Sloth!

Hello blog readers! I am posting again, less than two weeks after my previous post! How crazy is that?

You can see my
newish apartment in
the background, too!

I have had a really crazy week. There were 2 nights that I stayed up working all night (and 2 subsequent nights when I crashed immediately when I came home.)

Today though, I had a nice, lazy Saturday. Slothful, even. And keeping with that theme, I wanted to show off my brand new sloth necklace!

Climbing sloth!

The lasercut design looks great (see a nice detailed image of the sloth from  the Etsy page, below.)
If I move my hair out of the way, you can even see the sloth "climb" up the necklace.  --->

Really, the only thing that I was worried about when ordering this was the size. On the Etsy page model, the sloth looks huge to me. So, for anyone else contemplating this sloth, or any of the other awesome designs by roconut, I hope seeing these examples is helpful.

This photo shows off my Christmas
tree, too! (Well "shows off" may be
too strong a term, but you know...)

Original Etsy photo of
Rococonut necklace

I'm always looking for clever new Kickstarter/Etsy/Fab types of games, jewelry, gifts, etc - let me know if you see something I would like. I've ordered several lately, so maybe this string of 2 posts will become longer?! We shall see.

Slothfully,
Kim

Decorating with KickStarter Rewards

I've been backing a lot of kickstarters lately, and a few have sent me backer rewards already.

This is one of my backer rewards from Meimei - A Beautiful Fish, which is a children's book in Chinese characters, pinyin, and English. I love the book, too!

Stories from Guatamala: Part III (Heading West!)

After visiting with Maria, we headed West the next morning, naively believing we could quickly jot over to Lago de Atitlan, given that it was only 110 kilometers away. Somehow, it took us all day.

Arriving in Antigua Guatemala for the first time.

A quick stop in Antigua to "switch buses" took awhile. I like the chair Niki's in that was a the hostel we waited at!

Hanging out in Antigua, waiting for our bus.

When we finally got our new bus, we circled Antigua filling it until we had 16 people (including one child who didn't have her own seat) on the bus. Then the bumpy, fume-y ride to Lago Atitlan began.

We were not prepared for the fumes and the bumps. Oh my. (Photo credit: Anika Huhn)

By the time we reached Panajachel, the skies over Lago Atitlan we getting pretty dark, so instead of spending time there we elected to take the boat across the lake without delay, to get to our night's destination of San Marcos.

Clouds gather over Lago Atitlan (Photo Credit, Yi-Hsin Lin)

The skies darkened and darkened... we added rainjackets, and then a tarp, in our efforts to stay dry as the boat hopped over the rocky lake.

It is getting wet and windy, and the boat is tearing across the lake. We keep leaving the surface of the lake and smacking into it again, hard. (Photo credit: Yi-Hsin Lin)

We're all trying to stay dry. It is partially successful. (Photo credit: Yi-Hsin Lin)

When we finally arrived in San Marcos, we scooted into the first hostel we saw, no questions asked... we found out later that it wasn't even the hotel we thought it was, but after all the traveling and rain, it didn't matter to us! After drying off, we ventured out for dinner.

The main street of San Marcos's tourist area, with a stream running down the middle

We had Indian food (there are so many non-Guatemalan food options in Guatemala!), celebrated Yi-Hsin's birthday, and unwound a bit.

Happy Birthday, Yi-Hsin!!! (Photo credit: Anika Huhn)

Then we headed back to our hostel and waited out the rain until morning.

Stories from Guatemala, Part II

Whoops, I have a blog! Ok, here goes: Guatemala Continued:

On Wednesday, Yi-Hsin and I set out to visit Maria, who I sponsor through Children International. We toured the Children International facilities in Patulul, then visited Maria's home (where I got to help feed the chickens!) and had dinner at a restaurant where we got to catch our own fish in a barrel :-)

Maria is 16 now, studying accounting part time. She also helps her mother out at home, and has just started to work at a shoe and clothing store part time.

Thanks to Children International for helping to facilitate the day. They provided a translator who helped out when my Spanish reached its limits, as well as setting up logistics for the day. I'm already looking forward to my next trip!

Me and Maria! (Credit: Yi-Hsin Lin)

Yi-Hsin, Me, and Maria! And chickens and ducks! (Credit: someone with Yi-Hsin's camera)

With Maria. She gave me the cute teddy bear I'm holding. (Credit: Yi-Hsin Lin)

Maria catching lunch, with her mom. (Credit: Yi-Hsin Lin)

Stories from Guatemala, Part I

I've largely caught up on the craziness resulting from being away, so let's start with some Guatemala stories and pictures!

Day 1 was on a Tuesday. Niki, Yi-Hsin, and I all boarded planes in the wee hours of the morning and converged in Guatemala City around 11am. We got in touch with the Quetzalroo Hostel, and they picked us up at the airport.

We drove through part of Guatemala City (or Guate, as locals call it) on our way to the Hostel, and got a bit of a tour from our driver. The city is laid out in an orderly fashion, with numbered avenues and streets, and 22 "zones." Our hostel was in zone 10. Zone 10 was near the airport, and had a significant number of museums and hospitals.

Along the way, we saw a Ceiba tree, which are giant trees with a wide span of branches, traditionally used as a location for markets.

Ceiba tree, credit to www.panoramio.com

Driving down Avenida La Reforma, we saw some striking statues, including the one pictured below. Guatemala has two Nobel Prizes, one for Peace and on for Literature. Guess which one this statue is commemorating?

Credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/balam/sets/72157620538149039/detail/?page=3

We hung out at the hostel for a while, in part due to our tiredness and in part due to our need to acclimate to the country. We weren't really prepared for the combination of arriving during the rainy season and a street system without awesome drainage. There were some *massive* sprays of water from the street every time we ventured outside that evening. A few other photos from the day:

Silverware from lunch. Lots of silverware in Guatemala has holes in uncommon locations on the handle. (Credit: Me!)

Guatemala has lots of Crepes. They even have a Crepe chain of restaurants: Luna de Miel. (Credit: Yi-Hsin Lin)

Hanging out at the Quetzalroo hostel in Guate. (Credit: Niki Huhn)

Angry Quetzals

The things you see in a Guatemalan airport...

5:49

Not even 6am, and I'm on boarding stairs! No thanks to the guy at the check in counter who misread my ID as Kimberly Davis and printed me tickets to New Orleans via Detroit... I guess I could've gone, but Guatemala via Atlanta sounded more fun to me, so I fixed the mistake.