Karen is on the Radio

So, Karen calls us this evening to let us know that she is on the radio up in Chicago, so I immediately tune into WMBI. Then I IM her and say we are listening to Roger Basick. Then she says "NO Mom! I'm on Moody Campus Radio". I tried to get the MCR on my computer but it wasn't working. So, Gary was able to connect to MCR. And Dad downstairs. So, they start interviewing Karen. She is a natural. She has lots of wit and great remarks. During some of the songs, Gary was IMing Karen and carrying on a conversation. Amazing.

Mike is the owner of the Cross Roads Cafe in Panajachel. We've been able to buy some speciality coffee from him, where the coffee has grown in the lake region and other coffee is havested up in Huehuetenango.

Coffee Anyone ?
This bottle represents the different stages the coffee goes through once the coffee beans are harvested, shelled, picked through, roasted, and then finally grounded. Interesting!

Judy
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More Photos of Casa Del Mundo

BREAKFAST at CASA DEL MUNDO
We decided to take a boat over to the hotel Casa del Mundo. This is the only way to get to the hotel. What a beautiful view. The hotel is literally built on the side of the cliff.



The view was breathtaking. We had to watch our step. The flowers and vegetation was just gorgeous. The resort had several hammocks hung up along the hillside. Each of the rooms were decorated in typical Guatemalan bright colors and strong wooden furniture.

NOT HARD ROCK CAFE
but PANA ROCK
(short for Panajachel, Guatemala)

Walking down Santander Ave, you can see all kinds of restaurants to eat at. I thought it was very interesting that we came across something very simular to HardRock Cafes that are world wide.

We did stop at a restaurant and had "Guacamole dip" and chips. I had pepper steak and the kids had pizza. Not like your deep dish pizza, however it reminded them of the pizza in Samaipata, Bolivia at Chancho Rango Restaurant.


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THE MUG SHOT



Gary decided to let his beard grow out during Christmas vacation. He enjoyed not having to shave. Here's a shot just before he shaved.

Gary remembers how Uncle Steve use to let his beard grow during Christmas break and then on New Years Eve, he would let his neice and nephews shave him. Gary definately does not have as much hair as Uncle Steve did.

Fireworks Show at our Front door

Just before midnight on Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the city exploded in spectacular display of fireworks. I would venture to say most everyone was outside lighting the matches for the firecrackers and bombs. It actually felt like you were in the middle of a war zone. At the stroke of 12 midnight, the skies carried brilliant colors of fireworks.

Judy
judy.stewart@scbbs-bo.com

Scenes in Panajachel

In the small village of Panajachel, situated on the banks of the famous Lake Atitlan, there are several modes of transportation. Our most favorite one is taking a 10q (equavalent to just over 1.00 US dollar) ride on the Tuk Tuk. These remind me so much of Thailand. But it is a cheap and fast way to get around town. Or you can walk.

We see ladies walking through the street with their "goods" on top of their head. And sometimes, they have a child strapped to their back. How do they do that? These ladies as they walk, yell out in English, "madame, I give you a good price! Buy from me". They're selling their colorful blankets and goods to the many tourists that walk up and down Santander Blvd.

What is Gary thinking about?


Scene of Panajachel

One afternoon, we took a nice walk up through the small village of Panjachel. We stopped in at the CrossRoads Cafe, then continued up the street to the Catholic Church. In the court yard was a decorated Christmas Tree. We sat there for a while and soak in the sun and watch traffic and people walk by us. I remember the time we were in Cuzco, Peru and we played a game as a family where each family member would describe the person that was walking by us (example, "oh, the man with the brief case is late for his 3pm appointment with his lawyer where he'll file for personal bankruptcy" or "see the little girl, she is lost and looking for her mother".

CROSSROADS CAFE

While in Pana, we walked up several blocks to a Christian coffee house. Mike, the owner, opened the shop about 6 years ago. He buys his own coffee, shells, roast and grinds the coffee himself. He does buy from other countries too. I thought that was unusually, since they grow so much coffee here in Guatemala.

I like the little coffee shop, because it has flags hanging from the ceiling. While we were there, several Europeans dropped by for some coffee. I wished I loved coffee more to appreciate this place.
I walked outside and watched Mike has he was "culling" through the coffee beans. The day before, we walked by and we could smell the coffee roasting. Nice!

Glenn treated us to some coffee and cheese cake. The coffee was quite strong. Besides owning the coffee shop, Mike does "fireworks" show. He will be doing one on New Years Eve at the small village up the road from Panajachel here on the lake. While we were in Panajachel, Mike gave us a "Preshow" of his works, just down the street from LBN where we were staying. There were some loud fire crackers and some real sparkling ones too.

THROWING CANDY TO THE KIDS

We learned that up on CA-1 hiway after Tepan and before you get to Solala, that Guatemalan kids would sit along the side of the road and wave to vehicles, cars and buses that drove by in hopes that folks would throw out candy to the children. We learned of this tradition and bought 2 SAM size bages of hard candy. It was fun to watch the kids in the rear view mirror run along the shoulder of the road and pick up the candy.

One time, I didn't cage our speed correctly, and I hit a young teenager in the face with hard candy. Many times, the candy would roll off onto the revine and end up in the grassy area. I can just imagine the kids rushing through the brush looking for the hard candy.

Driving to Panajachel, we had to stop for road construction just for a few minutes. The kids came running up to our window and we were able to give them the candy.

3 Days in Panajachel (Lake Atitlan)

Wednesday, we drove 3 hours up and over and down to Panajachel. We rented 1 of the 4 CAM houses on the LBN property (Las Buenas Nuevas). It is so peaceful here. We played "Mexican train" one night, Scattagories and also Farkel. I started a cross stitch project that I'm nearly finished with. Glenn and Karen were reading books. It was so relaxing up there. Glenn made "Pirates eyes" one morning. I had made the traditional coffee cake and brought that up to the lake with us for breakfast too.

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judy.stewart@scbbs-bo.com

Relief Map

I found this quote from TRIP TRAVEL ADVISOR....enjoy
"This outstanding map is the only one of it's kind in the world. Little is said about the engineer who did the majority of it's construction until now 100 years later. Engineer Don Claudio Urrutia who was born in 1857, was ask to build this map after setting the boundries and drawing the first official map and it's boundries of Guatemala. He left behind many documents that substantuate his claim. His daughter Neka McDonald , now nintyone years old is now bringing to life theses claims, so that her father will one day soon recieve the honors and recognition he has been intitled to for the last 100 years. On the 29th of October 0f this year there will be a dedication and ceremony in honor of this man and the others involved in the construction of this monumental effort. I am his very proud grandaughter."

Guatemalan Relief Map

Make your way to the Guatemala Relief Map in Minerva Park Zone 10. After going to the artistian market, we headed out in the direction of the Relife Map.

We kinda felt like we were on Amazing Race, as we "felt" our way across town, in wall to wall traffic. It started to rain, but 30 minutes later we arrived at the Relief Map.

This map is way too cool. It shows all the mountains, volcanoes rivers and lakes.

Shady Parque Minerva features a 1:1000 scale relief map of Guatemala; a unique engineering masterpiece created in 1904 by Francisco Vela.The 2,000sq m/21,500sq ft map shows Guatemala's topography in detail complete with rivers, lakes and oceans and is viewed from platforms located on each side.Nearby is a small forest of hormigo trees, the wood of which is used to make marimbas (Central American xylophones). These trees were planted to commemorate of the marimba tradition in Guatemala.

Karen visits Guatemala

We went to the local artistian market to give Karen an idea of "stuff" you can buy for gifts here. We also Karen some different landmarks of the city. How about a little Eifel Tower, that you can drive under! Did you know Guatemala City had an Eifel Tower?

Tuesday, December 19

Karen arrived on Thursday. Her luggage arrived on Saturday. Karen slept most of Friday and Saturday. She's enjoying sitting out on the upstairs patio and "soaking" in the sun. She's also enjoying time with her brother. Yesterday, we adventured out to Mira Flores mall to eat lunch and possibly take in a movie. Nothing showing we wanted to see. 5 days and counting and Ellen will arrive.

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee

A friend sent me this today. I have seen it before in a little different format, but thought it was worth posting.

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes." The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now" said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things -- your God, family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions -- things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else -- the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, he continued, there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first -- the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

Judy
email judy.stewart@scbbs-bo.com

MAYAN CULTURE

The following is an excerpt from co-missionary friend, Maria. We were at the same Ladies Retreat and I've received permission to include the following notes.

While I attended the Women's Retreat in Antigua recently, there were several ladies there doing their weaving, which, of course, we had the opportunity to buy! This is just one picture of several that I took showing the involved work of weaving cloth. The majority of the textiles you see from here are hand-woven and hand-stitched. It is amazing the work that is put into these "works of art"! But the old ways are beginning to die out.
The newer generations are not being taught to do the weaving and stitching. They are also losing the Mayan languages, since the children are taught Spanish in school. I have talked to several young ladies in their late teens and early twenties who cannot speak the "old " languages of their families, even though their parents speak it, Spanish is used in the homes.

CRAZY HAIR day at CAG

Ok, several weeks ago, they had a "crazy hair" day at Gary's school. Gary wanted some video game symbol (Gary says its "Quake", whatever that means!) shave into his head. We agreed that since it was just for 1 day, then the following day, Dad would get a #1 to Gary's scalp. CAG has rules about haircode, so we wanted to make sure Gary was back in code. Gary had quite a unique style, don't you think? The next day, Gary's hair was VERY, VERY short.

THANKSGIVING DAY IN GUATEMALA

Although it is not a national holiday here in Guatemala, the American community took the day off. The CAM family gathered together for a delicious meal with 50+ other folks at the Lohrenz home. Some ladies prepared the turkey and dressing, and everyone else brought the rest of the food. I made my corn casserole (that I got from CAM missionary, Cheryl Eberline 20+ years ago) and my carrot casserole. Glenn has renamed it to Harvest souffle. After eating a delicious meal, we all gathered in the back yard and had a time of reflection and thanksgiving.

The Glick family just arrived 5 days earlier, and several other families have returned in the last 2 weeks from furlough.

Gary took his X-box over to the Lohrenz house and set it upstairs in the den and entertained the mks. He was pretty cleaver. He started off playing 1 mk and said that the winner would play the next person. Obviously, Gary won each game, this way he was playing the whole afternoon. Pretty smart, don't you think.

Later in the afternoon, we were able to watch the Dallas Cowboy game. It was good to see them finally play a game and win controllably And as a Stewart tradition in recent years, we pulled out the video "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". We like this movie because Steve Martin is trying his hardest to get back in time for Thanksgiving day!

This year, Ellen is spending Thanksgiving in Nicaragua with her good friend Emily that flew down for the week. Karen is spending the weekend in 2 different homes in the Chicago area.

We are thankful for our family, good health, wonderful ministry here and the opportunity to serve and work with such a great group of CAMers.

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judy.stewart@scbbs-bo.com

More Shots from GBS Seminary

The month of October is Graduation Month in Guatemala. The school systems is on reverse cycle. School begins in January or February and ends in October. Thus, you will see stores selling graduation rings in September and October. The summer break is during November, December and January. Here is the former director, Wilfred Johnson.

Gary's school is on the American school system. School begins in August and ends in May. He does have Thanksgiving Holiday off this week ~ compared to most Guatemalans do not celebrate Thanksgiving in November.

GRADUATION PHOTOS AT GBS

Sunday afternoon, Glenn and I drove up to Chimaltenango to attend the Graduation of the Senior Class at GBS (Guatemala Bible Seminary). The whole gym was packed out. As usuall, there were empty seats at the beginning of the processional, but by the time the whole program got started, all the seats were filled.



My dear friend, Chris, a music professor, and a recent grad.

EMAIL judy.stewart@scbbs-bo.com