Norway: Getting There

 I departed from Minneapolis Airport on the 13th of June. I had spent the night in the Twin Cities with old family friends who though not my familial aunt and uncle have had that dubious title laid upon them. It should be clarified that Bryce and Sherrie, are not really old, just our family friendship.
My travels all really went very smooth, thanks in large part to people like Uncle Bryce and Aunt Sherrie who were so willing to open their home in hospitality and give me a ride to the airport. To all the rest who sent their prayers and well wishes, thank you. Your thoughts and prayers were felt.
The picture above was taken on my flight from Minneapolis to Philadelphia. Facing more than 12 more hours of travel time, I was wondering how long it would be before I fell victim. Some may question the etiquette of photographing people sleeping. To that I say, maybe they were just really getting into their singing.

I have trouble sleeping on planes. Part of it is in large part due to to the fact that flight still baffles me. Sitting at 32,000 feet in a huge can going 500 miles per hour is still amazing to me. Sure you start to take it for granted after a couple flights. I still like looking out the window and watching clouds, passing planes, changing landscapes, and the wing shutters when the plane hits turbulence, or those first and last couple seconds of flight when the ground quickly retreats and advances. 

 Arriving in Philadelphia I had my longest layover of my whole trip. Almost a full 4 hours. It was great, I had a chance to eat, charge my i-pod which was very dead, get coffee, and imagine my first transatlantic flight. I also stepped into a Duty Free store. If the scent doesn't leave you gasping for air, the prices on some things will. Sitting by my gate, I was able to view the vehicle that was facilitating the next very big leg of my trip. Thinking about where it would be taking me actually prompted me to pinch myself. That is not something I do regularly, but it seemed appropriate.

En Route across the Atlantic, British Airways does its best to keep you fed and entertained. So as I sat at 30,000 some odd feet above the ocean, I ate a full meal (curry veggies and rice, salad, bun, and pudding) and drank my red wine as I listened to Beethoven Piano sonatas. I felt quite posh. After dinner entertainment was Interstellar. That is a kind of trippy movie as is. Add a 5 hour jump ahead in time combined with a restless half-hearted attempt to sleep and your brain feels a little cheated. 

 A breakfast of tea and crumble cake helped to prepare for landing at Heathrow. Yeah, you should never get off a British Airways flight hungry. The surrounding accents also may make you subconsciously make in flight table etiquette a thing. I may have even lifted my pinky. Cheers!

 Arriving in Heathrow I was not really sure of the layout, nor what is normal procedure for those making connecting flights in London. Between reading signs and following the herd of connecting flight passengers from my flight I was able to figure it out. I  was a bit nervous since the airport seemed busy and I only had about an hour and half to get to my connection. I had to take an underground train to my terminal. Not really something I had done before. Then I had to take escalators up, up, and up again. Then came a point at which I almost turned into the UK border line before realizing where the "Connections" arrow was pointing, and that there was a BIG sign that said "UK BORDER" right ahead. That could have been awkward. Next I went through a winding line where a guy was talking to people in a variety of languages that matched the variety of people in line. He was making sure everyone had their liquids bagged properly. By the sound of it he was cracking jokes in a different language every five seconds. Meanwhile a lady stood by his side handing out plastic bags and smiling along with everyone. Some people are just good at what they do, and for the 5 minutes that I got to observe this guy it seemed like keeping passengers happy, while keeping liquids bagged, and the line moving was his life calling. Kudos to people like him. Next I got my passport and ticket checked. Then I got to go through British airport security. I found out too late I didn't have to take off my shoes. I set the detector off anyway and got the standard pat down/feel around. From there I got to my gate in a couple minutes and only had a couple more before boarding began for my last jump.

 The last flight was odd. I was most excited but also most exhausted and got at least a solid hour of sleep which really helped. I knew when I got on the flight that the lack of sleep was taking its toll after an embarrassing mix up. When I had got on the plane I had accidentally replaced my passport in its holder and had instinctively also replaced my ticket. Once on board I realized I needed my seat assignment, so I pulled my ticket out. I was to be seated in row 28. Going to the back of the plane I momentarily panicked when the last row showed 24. My momentary and exhausted brain leaped, "maybe I got on the wrong plane!!" Summoning a flight attendant, I inquired. After a brief glance he pointed to the to the destination and said, "you have the wrong boarding pass." Oh, that wonderful sense of relief/embarrassment/comprehension. Looking at the right boarding pass I quickly found my seat next to a lady from the States who worked for the government and was going to Norway for a fishing convention. The people you meet.

Upon arriving in Norway, I made it passed those people who ask questions from high chairs, while they shift their eyes from you, to their computer, to your passport, before they decisively stamp it and hand it back. As I excitedly walked I turned on my WiFi to check in with my cousin Christina. She was waiting right outside the door when I came out it took my tired brain a while to see her. Her waving and yelling my name probably helped. Hugging and talking we swung right into filling in the gaps since we had last seen each other; over 1 year's worth of gaps. I was able to meet another friend of her's who had flown in (coincidentally) from Minneapolis a couple hours before me. He (her friend) was there for a student learning program and had to leave quickly to catch his bus. Outside, Christina's dad Kjetil (Sh-et-til),and sister Eileen were waiting with the car. As Kjetil drove I sipped a generously given coffee while we discussed what the plans were, how my flight had been, and I simply listened to that other part of the conversation that happened in Norwegian. For all I know, they were discussing toe fungus. In my post travel, coffee induced euphoria, it sounded wonderful.  I had arrived.

On a Guatemalan Farm

 Day four started early.  As should any day that you will be spending on a farm.  Antonio, Michael, and I headed out early with Antonio's father who is the owner.  On our way to the farm we had to wait for some road construction.  Road construction down there is apparently more lengthy than here in the States, imagine that.

 On the farm.  It was different in many ways from the farms I am familiar with growing up in the Red River Valley.  But at least there was a familiar color of tractor.

 Our main mode of transportation during the tour of the farm was horseback.  A very agreeable method to me.  There is something about riding a horse and feeling its power that is both awesome and somewhat unnerving.

 This was my horse.  Now I am spacing on his proper Guatemalan name.  All I remember is that it meant Peru. I think it was Juerto or something like that.

 This was not owned by Mr. B.  But by a close relative.  It was a latex grove. The tree is tapped and the sap comes out. When it drys it is rubber.  It was amazing to grab pieces of stretchy rubber right off a tree.  Mr. B. also had latex trees, though not this far in their development.  He mainly raises cattle, sorghum, corn, and mangoes.

 These are some of the cattle.

 They have the best ears.  I think this is called a Brahman cow.

 Michael and I being awesome vaqueros.  Might I mention that it is slightly intimidating riding through a herd of cattle.  They all stare unashamedly at you, and every now and then you hear a low bellow that I am sure could be directly translated from cow to Spanish to English as, "tourists, uhhhhhhh."
The heat was reaching its zenith about this time of day, and despite sunscreen and hats for some of us, we ended up with some signs of the sun.

 Inside the farm house.  Simple, but comfortable.  After our long ride and lunch we took some siestas. The heat will really suck the energy out of you.  But an hour or two of sleep in the shade with some extra glasses of water seems to do the trick.

Growing fences, that is what they do.  Plant trees in a row, when they grow tall enough, chop off the top branches and plant them in the ground in between, where they grow into more trees.  The advantages of a 12 month growing season are splendid.

Case in point.

After our afternoon activities and inactivies, we took a short hike to a dam on the river that runs through the ranch.  Of course we had to have some fun, standing on the 8 inch slippery slimy concrete ledge between a 10 foot drop to rocks below or a giant pool of water.  There was also yet another amazing Guatemalan sunset with an evening thunderstorm to punctuate it.

Michael driving us off the ranch.  I tried, but my aptitude for a manual transmission rendered me unhealthy to the vehicle I was attempting to operate.

A Relaxing Second Half of the Third

  After everything that happened on the third day, we were ready to relax.  Quiera the B's pit bull was a playful way to do that. She likes to put stuff in her mouth.

This is in the B's home city of Retalhuleu.  We went into town after lunch and had a look around.

 At the city center was the city church which had some amazing design aspects.  The Spanish architecture is truly beautiful.   

 Oh, and by we I mean Michael, Antonio, and I.  And we decided to take a ride in a taxi.  It is interesting how it works.  Instead of charging by distance, they charge the same rate for anywhere in the city.  Taxis are rather small though.

 It is kind of exciting riding through the busy city on bumpy roads with the motor bikes, and cars, and people.

 Then we walked.  Thankfully the military patrol didn't follow us.  Not sure what they were doing.

 It was threatening to rain so we decided to step into a cafe for an afternoon snack.  It was a cafe in a hotel and we were in an open air porch of the courtyard where we could watch the rain that was falling churn the swimming pool into a froth.  Then a really close thunder bolt knocked out the power.  Given the onset of darkness with the thunderstorm, they had to start the generator to keep the lights going. Everything got loud.

Gallo (means rooster) is the national beer of Guatemala.  It tastes pretty good.  It usually comes with a glass with lemon juice that you pour your beer into.  It was interesting spending a week in which you could legally order a beer.  Made me feel old.

It was a rainy walk back to the car in the dark streets of Retalhuleu.  The day ended at the B's house with an amazing dinner and excellent (if sometimes broken) cross language conversations.

A Full Half Third Day

 Day three.   This is a day that I think shall always remain strong in my memory.  There are a couple reasons.  One, waking up in Guatemala can not really be registered as normal in my life experience...  yet.  The picture above is yet another unforgettable Guatemalan transport demonstration.  Kid maybe between 10 and 12 driving a four wheeler through town with a girl on the back.  The kid was wearing sun glasses and really I think he was trying hard to look cool.  Which he kind of did.   This we saw while driving to a local Mayan ruin.

 When we arrived at the park where the ruins were I thought this tree shadow was doing a good job of making the solid ground look more unique than usual.

 Here is one of the first ruins we saw upon our arrival.  A foundation of what they think must have been some sort of Mayan house.  These ruins are thought to vary in in age from 3000 BC to the Mayan collapse around the time of the Spanish invasions.  Next we went over to a small shelter with a table in it.  On the table was a diorama of the site we were at.  The guide was starting to show us where we would be going and what we would be seeing at each site.  He spoke in Spanish, so I was only getting part of what he said. Most through our hosts translation and a word or two on my own.
I suddenly noticed the a wobbling of the floor or ground of the building.  I thought the floor might be fake and the building was simply not built well.  Then the wobbling turned into shaking and I looked at the guide who had a fearful smile that had stopped him mid explanation.  Then we all looked at each other as we simultaneously noted the ground all around and under us start to shake.  This was followed by a deep rumble which seemed louder because of the grounds accompanying shake.  We all ran out of the shelter into the rain of falling leaves as the girls from the visiting school group added their dramatic screams. Then for about 10 to 15 seconds we just shook.  Then it slowed down and stopped and I wondered if the ground was still wobbly or if it was simply my weak knees. It was amazing.  At the time my brother and I had no idea how big it was.  We figured this was fairly common and we had just got a taste of a normal Guatemalan geologic event. After all we had already seen half a dozen volcanoes.  It was not till later that we realized how blessed we really were.   Thankfully, Lucrecia contacted our family right away to let them know we were okay.  This was a big blessing to our family.

Adaptability is normal in Guatemala and an earthquake happens and you go on with the tour.  So after that we went on to see some very interesting Mayan ruins.  Here is our guide explaining the carvings on this altar.  Most of the carvings were hard to see in real life, making pictures almost a hopeless cause.  I liked his pointer stick which consisted of a wooden stick with a feather tied to the end.

This is an example of an ancient Mayan drainage system.  This is how it was discovered. Talk about being built to last.  While there we got to see an area where they were uncovering a road.  What was interesting was that you could see that there had been structures built on top of it later.  This was a very clear example of multiple historical changes at one site.

Here is a little example of some of the damage caused by the earthquake.  These are the temporary shelters used by the archaeologists at the site while they are digging.  The shelter we were in when the earthquake started was of solider build.   Also note the leaves that shook off the trees during the earthquake.

This is an example of where the name Takalik Abaj comes from.  In the old Mayan language it translates to "standing stones", which are unique to this site.  This particular one was about 8 or 9 feet tall.  On the sides there were smooth indentations where the priests would sharpen their knives.  It was very interesting to run your hand along the smooth rock and think about all that had come before.

This is one of the many stone monuments at this site.  If you look closely you can see the body of a man with and arm holding a spear.  This was one of the more well defined carving we saw.

This is me and Michael standing on a partially uncovered pyramid. That is probably one of the most exciting things about this site.  They figure only about 40% of it has been uncovered.    While we were there, there were parts we could not go because they were in the midst of unearthing a Mayan king's tomb.  And they also would not allow us to take pictures of those parts.

Another standing stone.  This one is supposed to be a pregnant lady.

Another partially uncovered pyramid or maybe just a hillside terrace.  Either way, it is some very impressive stone work.

We were surrounded by jungle.  This is a path from one site to another.

We got to go a look at a collection of some artifacts they have found at the site.  This is a jade burial mask.  The white is not part of the mask, it simply represents how it would be placed on the face.

This is another stone altar with a standing stone on the dead side of one of the pyramids.  The pyramids had a side that represented life and the other side represented death.  There is a carving on this standing stone.  It is two men with a glythic panel between them.

Here is a big frog face.  Another symbol of death.

And a crocodile.  On the death side.

Again, this is amazing stone work.  This represents a lot of work.

Panorama of the pyramid.

When we got back to our hosts house there were a couple signs that there had been a shake up.  This is one of their big windows which had been broken.

My new Guatemalan canine friend, Quirea.  Hope I spelled that right.  She liked to playfully bite which ever limb was available.

Maria (pictured above) was the magician of the kitchen.  She made some of the tastiest food I have ever had.
That was the first half of the day.  A pretty full half day at that.  Later we discovered that the earthquake we had experienced was a 7.4 magnitude, whose epicenter had been just of the coast from where we were.  An earthquake of that size had not happened in Guatemala since 1976.  It also ended in tragedy for about 70 people who lost their lives in collapsing structures. Again we had a multitude of reasons to feel very blessed for God's protection and grace.  Because when you feel the ground shaking, you realize how out of control you really are.