As the fourth of July is upon us, Americans have 10 reasons to celebrate. The Bill of Rights. Guatemala does not have a Bill of Rights. Speech isn’t free everywhere. I have agonized over the writing of this blog. I long to share with you all the power, courage and beauty of my friend Julio’s work. It is what has impressed me the most about this extraordinary man. But I can’t do it over the internet. So, you are all invited to join me at my home on Friday, August 7, 2009 at 7PM. I’ll provide the margaritas and dinner. Julio [View Full Entry]

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I was lightheaded. I felt giddy, merry, joyous, free. Was it the climb up the side of the mountain? Was it the altitude? Was it the invigorating air that filled my lungs? No matter. Hiking behind Julio and Luke on a mountain trail at 8200 feet, and way above Lake Atitlan, I felt high. My thesaurus has 32 words for beautiful. None of them describe the mountains of Santa Lucia. Upon our arrival Friday morning, Julio hired a truck to take us to a path, about a half mile out of town, that he usually walks to. We would walk back. [View Full Entry]

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My father was a bit of a joker. When I started dating way back in 1972, he wanted to be sure the boys treated me right. When that nervous knock came at the door, he would open it wearing a warm smile and say... “Hello, My name is Herb Beck. You must be a smart young man because my daughter is very special. Here, let me show you my gun collection. I’m an expert marksman. Please have her home by 10:30 PM.” I was always escorted home by 10PM. Meeting the family of someone you care about can be nerve [View Full Entry]

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The power is currently out here, so I am entertaining myself by writing a blog entry in a word document and then I will post it in the blog when (if?) the power comes back on. It goes out fairly often here, randomly and without warning, which makes life kind of inconvenient. But no biggie, there are plenty of fun things to do in the dark, like light candles and run into things, not necessarily in that order. So this past weekend Jessie, Tony and I took a trip to Panajachel/San Pedro, which are two towns on Lake Atitlan, an impossibly [View Full Entry]

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Hey everbody, How's it going? Well things are going well here. I spend my days working and being daddy. Being a dad is the greatest thing I have ever had the pleasure of doing. I love it! I change diapers, play with Sofia, and talk to her. I do everything but breast feed her. She is so pleasant to be around. I have never seen a baby smile and laugh more than Sofia. She is awesome. I also got promoted. I am now a fulltime trainer earning a salary. I get paid vacation time, and all the bonuses that Guatemalans get. [View Full Entry]

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Every five years, the catholic boarding school that I graduated from in 1974, holds a reunion luncheon for my class. I dread it. Am I fatter than in 1974? Am I as thin as Suzy? Do my accomplishments match Anne’s? Will I have the most wrinkles? How will I be judged? Luke visiting me in Antigua had the same feel. Will he like it here? Will he understand? Will my friends here like him? Will we get along? All my petty worries were washed away in the Guatemala thunderstorm that raged when the van picked him up from the airport. He [View Full Entry]

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Day 8 We have finally made it to Central America. After eight full days of driving we did it. We drove through Mexico. Today by no means passed without incident though. We crossed at the El Carmen border crossing and it really got our blood pumping. As we approached the border men sitting around jumped up and ran full speed to our car. In no time we were completely surrounded and I had the sinking feeling that we were about to be robbed. They were all yelling in spanish, trying to be heard over their equally motivated compadres. It is amazing [View Full Entry]

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The blue was expansive. It felt like I was at the beach and I could simply wade into the sky. After trekking 2 miles in the humid jungle and climbing 166 steps, I was a the top of tower four of the lost city of Tikal. The feeling was both fierce and gentle. Even my eyelashes felt alive. Maybe you know the feeling that a physical place can create. A place that expands, relaxes and rejuvenates you. A place that erases trivial worries. A place that causes your soul to ask, “How did it get here?” Some of you feel [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday, I had my first bad moment in 7 weeks. A miscommunication about rooming arrangements caused all of us a bit of stress--a feeling I’m no longer familiar with. At home, I would chew. Chew on what everyone said. Chew on who was wrong and why I was right. Chew on chocolate. Grind my teeth at night. Yesterday, I made a different decision. I choose not to ruminate on what went wrong, but instead, to find reasons to feel good, rather than reasons to be right. In Antigua, that was easy. First, I went and sat in the beautiful cathedral Merced. [View Full Entry]

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The internet connection here seriously kills my soul. I feel like the Mayan gods of technology are working against me very diligently. In other news, I discovered a bakery today called Xelapan and I can now safely say that I will return to the US weighing at least 93982 pounds. I got an eclair for the equivalent of about 40 cents and proceeded to bathe myself in powdered sugar. SO GOOD. These past few days have been relatively uneventful, but fun. Most of my time has been spent eating tacos, actually. There are two taco places right down the road and [View Full Entry]

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