Rediscovering the Joy of Reading

A short diversion from the life of a Spanish student in Guatemala...

While I've been away, one of the hidden pleasures has been the opportunity to read books. That's not to say that I don't read at home, I just don't really give myself the opportunity to read very much or very quickly. That's because my books all sit in wait (usually 8 at a time) on my bedside table. The only time I would usually get around to reading was after I'd crawled into bed for the night. Not a very good plan, if you want to read, or remember, or enjoy.

So, I have learned to love to read again. To pick up a book when it doesn't

involve 10:30 pm and a cozy bed. To read in the middle of the day, because I have the time and gobs of books yet to disover. To devour books. Fiction. Non-fiction. Poetry. Biographies. Read them. Devour them! Dream about them. Go to bed late and then wake up early in the throes of someone's life or imagination.

Here are a few of my favorites from this journey...

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman

This is one of my favorite books I've ever picked up, and hardly was able to set it down before it was complete. It's a poignant tale of cultural misunderstanding, all revolving around a sick, young Hmong girl living in California. I can not recommend this one highly enough. Should be required reading for all medical professionals everywhere, and for those traveling to non-Western countries.

May You be the Mother of a Hundred Sons, by Elizabeth Bumiller

The author is a former New York Times columnist who moved to India with her husband, and ended up becoming entranced by the lives of women in India. Bumiller is an amazing storyteller, and her portrayal of Indian women is spot-on, and gripping.

Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder
Am I the last person in the world to read this book? It's the history of philosophy as told to a 14-year-old Norwegian girl. Her "teacher" starts by teasing her with questions about who she is and what is the meaning of life. Then he begins with the Sophists and moves through the history of philosophy to modern times with ease and clarity. Reading this felt like I had taken a 10-week Philosophy 101 course as given to a high-school student. I was exhausted, enlightened and delighted that someone had put all this wonderful information in such an easy to swallow package!

The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy

A tale of childhood lost by one of India's most popular authors, this story took a while to reel me in, but once it did I was lost in her imagination and story. Though it is a bit dark and depressing, it's certainly compelling nonetheless. (It is, afterall, still making my

favorites list!)

Daughter of the Killing Fields, by Theary Seng
This is the first hand account of a Cambodian woman who had lost both of her parents to the Khmer Rouge by the time she was seven years old. She survives, but not without a novel to write about the atrocities of the Pol Pot era. A really truly inspiring tale about survival, and a good dose of recent Cambodian history to boot.

The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls
What was the last non-fiction book you read that gripped you like a Dan Brown novel? The Glass Castle was it for me. It's the story of a slightly dysfuctional, poor, nomadic family as told by one of the children. It's the story of a girl who wants to believe that her alcoholic father can perform miracles, and that her mother can do no wrong. She dumpster dives, flees from angry landlords and ultimately winds up living on Park Avenue in NYC. It would even be a great novel, but indeed it's a true story.

Annapurna Circuit, by Andrew Stephenson
This one scores brownie points for me, since I read it during my own personal trek through the same paths and through the same small villages that he recounts here. Stephenson has the luxury of taking his time doing the trek, and meandering into some life-changing situations. If you have ever dreamed of trekking in Nepal, this book will inspire you to make it happen!

Currently on my nightstand is A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris, alongside my Second Year Spanish Study Guide and 600 flash cards. Whee! I'm going back to read some more now....

Loving Life

Welcome to Guatemala! I just need to start by saying how happy I am to be in a country where I speak the language! I didn´t realize until now how liberating it is to be able to communicate with local people in their native tongue. I´ve been studying Spanish for about 40 hours per week for the past two weeks (4 hours in class, 4 hours studying) and I´m starting to get the hang of it. All that college knowledge is apparently stored somewhere in my cob-webby brain. I still have a long way to go, but two more months of practice should help!






Since I finally have access to my photos (thank you CD burner man!) I wanted to share images of the last month of my life... Above, those are Lidia´s hands. Lidia is an amazing Mayan woman that I met in the local market here. I visited her house, met her family, and have spent many hours sitting in the market just talking to her. When I´m done officially studying Spanish I will live with her for a week or so and she´s promised to teach me vegetarian Mayan cooking and weaving, like she´s demonstrating for me there. She is amazing, and I´m looking forward to the experience very much!

This is San Jose El Viejo, my Spanish school. You can´t see my classroom, but it´s a sweet little two-person open air room with a table, two chairs and a white board. Oh, and a big, adorable golden lab named Tonka. My teacher is fantastic, and her name is Aura but you say it something like oudda.

These are the adorable faces of enthuastic Guatemala kids. They live in the hills above Antigua, and I have a dozen other equally cute photos like this of them smiling, laughing and clamoring towards my camera. I fell in love a thousand times that day...

This was my house for four days while I stayed at Earth Lodge. It was SO fantastic to sleep in a tent overlooking THAT. I mean, check that out. Oh, and it didn´t hurt that they put a futon matress inside and about 6 nice warm blankets. And when I woke up one of the volcanoes was spewing ash into the air. It was delightful and I´m sure I will go back to stay in ¨my room¨ again soon!

This is what a typical Guatemalan family looks like. The mother was probably around 20 years old and she had three kids with her. This is how they dress every day. It is so beautiful, and I´m constantly in awe at all of the color and the tight family bonds in this country.

One of the really fantastic things about traveling is that you get to meet amazing people from all over the world. People who have also chosen to spend their time, energy and money exploring another country. At left are two of my favorites, Christine and Renee from the good ol´ USA.


I mentioned in my last blog post that I made a quick stop in the States before heading to Central America. Pictured above is my ¨New England¨ family: (l to r) Fran, Heather, Chris, me, Steve, Beth, and Lorrie. I didn´t want them to feel left out by not making my blog!

Then I stopped in Los Angeles for a very full 36 hours. I stayed with Meredith & Lou, two of the nicest people that you could ever know. I met Meredith, an LA-based garden writer, during a media tour about five years ago. We´ve stayed in contact, and it´s fair to say that we´ve changed each other´s lives for the better.

About six months ago when I was thinking of going to Cambodia, Meredith introduced me electronically to her friend Jennifer who was volunteering with a non-profit there. As fate would have it, I got involved and spent time in Cambodia helping to execute all of her efforts remotely. In LA, she prepared a proper ¨high tea¨for us, and here it is, well spent. I should´ve taken the photo before we devoured it all! Jennifer also invited a friend of hers to visit, Julie, who is a survivor of the Cambodia genocide. At the age of 19 she ws thrown into a pile of dead bodies because she was too weak to walk. She survived, and thrived. And now lives in LA and is getting her PhD, while working as a motivational speaker. It was an amazing afternoon, to say the least.

And finally, here´s Debra. Debra is a good friend from Seattle who´s now living in the LA area. We met for a lovely sushi dinner (the one food that I was really missing!) and talked about life and love and work and everything else. Thank you Debra!

And now, I am getting ready to go to Costa Rica to do some scouting for a turtle trip next year, and when I return to Guatemala who knows! It´s hard to believe that Guatemala will be my last country before I return to the states. But I´m not ready to say goodbye quite yet. My heart is still dancing...and the avocadoes are still ripe!

With love,

Pam

Volcanos, Eathquakes & Avocados - Welcome to Guatemala!

The other morning, I woke up to a loud boom. It wasn't quite a crashing boom, but more of a deep rumbling boom. Perhaps like a bomb might sound. As I was staying in the remote hills of Guatemala, I was pretty sure it wasn't that, so I peeked out of my tent and before my eyes was the source - a huge cloud of black ash from Volcan Fuego spiraling into the bright blue sky. I have to admit, it was beautiful and a smile transformed my face. Me in my lonely tent, on this beautiful slice of heaven in the hills above Antigua, watching nature show Her power. About an hour later during breakfast, I noticed that I had grit all over my body. Then, I saw it...the white and black dust falling from the clear sky. Volcanic ash in my fruit salad. Again, a smile!

About an hour after that, while talking to some new friends around a picnic table we all stopped and looked at each other. "Are you shaking your foot?" "No, are you?" "What is that?" It was an earthquake! A 6.1 magnitude quake (or so my mom tells me) centered not too far from where I was. Amazingly from our mountain perch it was not so dramatic, but again a sign from Mother Nature that she is The Boss. And again, a smile. It's not surprising the the ancient Maya worshipped nature as their God.

Guatemala is beautiful. It's simple and slow like Nepal and Laos, but with a strong Mayan culture backdrop. It's exactly like I remember it, which is exactly why I am back. After a visit over 15 years ago, I swore that I would return in my life and study Spanish. I knew that my time then was too short, and this country deserved a deeper exploration. And, what better excuse is there to do something you've always wanted to do (learn Spanish) in one of your favorite countries?

Back to the volcano: One of my first outings here was to hike the local active volcano. I'm pretty sure this kind of activity would not be encouraged in the states, but I took the bait. I hiked with a group of ten other tourists to the top of Volcán Pacaya (there are about 10 active volcanoes in Guatemala). It was a slow haul up a steep slope, through a dense tropical forest. Close to the top, and now embarking up an even steeper slope through loose volcanic ash (imagine running uphill in loose sand) we arrived at rough, sharp volcanic rocks. In the distance I could see red hot lava slowly making it's way down the mountain. And surrounding the lava? What else but marshmallow roasting tourists! While I thought it was an interesting lunch, I wasn't tempted enough to try it for myself. After a quick visit to within five feet of the flowing cauldron, I decided that my luck had served me and it was time to remove myself from the precarious situation. Climbing back over the same really sharp (and loose!) rocks, I broke out my camera just in time to hear the marshmallow-roasting tourists screaming and trying to run over the very dangerous terrain. I managed to snap one photo before beginning the quick exit myself. The earth had "burped", and sent a huge volume of lava over the top of the cauldron. While I did find humor in it, it was a reminder that sometimes laws are a good thing, since the laws of nature don´t read laws. By the way, the only injuries to the masses were simple flesh wounds.

Back in Antigua, my Spanish school, a recommendation of Marjie is fantastic. I have of class each day with a teacher who speaks exclusively Spanish, and study about four more hours. Since I haven't had any formal instruction in 17 years, my learning curve is about as steep as that volcano. It's one-on-one instruction and we've covered as much in three days as I learned in a year of high school instruction. My teacher Aura is good! And I am working hard to keep up with the lessons, but enjoying every second of it. I will continue to study here for at least another week, but up to four weeks total if I'm still having fun.

Fun for me includes exploring the food, which right now in Guatemala means eating lots of delicous, fresh, juicy mangoes (my favorite!) and perfectly ripe avocados just falling from the trees. I usually am able to incorporate at least one during every meal. Today for lunch it was a spinach salad with mangoes, strawberries, avocado and thin strips of toasted tortillas. Yum!

I am excited to learn more about the Mayan customs, culture and calendar while here in the heart of Mayan country. This is from the Lonely Planet:

"The ancient Maya's astronomical observations and calculations were uncannily accurate. They could pinpoint eclipses, and their Venus cycle erred by only two hours for periods covering 500 years. Time was in fact the basis of the Mayan religion. They believed the current world to be just one of a succession of worlds, each destined to end in cataclysm and be succeeded by another."

Interestingly, their current calendar ends in 2012. I hope to find out more in June when I spend the solstice at a month-long course in Mayan shamanistic studies on the beautiful shores of Lake Atitlan. The sun, the moon and the stars were all critical to their beliefs, so I will look to them for divine guidance!

Is it coincidence that my brand new memory card is not being read by my memory card reader?Yes, I know who´s the boss. Unfortunately, no photos for this post so your imagination will have to do.

Next week I will go to Costa Rica to spend a quick week with Joanie researching and planning for Parsons GoodWorks upcoming fundraising for the turtles. (Send me an email if you would like to be kept on the list to receive more information.)

Besos,

Pam