fryor-Duck

OK, it's now only 2 1/2 weeks till "Go"! And my daughter and boyfriend are 2/3 of the way to Edmonton right about now, because Vitaliy had to have an interview on Thursday morning at the American consulate in Vancouver. That's because he travels with a Ukrainian passport rather than a Canadian one, though he is a permanent resident of Canada now. It didn't occur to any of us until yesterday that he will have to go through customs in the USA, and it turns out he will need an American tourist visa to do that. He got a Guatemalan visa about a week ago after ahving to mail his passport and other papers to their embassy in Ottawa. Anyway, Rachelle and Vitaliy catch a plane from Edmonton to Vancouver about 7AM Wendesday and will stay overnight with my cousin in North Vancouver. He has a 9:30 AM appointment with the colsulate (the onlly appointment time available between now and when we fly), and they catch a 5PM plane back to Edmonton the same day, driving back to Saskatoon in time for him to go back to work on Friday morning!

Otherwise, all is as planned, and I put my first garment in my suitcase tonight!

Four Weeks & Counting!

Wow! After over a year of planning, it is now just four weeks until I leave on a three month sabbatical. And I will begin with a return trip to Guatemala of about five weeks. The first week I (with my daughter Rachelle and her boyfriend) will spend doing some exploration of areas west of Guatemala City that I did not really see before. We'll spend some time at Panajachel and Lake Atitlan, including a nature reserve with all sorts of wildlife and several zip lines at the treetops. Next will come a morning at the well-known market at Chichitenango (ChiChi for short). While there we'll be staying in a Mayan home. Then we'll be doing a guided hike up an active volcano and staying there overnight. After that we'll travel back to Xela, where I studied before, take a one day tour out of the city to a hot springs and some other area places of interest (possibly a glass blowing factory, a coffee plantation, the shrine of Saint Simon, and a market.) After a day in Xela (also known as Quetzaltenango) the kids will head home and I will study Spanish for three weeks at La Paz, one of the many local schools. That may include some volunteer time at an orphanage. And I hope to travel to one or more villages with a Presbyterian medical worker. Time spent with Cubs and Scouts is a given of course.

Following my time there, I will head back to Canada, but stop in Toronto for a couple of days, and then fly to London (England), and after a couple of days touring the city and some nearby historic sites like stonehenge, I'll visit my father's ancestral home in north-east Scotland. I'll be camping in Aberdeen and Turriff, meeting a Cub Pack and Cub/Scout leaders at Fyvie (and hearing some good Scottish music), visiting a number of villages my people used to live in, hopefully getting to the famous abbey at Iona for a couple of days, visiting the Scottish Crop Research Institute at Dundee, and making my way back toward London with stops at Hadrian's Wall and at Lindisfarne (another famous abbey).

The last month of my leave will be spent mostly at my farm, with time away for Cub Camp at Moose Jaw and probably our annual meeting at North Battleford. I hope to do some gardening and reading.