Rocking that *International* Paradise

Last Saturday, I visited my first Mayan ruin site in Guatemala.  A group of 18 of us from school embarked at 7:30am to go to the Iximche ruins in Tecpan.  I’ve been to Maya sites before, in Mexico—Chichen Itza, Coba, and Tulum—but this was my first trip in Guatemala.  The day was beautiful, the ruin site surrounded by trees and a cool breeze.  We had a great guide named Alexis, who had good English, but I think once he found out Kelly and Jane have good Spanish, he relaxed and spoke more Spanish, letting them translate more than he would have had to.  But that’s just my opinion.  Iximche, Tecpan, Guatemala Alexis had some very interesting bits to share about the city and its customs.  The first thing I learned: the Maya made their steps tall and narrow so that one would be forced to go up them sideways, ensuring that one’s back was never turned to the sun located behind the steps.  (This made me think back to the many, many tall steps along the Inca trail and wonder

I have a love/hate relationship with the ocean.  Not having grown up near the sea, the size and power of it intimidate and frighten me sometimes.  Especially when I swim in the ocean, I fear for dangerous currents, monster waves, the way the weather can change in an instant, and being caught and tumbled and breathing in salt water and sputtering and coughing and being hit with another wave in the process. (As you may have guessed, it’s happened a time or two).  Surfing and diving scare me, quite honestly. But I also love the ocean.  I love being on boats, and waves can mesmerize me for hours.  It fascinates me the way the light plays off the waves at certain times of the day--especially that hour right before sunset when everything looks golden, and during sunset when the surface of the water turns pink or orange with the setting of the sun. So I knew I’d find enjoyment in the trip we booked for spring break: 7 days on a 46’ sailboat named Las Sirenas.  Neither of these a

A few weeks ago, one of my students came in with a cast on his wrist.  When Carrie asked him what he’d done, he explained he was injured playing polo.  “Polo?!  Like on horses?” she’d asked him.  He said yes, and she told him to let her know when the next match was, and we’d come.  So low and behold, he let her know, and we came. Saturday morning Carrie and I left the city, following the directions we had from the student’s parent.  Well…I should backtrack.  It was a bit more of an adventure than that.  It always is.  We went to start my car, and it was dead.  Luckily, as this has happened before, I am now the proud owner of jumper cables, so we easily started the car and got on our way.  After driving about 20 minutes, we stopped for coffee and breakfast.  Upon leaving, my car wouldn’t start again .  We went back into Starbucks and fumbled completely over the words in Spanish to communicate “My car battery is dead.”  Thankfully, one of the workers spoke English and jumped i