In Peru

Arrival into Lima safe and sound. We were picked up At the airport by a young guy whose English was... Eh... Not so great. It was a little disconcerting not being able to ask him about the hotel or where we were going, but I suppose that's also my fault having done little to no research (and for not paying more attention in high school Spanish class). We did, although, read Brent's wiki travel articles and paid close attention to the food and drink.

Anyhoo we have no idea exactly where we are, where we're going and with a driver that doesn't speak English. That's what traveling is about, right? And the possibility of getting taken down a dark alley and robbed of our passports?!?

Well,we make it to the hotel just fine at 1130 pm but haven't eaten dinner and I'm about to go cannibal and eat brent's arm. Since we're in Peru and want to indulge in local cuisine we order pizza. Yes, pizza. It probably tops my Mcflurry in Guatemala City. I suck. I promise travel gods to not be so american from here on out. I just didn't know where I was and I was hungry and it was late... After I consumed 5 slices we promptly went to bed because we were told we had a tour at 7 am.

Got up early , ate breakfast and waited for our guide to arrive... And waited. Remember that guy whose English was not so great and who happened to be the one who informed us of our tour time. Well, he was talking about our Cuzco flight pick up the next day. So tired..
We currently are waiting for, at 10, for our between 915 and 945 pick up. Hmmmm Brent is pacing, I'm writing. Just all part of the travel experience again, RIIGHT?

Hot and Humid in Wisconsin before taking off for Peru

Luckily we had a few days to recoup and do our laundry for the next leg of our trip, Peru. In addition to catching up on sleep, we visited Brent's 97-year-old grandma and went down to Milwaukee to catch up with Scott and the girls, and then headed to the German festival with Tom and Jackie. Much to do tonight so I'm keeping it short. Hope everyone is doing well!

Top: Cutest girls Clara and Maggie Bottom: Kristi, Scott, Jane, Brent, Grandma Fossum and Maggie



Marianne and Brent at German Fest

Guatemala

Our trip to Guatemala can be broken up into three parts: 1) Guatemala City and our two day stay at the Barcelo, 2) the HELPS medical mission trip to Uspantan and 3) the restful and more touristy two days, three nights in Antigua, Guatemala post mission.

Guatemala City:

Brent outside the National Palace in Guatemala City

I have to admit – we were nervous about going to Guatemala City. We heard there is a lot of violence, pick pocketing, stealing people out of cars, etc. We didn’t feel or experience any of that. I expressed my concerns to a native Guatemalan man I was sitting next to on the plane, Miguel, that gave me some great advice and he eased my fears. Just be careful, he said. Just like in any other big city, don’t have your purse hanging out, have things hanging out your pockets, etc.

We got to Guatemala mid-afternoon, took a nap, and off to the pool, hot tub, and dinner. Our hotel, the Barcelo, was actually the same hotel chain that we stayed at in Puerto Vallarta for our honeymoon. There were many 16-year-old looking guards outside the building which was out of the norm for us, but as we traveling through Guatemala, it became second nature to us… young guys with big guns (the type the shoot) are everywhere. It definitely would not be the age group I would entrust with the use of semi-automatic weapons, but there has been peace in Guatemala since 1996 so I guess they know what they’re doing. Even bus drivers guarded their buses while we were in stores and such by standing outside the bus with their semi-automatic.

We spent the next day and a half watching World Cup games in Strikers Bar at the Barcelo and touring Guatemala City. We went into the National Palace, the only gringos on the tour and the reason our tour guide had to translate to English. The rest of the people on our tour were so incredibly nice and helpful, often adding to the tour guides comments (in English) and welcoming us to their country. We visited the markets lining the streets – a lot of random stuff: small plastic toys, toothpaste, clothes, ripped CDs etc. The one strange thing that did completely turn our head was a man selling lube and potentially various “enhancing” medications right outside of a children’s performance downtown. It wasn’t just that this guy was selling these things, but he was also displaying the human sexual anatomy – both male and female – with what appeared to be actual human (or maybe pig) cadaveric organs spread out on his blanket. Hmmmmm. Not something you’d see on the streets in the USA, maybe on TV though.

Off to Uspantan and the HELPS mission.

The rest of the crew arrived Saturday night around 11pm and we took off the next day, bright and early, at 6am, with the hopeful arrival of 4pm into Uspantan, Guatemala. Three bus stops for bathroom breaks - including one where locals were watching the World Cup game and we left five minutes before Spain scored to win the world cup (yes five minutes, I am still intensely bitter) – we arrived and got right to work.

I really had no idea what to expect. I knew we’d be “roughing it” and working hard, but that is an understatement. I realized that this would be an eye-opening experience, but just how much of an incredible, life-changing event, I did not realize.

The beginning of the long line outside the clinic in Uspantan.


Brent worked in the clinic, seeing close to the 200 patients throughout his five days. Many of the patients Brent saw spoke primarily Mayan, the Quitche dialect: one of 23. Most of the patients spoke Spanish as a second language and Brent only required one translator, but occasionally he needed two - one to convert Mayan to Spanish and a second to convert Spanish to English. A most common ailment was pain everywhere, or dolor in Spanish, (since they carry loads with their heads and their jobs entail repetitive motion). Some patients specifically had lung pain – a complaint he often doesn’t hear from American VA patients. Stomach pain, head pain, leg pain… well, mostly a lot of pain and lumps, bumps, rashes and ingrown toenails… were the ailments his patients had. He worked with two wonderful doctors, Dr. Stan Bradley and Dr. Pat Wathen, from Arkansas and Texas, respectively.

Brent and interpreters Fernando, Luis and Raul



Brent assisting Dr. Jeff McNeil with hairline lipoma removal.

I worked in the kitchen. A lot. Cooking for 120 people was way more labor intensive than I realized. I got up at 5am to prepare for a 6:30am breakfast and didn’t get to bed until 11or 12 at night. I worked with four other wonderful individuals: Ruth (Dr. Stanley’s daughter and my fellow kitchenette), Bruce, Rudy and Roger. In addition to cooking, we had to clean before and after, and dip every fruit, vegetable and can in a “My-chlor” bleach solution to eliminate bacteria. I think we worked close to 14 or 16 hours a day. Brent is happy though because I was working where I belonged: the kitchen. It was so much fun though. The doctors, nurses and other medical staff busted theirs butts and their only respite for the day was a hot meal. We were the ones serving it and took pride in trying to serve good food. I was also lucky because I got to meet everywhere. I wish I could tell you I remember all 120 names, maybe not quite, but I could get pretty close.

Kristi, Brent, Marianne and Jane in the cafeteria where Marianne spent many many hours...

Other things about Uspantan:
• The people are absolutely gorgeous. Although short in stature – I towered over the women who probably averaged 4’9” – they had beautiful skin and big brown eyes. They were reserved and modest and I never saw them flinch in pain.
• I wish you all could’ve seen the lines outside of the building in person. Many of the residents of Uspantan never get to see a doctor outside of the yearly visit by HELPS. I’ve never seen anything like it, people waiting literally all day to see an American doctor (although maybe this isn’t so different from America).
• I had the opportunity to watch three surgeries, something I’d never be able to do in the States. I watched Brent assist Dr. McNeil removing a lipoma from the hairline of a 40-something year-old woman.
• We had the chance to do a little hike and climb into a narrow cave. We could have gone further in the cave, but I would’ve had to lose 50 pounds and carve off my shoulders.
• Euchre is a kick-a$$ game. Brent taught me and we schooled our card-blaming, quick-playing opponents. We looked forward to playing Euchre how it’s traditionally played – with lots of Beer – in Antigua, but it never happened. I think our opponents wussed out on us.

Off to Antigua and some much needed R&R:

Leaving Uspantan was bitter sweet. Even though I was so tired, sick of taking cold showers in pretty gross showers, constantly being fearful of getting sick, I loved it. I’m not sure my body could’ve handled another week, but I would’ve tried to push it anyhow because the experience was beyond anything I’ve ever had.

We took off for Antigua from Uspantan at 6am. Since I had been getting up at 5 every morning, it really was no big deal. We made two stops along the way. One in the same location we didn’t get to finish watching the World Cup and the second in Chichicastenango, a more touristy town where we ate a delicious buffet lunch and did a little shopping. By the way, in these markets you barter for items. I’m not so great and often had Kristi help me out. I’m too much of a push-over.

We arrived in Antigua (not to be confused with Antigua, the island – this is a city in Guatemala) around 6pm and promptly ordered ourselves a much-needed drink. Antigua was gorgeous and by far the most wealthy city we came across in Guatemala. Antigua (meaning old in Spanish) was the original capital and where a lot of the tax money went when the Spaniards were ruling. Cobblestone streets, brightly colored building, and many foreigners walking around made us realize we weren’t in Uspantan anymore.

A pool, alcohol, clean shower and toilet – this place was heaven. We went to Lake Atitlan on our first full day. The lake was magnificent, lined by four (or maybe it was three) volcanoes and a dozen little towns. We briefly strolled around Panajachel, San Antonio and a third town I forget the name of, largely unscathed by the many people selling clothes, shawls, blankets, bracelets and the like. We had quite a few middle-aged women who these sellers would flock too. It didn’t help many of them were wearing their purchased goods, essentially screaming, “I buy stuff.”

Our second full day was a lot of relaxing. We got burnt just spending 45 minutes by the pool… higher elevation, maybe? We had a wonderful banquet where Brent and I got to say goodbye to the translators from Guatemala City we got to know so well. We went out to a salsa club and I made Brent dance… after a few rum and cokes. We stayed up until almost 3am hanging out by the pool getting to know some of our group even more.

Leaving Wednesday was sad. I didn’t want to say good bye. The people we went on the trip with are such amazing fun people… and most of them are from Texas. Go figure. Nah, I’m just kidding, y’all. We will definitely be visiting San Antonio in the future and I hope some of HELPS friends will visit us in Oregon.

At the airport in Guatemala City on our way home. From left: Dr. Rafael Diaz, Dr. Jacky, Dr. Keisha Loften, Dr. Beth Thai, Mechele, Marianne and Brent

Guatemala Pictures

Here is the link to the pictures from Guatemala. The trip was awesome... we spent two days in Guatemala City doing a little sight-seeing and World Cup watching, a week in Uspantan with HELPS and the medical mission and the last few days in Antigua where we explored the city and took a tour to Lake Atilan and three towns surrounding it. I will write more in details about the trip and label some of the pictures so you know what's going on later on tonight:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=216439884905%3A1751141726&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee

Beloit and Madison... almost off to Guatemala

Marianne and Brent in Madison, WI

Hi All -

This post will be short because it's 11:30pm and we have to make a 3:45am bus to Chicago to take off for Guatemala. But, why oh why are you up, Marianne? Because unlike my pathetic attempts at creating blogs in the past, I am really going to try to be dedicated to this one.

Beloit was great. Brent's mom looks fabulous as always and it was great to spend some time with her. We also got to see Brent's grandmother, Alvina, still going strong at the young age of 97. We spent a day up in (or over, or down, I need to learn my Wisconsin geography) in Madison. I absolutely love Madison. It was our #2 choice to live after Portland, OR and I think I would've really liked it had things not worked out with Portland.

We got to do some pool time with Scott and his girls, Maggie and Clara in Beloit. We also hit up a trivia night in Beloit with Steve and Marion Fass. We had some major high hopes, but things didn't go so well for us. Maybe you can answer the final question: What does the J.R.R stand for in J.R.R. Tolkien? We had no friggin' idea. Good times, nonetheless.

Now, we're all packed up (I think, I hope... what did I forget?) for Guatemala. Looking forward to keeping you updated when I'm there (or it might have to be when I get back). I am super super excited except for the fact that we'll be taking a bus to Uspantan from Guatemala City that takes like a million hours so I won't be able to see the World Cup finals. Acks.

The Jones Reunion

For picture of our road trip and the Jones reunion: http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=145900334905%3A951716229&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee

The weekend in Brookfield/Milwaukee, WI was great.... I finally met many of Brent's cousins and second cousins and actually was able to chat with the cousins that attended our wedding. Here is a breakdown of the weekend:

Friday, July 2nd:

• Arrival into Beloit, WI where we picked up Kristi, Brent's sister.
• Drove over to Brookfield to drop off our stuff at Scott, Cresta, Maggie and Clara's house. Their house was AWESOME.
• Saw Tom and Jackie's new place in Brookfield... place is also awesome. Biggest showers I have ever seen. I could do a cartwheel in one. Lots of Jones relatives there: Bill, Marlene, Paul, Bonnie and PJ.
• Drinks at the Miller bar. Ugh Miller beer. They did have Blue Moon though. And free popcorn. Score.

Brent with cousin's Tiffany and PJ

Saturday, July 3rd:

• Breakfast at Tom and Jackie's.
• The rest of the family arrives. Brent's cousin Steve and two of his four children, Ceci and Lucy. Brent's other cousin, Kathy, and her three kids Aidan, Olivia and Ava.
• Uncle Bill eats Morgan's Beggin' Strip (Brent stealthily slipped it on his plate). Says they are delicious and he would've eaten the whole thing had not Marlene informed him. In typical Jones fashion, he was soon beggin for more.
• Boat cruise on the Milwaukee River. Got to see lots of sites like the Summer Fest and the Art Museum.
• Kopp's Custard. One scoop was like ten scoops of ice cream. Just another example of the new American "small." Delicious nonetheless.
• Italian restaurant. Yum.
• Drinks at an Irish bar. The waiter looked at me with ten thousand eyes when I asked him for an IPA... I wasn't in Portland anymore. Also, live music every night, but no Irish music. Bah. Still a very fun night though!

Brent with Tom (dad) and Uncle "Beggin'" Bill

Sunday, July 4th:

• BBQ at local state park.
• Swimming in e-coli (probably) infested water. Bathing suit smells awful after 15 minutes in water.
• Sunburnt and attacked by mini second cousins (cousins once removed, blah, blah).

Monday, July 5th:

• Milwaukee Brewer's game.
• In the sausage race, (the age old battle at Brewer's games among the German sausage, Polish sausage, Italian sausage, hot dog, and chorizo) the Italian (pronounced "eye-talian") sausage came out victorious. He may have been on the juice--or at least the marinara sauce.
• Back to Beloit

Brent with second cousins: Ava, Aidan, Olivia, Ceci, and Lucy

• 
  

Leaving Portland, on to Wisconsin

After much debate as to whether to leave Tuesday night or Wednesday morning (this being either June 29th or 30th), we decided on an early Wednesday morning start. What was to become a trend on our trip, we took off half an hour behind schedule at 7:30am. The morning started off with a bang, literally, as Morgan knocked me to the ground (with Starbucks chai in hand) doing one of his characteristic 360s. I think he was excited for the trip.

Marianne knocked over by Morgan - hand wound to prove it

Day 1 - Portland to Evanston, WY (with a stop in Salt Lake City, UT), ~900 miles.

Okay, so I have never liked road trips. I get car sick, antsy, and can just be a general pain in the ass on long car rides. Brent didn't have high hopes for me and was expecting mountains of complaining and whining. But, you know what, I loved it. I didn't get car sick, I didn't complain, and I was able to drive about six of the 14 hours. I wrote in our journal, took naps and stared into the open scenery - which consisted mainly of windmills, some grass and that's about it. We took 84 from Portland, through Idaho, into Utah where we hopped on 80 and finally onto Wyoming. Highlights (or lowlights depending on how you look at it) of the trip:

• I think we saw into the only black man in all of Idaho. The Idaho State Police were arresting him at the cute little rest stop where we were eating. Hmmmmm
• Utah is filled with lots of Mormons, churches, absolutely stunning scenery and Mormons... oh wait, I already said that.
• Beer was surprising good for Utah... not that I've ever had a Utahan beer before, but I didn't have high hopes. Go to Squatters and get some beer there (thanks for the suggestion, Laura and Nick)

Brent in front of a statue at the Temple in Salt Lake

Day 2 - Evanston, WY to Council Bluffs, IA

Another 900+ miles of driving. Wyoming, Nebraska and just into Iowa. Not much to say except there is a ton of corn. Brent hit 100 mph on the open highway in Nebraska. Dairy Queen size small Blizzards are way too big for smallls... not wonder America has a weight problem. Windmills, windmills and more windmills.

A funny little story about our bartender in Nebraska... We stopped for dinner at a Ruby Tuesdays somewhere in Nebraska. After a long day on the road, one needs a beer. The bartender/waitor asked for our IDs, saw the Oregon license and struck up conversation. After finding out we were on a road trip to Wisconsin from Portland, he asked us if there were fun things to do in Oregon. "Beer, wine, mountains, coast, festivals," we replied. "What do you do for fun in Nebraska," I asked our Nebraskan bartender. "Hunting and farming," he said. I had no response. I don't think Nebraska is for me.

Day 3 - Council Bluffs, IA to Beloit and Brookfield, WI

Only 435 miles to go. Yes yes yes. Iowa wasn't so bad to drive through. Green grass, trees, signs of life and civilization. There was also an Arby's which Brent was ecstatic about. We also began to count the number of states we saw on license plates. Thirty-two... also, Quebec and Ontario. It's a fun little road game, especially when your co-driver is sleeping.

We arrived to Beloit at 5:30pm where Brent's sister, Kristi, had a lovely dinner made for us (she is so nice!). We spent a couple of hours there and took off for Brookfield/Milwaukee, WI for the Jones reunion.

Morgan on the Road. I love it when dogs stick their heads out the window!