Dec. 19-Our Trip to Tikal

(Note: If you would like to see any of the pictures larger just click or double click on them and they will come up on another screen. Enjoy!)
The morning of the 19th we awoke to a light drizzle that changed into a beautiful morning by the time Gail & Aaron walked up to the restaurant for coffee. Then we started to check out the area that we really didn't get a chance to see the day before. In the tree right above our cabin we found this...(and my zoom is not exaggerating the size!)It was like a 4 foot iguana...Caden spotted it! Amazing considering how high it was and how it blended into the trees. Saw some great warblers and butterflies too. It was incredible.
We found our first Christmas Tree of the trip...in the restaurant at the Hacienda.
Here Lily & Caden are demonstrating the way to stand in the middle of the hanging bridge and not fall the 3 feet into the swamp below. It really was a great trail but just made for nervous parents gripping their children tightly.We then packed up and left about 10am and headed to the destination we were all anxious to get to...Tikal National Park. The 4 hour drive was divided into two sections with us stopping half way for lunch in Poptun. We were looking to buy a loaf of bread when Aaron spotted at Bimbo truck (the bread company down here). He went in to ask at the store but they didn't have any so the delivery guy sold Aaron a loaf right off the truck...Looked like Aaron was mugging the guy. But it worked and the bread was great.We enjoyed a little park along the road which was made by the community out of old carparts. It was the first sign of recycling in Guatemala that I have seen and was pretty cool. We enjoyed our sandwiches and chips.

Then it was off to our destination and within two hours we were there...or at least we hoped we were getting close.
The sign was a welcomed sight. Even the visitor center did not prepare us for what lay ahead.
The wildlife was impressive.

There were Occelated TurkeysSocial Flycatchers

Gray-necked Wood Rail
Tarantula (a guard showed us this one on the underside of a log right by the entrance to the park...we didn't see any more during our time there.
Caden caught a gecko that was trying to horn in on our sleeping quarters.
These birds are called Collared Aracaris and they were everywhere eating the berries of these trees. Certainly one of the most memorable birds of the trip.

This is a giant cedar...the picture does it no justice as to how big it was.
The light was fading quickly but the ruins were amazing as suddenly you are upon them.
This is our first view (the back side of Temple I).
We climbed on some of the ruins and the view and the sense of time there were immense.
As the sunset, the jungle began to come alive. It was a sound to behold even as the sights were almost incomprehensible.
It was an incredible afternoon in Tikal and the following day was as memorable as this was.

I HATE SPIDERS!

Hey everyone, this is Aaron taking a quick hit at this blog thing again. Just wanted to add my two cents about the first night at Tijax. Great place first of all. Extremely clean and beautiful, but....I had a terrible night sleep. Not only was the rain torrential as Amy pointed out, and the coconuts falling on the tin roof did certainly add some incredible noise, but I was freaked out that a giant spider was going to eat me. Seriously! That being said, I NEVER saw a single spider, but the mind can play some mean tricks. I think my phobia began with that stupid Brady Bunch show, you know the episode where they are in Hawaii and Greg has that tarantula crawling on him in his bed. I HATE that episode! That was my fear all night long. I kept turning on the irridescent light on my watch on and checking the walls for large scary creatures. God was good and he knew I'd never be able to get over something like that. I probably would have left the mission field and RUN back to the states. (Not really, but it certainly would have unnerved me.) Good thing my wife is sooo tough and killed all of the big spiders before I even saw them. THANKS AMY! I LOVE YOU!!!

Aaron

Dec. 18- Guatemala City to Rio Dulce

At 6:20 am on Dec. 18, 2008 we, the Klanderman family and our adopted parents/grandparents Greg & Gail Malczewski (Mall-chess-key)--who are also our host family for this year, left on an adventure to explore some of this amazing country we currently call home. The day was beautiful about 60 degrees or so a little cloudy and perfect for driving. After only two potty stops and many semi-trucks to pass (only one construction zone...you should see the vendors at that stop in traffic) we arrived at our first destination, Rio Dulce (it's called Castillo de San Felipe on our map)about 1pm and that's when the rain began! We found a sign for a turn to the place we were staying at called Hacienda Tijax...but the winding road led us to a dead end. So after some Spanish pantomime with a nice gentleman we understood that that was the right road but we needed to find another entrance. So we drove back the way we had come in and found a road that seemed to lead in the right direction and seemed the same concrete consistancy (lesson #1 in Guatemalan navigation...signs mean nothing...use all visual clues to find your way) and when we followed it back to where there seemed to be no more road...there we were following a little very rutted 2 track through a gate labelled Hacienda Tijax. This 2 km road led us to a parking lot, which lead to a walking suspension bridge through a swamp. (Did I mention it was raining at this time?) The very slippery wooden hanging bridge meandered through the mangrove swamp for quite a ways (all the time you are wondering...where are we going?) and then you come down the last bridge to a concrete path way and find yourself in a very jungle type area with little buildings around every turn. We found the main desk which after some more poor communication in Spanish found our reservations and the lady who did speak English led us to our living space. (Notice: These pictures were taken the following day after the rain stopped.)
Here is the path that led to our Bungalow...Through the bushes (which were soaking at the time)...And you enter the bottom living area which consisted of an open area where we could rest in a hammock (the bathroom was just to the back and to the left) and
....there was an area for eating and a kitchen area for cooking (with no utensils...we had to ask at the front desk).
Upstairs we had two bedroom areas (each with a double and 2 twin beds complete with mosquito netting...thank goodness) and after Amy killed the very large spider in one corner of our sleeping quarters they were clean as a whistle. We had sandwiches for lunch, played games most of the soggy afternoon, and ate breakfast burritos for supper. After which we played some more games and then went to bed. The rain (which we did not expect at all because we figured since it was dry season in Guatemala City, it must be also in other parts of the country...wrong!) continued on through the night and was very loud because the roof was tin. Also there were these huge bangings on the roof during the night that woke us up and scared us out of our wits. The next morning we realized that this was the culprit...
...a large coconut tree growing over our roof...lost a few of its precious fruit during the night. Must have landed right above our heads. Quite an experience. Not something we experience everyday in our neck of the woods.
This is our bungalow from the outside. (Great birding...which I'll talk about in our next blog.)
And despite the many unexpected things of the first day and night of our trip we really did have a great time and especially enjoyed the hammock and sharing in this day with family & friends.

Our Christmas Vacation Trip!

From Dec. 18-22 we took a trip to explore this great country of Guatemala that we call home for this year. So the next few blogs are a day by day break down of our trip. Hope you enjoy and get a great glimpse of a different area of the world. God and his goodness are amazing!

If you would like to see a map of our trip click here.

Our Trip to Pacaya!

Our trip to Volcan de Pacaya began at 7am this morning (Saturday, Dec 10) with a beautiful clear sky except for the volcano we were going to visit. This is a picture from the school we teach at, the Christian Academy of Guatemala. (Aaron stayed home with Lily to work on exams & take care of her...I love you, Honey...thanks for your sacrifice.)
A zoomed in view of where we were going.
After about an hour and 10 minutes of driving we arrived at our parking lot about half way up Pacaya. The road going there is highway until about the last 30 mins, then it is a decent 2 lane (watch the 3-foot wide potholes) and then it is a winding gravel, supposedly 2 way, road mostly going up for the last 15-20 mins. Talk about dusty! Then you end up here at the base of the hiking trail. Quite an adventure already!
Then you navigate through the horses and find a guide at the "visitor center" which is a covered pavilion with bathrooms (Yeah...even had toilet paper) and a lot of children clammering at you to see if you would like a walking stick (Best 80 cents I've ever spent!).

Then you start up the trail. There were about 30 guys at the bottom of the trail who try to get you to rent a horse to ride up and have quite a knack for it. These 2 followed us up the mountain, whistling while they rode (I'm sure just to show us how much easier it would be with horses) until they finally figured us gringos might just make it and headed back down for some other targets. We were sucking wind pretty bad the first very steep stretch but were as determined not to ride horses as they were to get us to ride them.
Part of our trip around the mountain was through this wooded area. Very steep but very Appalachia.
Except for the view...clearly Guatemalan. The mountain on the left is Volcan de Fuego (Fire Volcano) and on the right is Volcan de Agua (Water Volcano). The one in the middle I can't remember the name. We can see Agua from San Cristobal where we live.
About half way up was this little hut (not sure it's use). In the background you can see the lava flows (steam coming from the mountain) and the boulders bouncing down the mountain (dust trails made by their journey).
And then we walked into the lava flow (at least the older part). What a climb it was. But so dusty...we couldn't believe the dust! Below is a view of the lava actually flowing down the mountain (we walked to about 30 feet away from it...you can't do that in the US) and below that picture is a video of the lava flowing that we watched about 10-20 yards away. Very surreal and very cool (but the breeze blowing from the direction was very warm). It sounded like crackling and reminded me of those rainsticks where the little beads inside bounce down the spines inside. Amazing to witness the sights and sounds of an active volcano. Go God!

Then we turned around and looked over the valley and Fuego was en fuego (on fire...or at least smoking great puffs).
This is our rowdy bunch with the fresh lava in the back. From left to right...our guide, Ivan Ediger, Petra Wirrell, Dad, Caden, Charles Wirrell, Mom & Maya.
Maya climbing a volcano and loving it...What a view!
Here I'm trying to capture the terrain we were walking up. Each step was about one up and and half back down.
This is as far as Caden, Maya & I made it. Everyone else got a bit farther up the hill. But at this point it was about a 60 degree angle ascent, and the rocks had grown from pebble and gravel sized rocks to rocks the size of a football or greater...and very loose! You really wanted to be the first one up so you didn't have to dodge the boulders dislodged by those above you!
It was a beautiful day...we spent about an hour up there just taking in the scenery. You just never know what tomorrow may bring...especially with a live volcano!
On the way down we stopped at some amazing rock formations which cooled under ground slowly and then were un-earthed as the wind blew and ground shifted.
The Vanden Bosch/Klanderman crew, dusty but in awe of the amazing creation God made and he keeps making each day!

Random Pictures for you...

Walking the streets of Antigua with Grandma & Grandpa!

Gives a whole different meaning to cobblestone. Very rough (yet cool) roads!

Mom, Dad & Lily in Central Park in Antigua.

The Arch in Antigua. Preparing for New Year Festivities!

Christmas presents from Grandma & Grandpa...Lily love stickers! (See Maya's nail polish lined up on the table)

Caden with his new sweatshirt and his ultimate gift, Skillet's Live DVD of the Comatose Tour (I think it's his Daddy's favorite gift of the Christmas Season so far as well!)

Getting ready to open presents...see our wee Christmas tree...all the way from Mexico by way of Michigan! Recognize it, Chad?Our "real" arbol de Navidad, lovingly made by the children out of construction paper. Complete with an origami star created by Caden.

How excited are we about our new camera? Thanks Mom & Dad for the gift and for bringing it down to us so we can continue to share these experiences with all of you. Go God!

Wow...Almost a month!

I can't believe that it has been almost a month since we have updated. Forgive us and I hope that this begins another new burst of news from Guatemala. Here's a brief update of what's been going on...
Parents visiting right now: 2 (My folks) only for 4 more days...boy how time flies.
Street markets visited in the last week: 3 (all different and all great)
Christmas presents bought: 14
Good hiding places in our house: 0
Crying fits at the market today: 4 (not by me)
Cars in the shop right now: 1
Days left of school before break: 3.5
Time it took us to get to church last Thursday: 55 mins
Time it took us to get to church this past Sunday Morning: 15 mins
Firecrackers set off in our neighborhood at 5:15am this morning: approx. 1 million
How many times Senora Contreras corrected me during our final Spanish lesson this afternoon: about 50 (but I'm getting better.)
How much we love Senora Contreras: So Much!
Weirdest name I've ever heard for a holiday: Burn the Devil Day (last Sunday)
Scenes for Beauty & the Beast that are staged: All (Hallelujah)
Days before our next practice: 25...yikes
Exams Aaron is correcting tonight: 46
Exams Aaron needs to give yet: 66
Number of books my Dad has read while he has been here: 3.5
Days until we leave for Tikal: 6.5
How much we miss home: Lots
How much we miss the snow: Very little (at least driving in it)
How much your prayers and well wishes mean to us: everything.

Thanks for your notes and Christmas greetings. God bless and I will add some photos when I get a chance. God bless.

At His feet, Amy