Copan Ruinas, Honduras

 On Sunday morning, John and I visited the Copan Ruinas, an ancient center of Mayan civilization. We got there early and had the place almost to ourselves. An amazing experience.

Great Small Engine Motorcycles You Will Never See in the United States

In Antigua we saw small engine motorcycles everywhere, 125-200 cc. Efficient and capable on the cobblestone streets, families driving around on one motorcycle. Americans would never be seen on such bikes. I did see one groups of American riders in Antigua- bmw r1100s, fully loaded with expedition bags and complaining about the bumps. The size of the motorcycles seemed excessive. 

Our original plan in Antigua was to rent motorcycles and ride them to the libraries. But the  motorcycle rental agency, CATour, said they had no bikes for those dates.... I honestly think there was more to it than that, but they weren't saying. Anyway, I would love to ride through Central America and down through South America one day.

Chichicastenango, Quiche, and Consequences of Street Food

(Photo, Public Square, Quiche)

After a series of five different local buses, John and I traveled from Lake Atitlan to the Department of Quiche, an indigenous area of Guatemala, altitude of 6,500 feet.

(Following photos, Chichicastenango)

John and I visited a library in local Chiche on Wednesday afternoon and spent the evening in Chichicastenango (Chichi), the largest town in the area. Chichi is known for its large market, held twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays. Wednesday night we walked through town accompanied by loud music and fireworks in celebration of the Christmas season. We sat at a local food booth, as we had before in other areas, and ate fresh pineapple, pupusas, lemon pie, and a delicious hot chocolate oatmeal drink.

I suspect it was the "salada" on top of the pupusas that did it. I brushed mine off, John ate his. Poor John. Anyhoo- that night was a rather strange experience. Did you know that the sound of many roosters at night can sound like souls crying out, burning in hell? And that fireworks at 3 a.m. are more annoying than celebratory? Tie together with a heavy string of nausea and tummy troubles. A good ("good") travel memory.


Next day started with white bread and black coffee. We didn't have much heart for shopping but managed to buy two things, a set of place mats/napkins for John and a shawl for myself. Now I wish I had bought more, but I didn't have the appetite at the time.

If you ever have the chance, Chichicastenango is an incredible place. Go in early December and you will encounter few tourists and can catch some of the Christmas celebration.

Lake Atitlan, the communities of Panajachel and San Juan

We arrived at Lake Atitlan by a series of local buses on December 5. Found our rather smelly and dreary hotel in Panajachel (which will remain unnamed- a warning to fellow travelers, never travel with a seven year old travel guide-- obviously this place had seen better days). The next day we were to visit the library in San Juan La Laguna, across the lake, and to celebrate John's birthday. (photo: Church both old and new, in San Pedro).



Panajachel is a tourist town along the lake, a base for exploring the many surrounding communities. Lake Atitlan is gorgeous and easily traveled by the many public boat taxis.






Photo: Lakeside in Panajachel.

We had a great time exploring the area, enjoying the wet and wonderful ride across the lake at top speed, and found a great taqueria by our hotel to celebrate John's birthday. While other tourists were eating Indian or Mexican fare on the main street, we were eating tacos, three for $1.25.

Feliz Navidad Rudolph!

Totonicapan, Guatemala

Four hours and three buses to travel from Antigua to Totonicapan, a small city in the Western Highlands of Guatemala, population about 94,000. While riding the local buses, we had to hold on tight, for fear of sliding off the seats, into our neighbors' laps. Evidently, the furthest seat in the back of the bus (our seat), means you bounce the highest over the speed bumps. We had no problem finding connecting buses with the help of others.


















In Totonicapan, we checked into a dreary hotel with no windows, the Hotel Totonicapan. We enjoyed getting OUT of the hotel and into the streets. We spent the evening walking around the market, drinking coffee and eating donuts, and hanging out at the main square, listening to music piped through town.

Las Tierras Altas, Mountain Biking Near Antigua

Headed out early in the morning, ate breakfast at a great place called Fernando's Cafe. Walked to Old Town Outfitters, a local tour operator, for a mountain bike ride with our guide, Arnoldo. Upon seeing us, I think Arnoldo was a bit worried, John in his jeans and me in my maryjane shoes. I think he was reassured him when we were able to make it up the first big hill.

The ride was a mix of paved road and dirt. Riding on the dirt proved a challenge for us roadies. The cliff next to the single dirt track was like a Siren's call to my front tire. I fell twice, landing quite close to the edge the second time. That was when I realized we didn't sign a liability waiver...   ; )

I made it safely to the small town of San Andres Itzapa to visit with San Simon (known as Maximon in other regions), A wax figure behind glass, people offer gifts of cigarettes, alcohol, and cigars in exchange for various benefits. San Simon is not so much a Christian saint but a Mayan folk saint with roots that go back before Columbus.

The ride lasted four hours, a good workout resulting in a great appetite. We ate at a chicken chain restaurant, Pollo Campero, breaking with my vegetarian ways with chicken and fries. That evening we enjoyed several free Christmas activities along the streets of Antigua including a children's Christmas concert and a live nativity. Antigua may be the Disneyland of Guatemala but it is still a lovely and welcoming place.

Antigua, Guatemala

John and I are spending the next three days in the lovely colonial city of Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Anyone that has visited Antigua knows it is a beautiful place, a bit unreal-- Disney like. To paraphrase Lonley Planet, Antigua is what Guatemala would look like if the Scandinavians came in and took over.

In Antigua, John and I do what we always do when travelling. We walked... and walked... and walked. And took a lot of pictures.The above pictures are one of the most photographed scenes in the world... 5 Calle, or, the street with the arch.

More pictures and stories of Antigua soon...

Feria International del Libro de Guadalajara

November 27-30 at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara, Mexico. I was able to attend due to the financial aid of ALA and donating publishers/vendors that give travel grants to members of the American Library Association. I received $200 towards my airfare, three nights hotel, and free registration to the Book Fair.For more information about the Free Pass Program , see the web site for ALA International Relations Office. Plus the vendors supply a fabulous gala dinner for all ALA participating librarians

In size, FIL can be compared to the Vendor Hall at an ALA Annual Conference.  In content, it is all about books. All kinds of books: children's, scholarly, photography, artisan, how-to, popular culture, graphic novels... Many librarians come to FIL with a credit card, collecting book as they travel through the Fair and mailing them back home. Others walk through escorted by a vendor representative that takes notes of desired titles in order to gather and send out later.  Many books published in Latin America are limited in number, making it difficult to acquire through a vendor after retruning home.

Many of the ALA Free Pass librarians balance out the book fair with day trips to the nearby artisan towns of Tlaquepaque or Tonala. I have visited these places on previous trips to FIL and they are adorable with good shopping. Lake Chapala is also nearby, full of ex-pats in their retiremment communiities. This trip I spent my extra time working on a revision of my dissertation summary... getting VERY close to being finished..

Overnight Autumn Bicycle Trip, Blue Ridge Parkway

Fall break! John and I decided to get out for one last bike tour before winter. We missed the high point of the Fall leaf season by only a couple of days (due to strong rain and winds) but still gorgeous. The weather completely cooperated, cool but not cold and no rain.


We headed up Winklers Creek and onto old 221. Rode on the Blue Ridge Parkway until we reached Linville Falls Campground.






Arriving early afternoon, we headed to Famous Louise's for pie and coffee. Walked to the Falls for a short hike. All in all, a wonderful and well deserved break.

Bicycles Are Cheap

And he is not talking about the bike that cost more than a BMW F650GS (cars are damn expensive to operate).

Bicycles Are Cheap: One of the stranger political phenomena of the past 10 years has been the extent to which the non-automobile transportation in many cities has been coded a “white” area of concern. When someone writes a piece about the growing market for automobiles in China, nobody thinks that’s an article about how China’s getting poorer. As [...]/p

Moving Planet 9/24/11

McKibben on Moving Planet 9/24/11: “If We’re Going to Win This Global Fight, We Need a Global Movement.”

Amendment to Kill Bike/Ped Funding?

How Dangerous is Sen. Coburn’s Amendment to Kill Bike/Ped Funding?

Bicyclists and Pedestrians

Newest GOP Hostages: Bicyclists and Pedestrians | Crooks and Liars

Writing instead of riding and Anniversary

Been working hard on my dissertation. Don't know why but I can't find sufficient energy to balance long hours of writing with riding my bike or motorcycle. My muscles are atrophying and my chains are rusting. As I wrote in my introduction, my dissertation topic is about international library development, questioning if these libraries are relevant and sustainable. My blogs for my two field trips can be found at http://llpzambia.blogspot.com/ and http://oclfvolunteer.blogspot.com/.

By the way, yesterday was the three year anniversary of my motorcycle accident in which I broke 20+ bones. I'm all better now and have some pretty impressive scars. I am amazed at my body's recuperative powers.

I do get a lot of questions from people since I purchased a new motorcycle. And of course I have not yet told family back in Kansas about the BMW F650GS.. Guess in some ways, I'm hoping they find this blog and can love me despite my love of motorcycles.

Tomorrow I get to celebrate my anniversary by riding to Durham to visit Emma at school. A 6 hour ride/break from dissertation. Celebration of life!!!

Tennessee Mom Threatened With Arrest For Letting Daughter Bike to School

Many years ago, in a small town in Kansas, I biked everywhere--school, swimming pool, dad's station, downtown drugstore, I guess the world's no longer safe from a 10-year old on a bike.

Tennessee Mom Threatened With Arrest For Letting Daughter Bike to School

Tallahassee Road Trip

I took a 1200 mile road trip to visit friends in Tallahassee over the weekend. I stayed with Amy, a fellow Technical Services librarian that now works at Florida State, and visited with Laura and Barry, two friends with the shared interests of international education, motorcycles, and bicycles. I made the trip on my BMW F650GS. It took about twelve and a half hours each way, traveling on secondary roads through small towns. The scenery in Georgia was not at all what I suspected, it was beautiful large pine trees and rolling hills. I saw very few cars and few people in the towns I passed through, kind of pleasant in a post-apocalyptic kind of way.

Saturday morning Amy gave me the grand tour of the Technical Services building at Florida State. Technical  Services is housed in a building apart from the main campus library, one big main room with a lot of desks and a few private offices for faculty librarians.

Made me very appreciative of my office in Belk Library with its fabulous big window. Also makes me wonder if there has ever existed a Public Services department in a library that had the same set up. Doubt it.

A lot of construction happening on campus. The quad was very pretty, I especially liked the central fountain with statues of female students through the years (Florida State was all-female until the 40s). The main library, the Robert Manning Strozier Library, is in the center of campus.

After the campus tour Amy took me to Lichgate cottage, an adorable house by a huge oak tree. The weather was heating up so we took refuge in an art cinema, the Miracle 5 Cinema. Saddest thing, the cinema closed later that same week, leaving Tallahassee to the mercy of commercial Hollywood.

Sunday morning I visited with Laura and Barry, two friends that lived in Boone. Laura works in the field of international education and Barry spent time working in a library in Nigeria (where Laura was working in Admissions). They both ride motorcycles and Barry has a large collection of vintage bikes (BMW motorcycles and bicycles). They had a new addition to their family, Olive the Beautiful.

It was great talking about international education, travel, bikes, and life. Dinner was fabulous, much of it was grown by Barry and Laura. Plus the homemade key lime pie Laura made was wonderful! I really miss all of these friends and it was a great weekend adventure. (Note: The F650GS averaged 61.1 miles per gallon)