Mexican Garlic.

Last week I was lucky to go on a lovely Valentine's trip (ok, slash, visa run trip) to Mexico. We went to San Cristobal de las Casas and loved it. The market there was, of course, incredible. I brought back that braided bunch of garlic..smelled great all the way home! I can't wait to cook with it since the cloves are bigger and easier to use than the ones here in Guatemala. I have a sneaky little feeling that they'll be tastier too!
I also got a beautiful little stack of Haas type avocados. They were the tastiest avocados I've had in ages and you can bet your bottom dollar that all four of those little seeds are in jars (hopefully sprouting) on a window sill in my house right now. Yay! I <3 C.A. markets!

egg dreams.

We love love love the markets here and do the majority of our shopping there. You just never know what you're going to find each time you go and we go almost everyday. It's always fun when one of us stays home and the other goes on a market shop. Surprises from the market are the best!
The other day Zach came home with all kinds of great treasures: geese eggs, a duck egg, 7 fist size Crystal Quartz rocks, 1 big chunk of Obsidian and a bike! About those eggs though...he got them with hopes of hatching them. Right away, he whipped up an incubator out of a lightbulb and cardboard box, marked them so we can turn them...we have a thermometer and by adjusting the lid we have the temp hovering at 100 degrees. Incubation period is 21 days and we have our fingers crossed that we have some hatchlings in a few weeks or less. Fingers crossed, fingers crossed!

aguas amargas

 We decided to finally go and check out Aguas Amargas. A little hot springs destination not too far away from Xela. So we hop on a bus and head in that direction, getting off the bus in a small pueblo that we have to walk through. Mind you we had to tell the bus where we were going and we had to ask a few people which direction to walk and they all happily told us which way to go to get to Aguas Amargas. What they did not tell us, is that it was completely destroyed in a hot mudslide last year! Classic. It was a fantastic day even though we didn't get to soak in the hot thermal waters there.

What is left of the entrance.

 It's so destroyed and overgrown it's hard to see what's going on. If you see the little waterfalls towards the top right-ish part of the photo....those little waterfalls are going over what was the road.

This was one of the cabana rooms with a tub that thermal water flowed into. Egads, now it's a mudroom!

 

                                        This the road going there. Totally washed out. It was fun walking down through the little river.



guinea pig fever!

                    

Earlier this year I got my 1st guinea pig, Esme. I'd been pining for one ever since we saw some in Antigua the first month we moved to Guatemala. They had them at my favourite little pet supply shop there with a sign calling them Raton de India! That really cracked me up and was the ultimate kickstart to my love for guinea pigs. Now, I mostly refer to them by their Spanish name: cuyos.

Enid & Esme hiding out on their 1st day in their new home.

Upon bringing Esme home I started reading all about cuyos online. Maybe that's the reverse order that I was supposed to do those two things but, that's how it happened. Pretty soon into my reading I found out that they aren't meant to live alone. In Sweden, by law you have to buy two at a time. So of course there I was back at the market that day to get another one.  I chose another girl from the another bunch of pups that were a few weeks older. I was happy to have 2 sweet as pie girl guinea pigs!

                                   

                                         Esme & Enid. Their 2nd day together.

It didn't take very long for me to realize that Enid was not a girl but, a BOY! This discovery was much to my delight as I secretly wanted to have a cuyo family. I couldn't be happier to have gotten a boy & a girl. <3.

Grown up Enid. A very handsome Papa cuyo!

 In a couple of months Esme was with child, ok, pup. Her pregnancy suited her just fine, she became serene and sweeter than ever. She got huge, I charted her pregnancy on the calendar and she was overdue by 2-3 weeks. She was so big and I just couldn't imagine how many pups she was going to have. Online sources say that the average littler is 5-7 pups! But, alas on June 26th she delivered! Another surprise!! She only have one, not so small, pup. She had him all by herself on a bed of dried corn husks in a house fashioned out of a tipico basket (handles cut off, turned upside down, a little arched door-way cut out and then sunk in the dirt a couple of inches). It was the most dear and darling event to happen in our little backyard courtyard.

 1st litter. One pup. Pup-e. 'Baby' 1 day old.

While Esme was in her final month of her pregnancy we separated her from Enid. They were only separated by a chicken wire divide so that they could still keep each other company. Esme could have cared less but, Enid was a little bummed. In the natural Guinea Pig world the females surround the birthing mother and don't let any males near her for a while after she gives birth. Male pigs want to mate the minute the female pig has given birth and it's very unhealthy for the lady pig's body to get pregnant again that fast.

Esme & her 1st pup, Baby, nursing. So sweet.

Baby & Esme munching on some greens.

As soon as it was safe for Esme to be back with Enid we allowed the little family to be together. It was fun and interesting to watch them mingle. Baby hangs with his mom sometimes and with his dad other times.
We knew that it was only a matter of time before Esme & Enid would get some buns in the oven. And we decided to let this happen in high hopes for a little girl cuyo so we could split them up into two groups. Esme is such a docile darling mama pig. Her 2nd pregnancy was shorter and she was larger by a mile. I knew that she had more than one pup in her belly this time. She gave birth in a rainstorm early on the morning of September 18th to 3 little pups; 2 boys and 1 girl on a bed of shredded carrots.

 2nd litter. 3 pups. The only girl, she's the smallest.

Rosebud, the little girl.

Esme & her one-day old 2nd litter of 3 pups. One is hidden under her.

Cuyo pups are cool. They are born with all their hair, whiskers, teeth and nails. They can eat solid food from the start and can run the first day they are alive! And if you've never had the pleasure of being friends with a guinea pig you are missing out on some of the coolest animal noises ever! They whistle and squeak and eek...it's too cute! We now have 6 pigs whistling at us! Yay!

mini succulent rock garden

I've been collecting little snippets of succulents here and there throughout Guatemala and planted the cutest little succulent garden from them. This is such a great outlet for snipping really small little tid bits off plants. It is really hard for me to pass up a fine looking succulent and not pinch a lil nub to take home. 

A few months back I did a fun package exchange with a pal in Tampa and I got a nice little bunch of crystals-rocks-gems. Housing them in my little succulent garden that basks in the moonlight and lulls in the sunshine has them super posi charged! I use them to enhance my special powers when needed by plucking the right one and lovingly carrying it around in my pocket. If I could I'd be teeny tiny & hang out in this lil succulent rock garden, I would lounge around in there all the time.

amazing worms love mustard

Isn't this the prettiest worm you've ever seen? It was for me when we found them snarfing on our mustard plants. We tried to keep them alive to see what they would 'grow' into but, they didn't make it.

hydrangea :: life-long favourite

I grew up with a giant wonderous Hydrangea bush in my Grandmother's yard situated right at a quiet corner of her house. It was always a small place of refuge as a small child sitting under and behind that magnificent flowering goddess of a bush!

I feel so super lucky to have a gorgeous one in our little courtyard!!!

pink, wonderful.

While cooking dinner the kitchen window (our one street window, high up on the inside of our wall but, on the level with traffic outside) lit up intense purple-pink...I couldn't imagine what car was causing that so, I took a peek outside. By the time I grabbed my camera and made it out to the courtyard it was fading fast but, the whole sky was lit up bright rich intense purple and pink...here's the shot I got of the tail end of it. You can even faintly see the moon. It was breath-takingly gorgeous; so happy I saw what I did of it!!!

i love my dog skull!

Bird's eye view of Xela; the line is the road between Llanos del Pinal & Xela.

Two of my homies/lovies on top of Santa Maria!

Zach & Marcel

Santiaguito...erupts about every 20 minutes!

Zach and Marcel went on a dude hike up Volcan Santa Maria and they brought me a really super cool present. They found an old dog skull up on the side of the Volcan and carefully brought it to me!! It's a favourite prized possesion!!!

Xela Sunset

Another gorgeous sunset in Xela. The skies have been mind-blowing pink in the evenings lately, I should take a picture every night and do a series.

Huge chile tree!

In our not so giant courtyard is a really giant pepper 'bush' (it's more like a tree!). I am not sure what kind of chiles they are. I've cooked with them and eaten them raw and they are muy picante!! The closest I can get to figuring them out is thinking they are: Capsicum Pubescens. A Guatemalan variety perhaps.

birdwatching in our courtyard - wood warbler

I am so looking forward to all the incredible birds I will see while I live in Central America. The first bird I saw here that really caught my attention is this little yellow wood warbler. I was so amazed the first morning he was flitting all around our courtyard and much to my surprise and pleasure, I see this little dude almost every day now.

Decade Volcano

View from our 'living room'. I look at Volcan Santa Maria first thing out of bed almost every morning. I've dreamt of volcanoes before I knew what they were, before I could speak. The hardest fight I've ever had to fight, I fought with an amazing view of Mt. St. Helen's and I know for a fact she gave me the strength I needed. What I am trying to say is that I am strongly attracted to Volcanoes.

After moving to Xela and getting settled in our house with a nice view of Volcan Santa Maria and looking reading about her, I discovered she is a Decade Volcano. And interestingly enough, my total bff lives near one too! I have already developed a relationship with Santa Maria who is currently active and has been for most of 2010. I love her.

a walk around my block

Sometimes a very simple walk around the block you live on can be so inspiring (espcially with camera in hand) and pretty relaxing. On this day as we stepped outside there was a flock of birds fluttering by. Leisurely walks are one of the healthiest things you can do!!!

The block we live on is split by an alley, as are all of the blocks in the neighbourhood. Mike & I walk the alleys more than the streets. This is the alley right behind our casita and the start of all our walks. The red fence is ours.

Beautiful citrus! I hope our recent cold weather didn't hurt the fruits!

One very gorgeous set of mouldy coloured stairs.

a sweet & simple birthday

This year for my birthday my wishes were simple: to sleep in and to go for a nice walk through the woods with my Boo and dog, Mike. All wishes came true! AND....as we strolled along the boardwalk at one of my favourite Tampa parks (Lettuce Lake Park) we noticed lots of very large amazing empty snail shells laying around. My very sweet Boo took off his shoes and socks and jumped down in the muck to collect this basket of beauties now dubbed: my birthday snails!

I have big plans for these shells too! I'll keep it a surprise and post when they come to fruition. Can't wait!!

***UPDATE***

It's almost 2 years later and I've moved a few times and out of the country on top of that! I still have a few of those snail shells and I tresure them dearly! <3!

Sunny Park Day in Seattle

If you look very closely, across the pond to the right up near the tree line you can see a wooden sign thingy. Well, we had the bright idea to take a 'timer' photo of us. Todd was put on duty!

Below is our first attempt and the 2nd photo is our successful one! (Erin and I counted down the 10 seconds out loud! I love how chill hanging out we look!!!)

What a perfect park day!! 

And they say it's always crappy & overcast in Seattle. Pssshaw!