Life in Guatemala A to Z: Antigua

A gem of a city in Guatemala is Antigua, just an hour's ride away from Guatemala City. A fitting post for the first day in the A to Z Challenge, since it is often the first place outside Guatemala City tourists go see.

Many American and European expats live here as it is so beautiful, quiet and clean.  Antigua has ordinances against horn-honking and sign placement, unlike other towns and villages of Guatemala, to keep the city pristine for tourism.

I love to visit Antigua because of the ancient history preserved here, dating back from when the Spanish settled and established their colonies. Below are a few pictures I took recently in Antigua.

We picked up our son at the airport in Guatemala City and stopped at this scenic and historic courtyard to unwind

And then we went to Antigua's Central Park...passing this fellow along the way...

I haggled with a street vendor and got a coral necklace ("not plastic!" she told me) for Q12, or about $1.50 in American currency.  After buying fresh mango, papaya and pineapple-- cut and bagged-- we sat on a park bench and then went on our way.

Goodbye, Antigua. Until next time...

And April Around the Corner

Ever feel like life is on high speed? It's past the half-way point in March which means April is ahead and we all know what that means: A TO Z CHALLENGE.

Funny, when I signed up for the Challenge it felt like there was plenty of time. To plan out posts and write them in advance, take photos of my life here in beautiful Guatemala, get them on the laptop and lined up for those 30 alphabetized posts.

GAH! But every year is the same. The A to Z Challenge entices me and then I want to quit haha!

Which is why it's a challenge. If it were easy, it would have died out by now. People are attracted to challenge--we like to do hard, even impossible tasks. We're all sick that way.

See you back here in April!

Multiplying Talents

When I recently learned my youngest sister was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, I wondered what in the world I could do to help her so far away in Guatemala. One of our WiDo authors, David Kalish, helped me out. I immediately thought of him because in his book The Opposite of Everything, a semi-autobiographical novel, the main character gets a cancer diagnosis. Since Dave has been through it, I asked him his thoughts.

He wrote back to me: "I'm so sorry to hear about your sister, and I understand how you must feel being in Guatemala while she's in Minnesota, that you want to be there for her in whatever way you can. Although email communication has limits, it's also a way for you to use your strength as a writer, to be honest and strong for her in the way that only writers can be. And, of course, ask her how she wants you to support her, let her know that your heart is wide open for anything she needs and wants from you."

This was exactly what I needed to hear. When my mom had her stroke, I didn't email her during the last months of her life, stupidly not even thinking about it. I didn't want to make the same mistake with my sister. So I've been emailing regularly and although she's been too ill right now to respond, I was told that yes, "she reads your emails and loves them."

I asked one of my sons to use his particular talents to make a video clip of my sister. His clip so perfectly captures her as a young girl, with the child-like spirit she has kept fresh throughout her life.

And I have learned that regardless of how insignificant one might think a talent is, when it's used to bless  others, a talent becomes very large indeed.

A Rooster Welcomes Me to Guatemala

Yesterday Bruce and I arrived in Guatemala, currently in Panajachel, staying at the hotel Casa Colonial. It's not yet open to guests, but family members can use certain rooms until achieving permanent lodgings.

My husband is sitting out on the balcony (pictured on my blog header) reading. We are happy to be here but disappointed in our supposedly International phone service with Verizon. In other words, no service. Which bothers Bruce because the phone is how he does his major work with WiDo. And bothers me because I want to text my kids and say "We are here!"

But I have my laptop, the Internet, paper and pens. And there's a Mormon church down the street we plan to attend this morning. Although the services will of course be in Spanish, we'll feel right at home.

We woke up at dawn to a rooster crowing, followed by the symphony of many birds soon after--different bird sounds than what I'm used to in North America. I look forward to learning what they are.

The rooster's welcome call (exactly how it felt to me) I recognized with no trouble at all. It is the familiar signal, at least to this Nebraska farm girl's daughter, of home and family and land and productivity. Hearing it made me think, I'm home.

Planted in Different Gardens

My husband and I are currently visiting our oldest son and his family. Each day when our son and his wife and their two children leave early in a flurry for their long day at school (the parents are both teachers)-- my husband and I marvel at the well-orchestrated organization of this household.

The adults are extremely busy as are the children, yet they all manage so very well. It's a peaceful, happy, productive home. My husband and I know we could not have pulled it off. There's no way I could have had kids in school and still managed a career. My brain doesn't work like that. And neither does his. He's at a loss when it comes to managing anything involving the kitchen, except maybe emptying the dishwasher and fixing the occasional pancake breakfast on a Saturday morning.

Yet people used to marvel at our large family and say: "How'd you do it?"
Answer: "Uh, don't really know. It's just our life and we do the best we can."

I think it's ridiculous when people think everyone should be like them. But I hear it everywhere: "Why don't they do it like this?" Or "I do this, and I don't understand why so and so doesn't do it the same." Or "It's wrong to think that!"

In other words: "Why doesn't everyone in the world think and act exactly like me?"

Just like the diversity in a beautiful garden, the variety of life and lifestyles and choices and daily routines is what makes this world so fascinating!

The apple tree doesn't say to the rose bush: "Why don't you grow apples instead of flowers? What a waste of time. You can't eat roses or do anything but look at them and smell them. Geesh! I don't understand you at all. Stupid thorny short rose bush."

Yet the more advanced we become, the more backward and lacking in understanding people seem to get. You see it everywhere: Expressions of anger when others have different ideas from them. So we're all supposed to be the exact same, and think alike, and believe the same thing? What a boring world that would make.

God didn't create a world of sameness but a thrilling place, an environment full of interesting twists and delightful surprises. A platypus and a tiger inhabit the same earth, after all, just not the same garden.

Downsizing Like a Rock Star

Years ago I read an article about a couple who, after the kids had grown and moved out, downsized from the large family home in the suburbs to a one bedroom apartment in the city. They gave away or sold nearly everything they owned, including their car. When they wanted to travel, they took a taxi to the airport.

I remember feeling so envious of the unknown couple and deep inside, my desire to downsize like this took root. When the opportunity came for us to move to Guatemala and embrace the expat life, it didn’t take long to say YES!  (read more here)

End of Year Reflections and a Really Big Change

One reason I love blogging is feeling connected to a larger community of writers. Exactly why I started this blog 4 years ago, and why I titled it "Coming Down the Mountain."

As writers, we must seclude ourselves for long lengths of time to get the work done. To me, it's like being on a high mountain away from people. And then it's time to come down to re-enter life, because after all, life fuels the writing.

The past year I've felt the desire to "get back on that mountain." Not just with the writing itself but by providing myself with an environment to better support my creative nature. I craved such an environment.

If my fondest dream were granted, it would be to live in the south of France or an Italian cottage and write full-time. To get out of the Western suburbs where we've been for so long-- a wonderful place to raise a family but too full of distractions to suit my current needs.

Of course, I knew it was an impossible dream. My husband and I raised a large family on one income--his-- and now we run a publishing company: neither of which point the way to wealth and prosperity.  No way could we escape to the south of France.

But if there's one thing I've learn it's that dreams do come true. Sometimes they're tweaked a bit to fit the circumstances-- in which case they often turn out better than imagined.

In January, my husband and I will be moving to Panajachel, Guatemala, where our daughter and son-in-law are preparing to open a small resort hotel. Bruce and I will continue to operate WiDo with the assistance of our staff in Salt Lake City and Houston. And we will become part of the vast expat population migrating to Central America from the US and Europe, seeking a simpler lifestyle where one can live well on less.

Most of all, I am excited to leave behind the traffic and noise and shopping centers and constant coming and going of the suburbs where we now live, and get back to that "mountain." We won't even have a car. We won't own a home. I may not have a dishwasher. Or a cell phone. There's no Costco.

We will, however, have the Internet. Thankfully. WiFi allows us to continue working for WiDo and to stay connected online and to Skype with family members, while we live on a third of what it costs us to manage in the States.

And giving up so much will give me what I really want: the kind of environment and schedule I crave to write more books. A year ago when I mapped out my year and wrote out my New Year Resolutions, I never imagined all this was in store for 2014.

My new goals will be very much like they were last year (lose weight, exercise more, eat less sugar, write another novel, be nicer to people) only set in a different locale, even a different country, with one stand-out addition: Become fluent in Spanish.

Christmas Transitions

Our parents loved to take photos of their four daughters, especially at Christmastime. The traditional Christmas photo in front of the tree is scattered in our old picture collections.

In this one, I got to hold the new baby, our youngest sister. I remember feeling so special that I was the one to hold her for this picture. You can see a much bigger smile on my face than usual. Normally I just stared at the camera with big eyes as though to say, "Huh? Really?"

Here we are as teens/young adults. My sister set the picture in front of a pie made especially for our recent Christmas gathering. Can you guess which one is me?

And so this weekend when we all gathered in Minnesota for a sister reunion, we of course had to recreate the Jones Girl Christmas photo:

Leaving to go home is tough. I sure love my sisters! And I'll miss them until next time we can all get together again.

Merry Christmas to all of you, my dear blogging friends, as you celebrate the season with your loved ones. I will see you all next year!

What Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writers about Success

Malcolm Gladwell, bestselling author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference and Outliers: The Story of Success, among other books, was recently interviewed in Costco Magazine.

Having just re-read The Tipping Point and Outliers for the third time, I was thrilled to see that Gladwell has a new book out. It's called David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants. Wow, sounds great! Especially knowing how Gladwell takes a subject and analyzes it inside and out, writing about it in a way that makes me think of new things in new ways.

But what I really appreciated about the Costco article is how Gladwell seems to epitomize what to me is the ideal attitude for a writer's success and productivity.

What does Malcolm Gladwell know?

He knows his audience.

"I write for people who are curious and who don't mind having their beliefs challenged. If you think going to a library is an exciting event, you will probably enjoy my books."

He knows how to write what he loves.

"People sense that I'm doing things out of pure enjoyment. I'm not pandering to an audience or following a formula. I'm just writing about cool stuff that interests me, and people respond to that."

Despite his astounding success, he knows there is so much more to learn.

"The more I write these books, the less convinced I am of my own inherent wisdom. I've convinced myself that I'm pretty bad at making sense of the world and need a lot of help."

He knows that money and acclaim isn't what it's all about. He never set out to write a bestseller.

"I never had any great desire to be well-known or to sell a lot of books. I've only ever wanted to do my own thing. and all of this happened just as an accident."

He knows where he came from, who he is, and it is all just fine with him.

"Canada is a deeply unpretentious place. You can't grow up in Canada and have all kinds of airs."

Regardless of where any of us are in our writing journeys, I'd say we can all learn a lot about success from Malcolm Gladwell.

Characters Who Jump Off the Page

Today I am visiting Wendy Ewurum over at Fabulosity Reads, talking about writing characters who come alive.

Wendy's blog is a real treasure for both writers and readers. She does guest posts, interviews with authors, book reviews, and more. She is so willing to help out with a book release. Her reviews are thoughtful, in-depth and always contain quotable blurb gems.

If you're looking for someone to help with an upcoming release-- or to review your book that's already out-- please consider asking Wendy. Her Fabulosity Reads blog is truly fabulous!

See you over there!