Kate and Neil’s Awesome Website

For dinner tonight Kate and I made focaccia bread and stuffed it with grilled summer veggies. I was worried San Cristobal’s high elevation would affect the quality of the focaccia but it turned out nearly perfect. I added too much oregano to the recipe because it’s the only spice we have and so I substituted it for thyme, rosemary, and basil. Also we bought the oregano from a street vendor and lets just say it is hanky raw. I was pulling twigs or stems if oregano 1/2 and inch long out of the bread. Ether way it was awesome. So if your dying for something light and tasty on a hot summer day I recommend grilled veggies on some homemade focaccia.

Oh down this far south we basically have summer veggies year round, hence the title.

We have had rain the last few days…and lots of it. Apparently San Cristobal doesn’t handle rain very well. I was told that a few years ago the entire city flooded because the main drainage pipe was blocked with garbage. There was so much water the military had to blow up the drainage pipe with a bomb to get the water draining. I was told this in Spanish so please question its accuracy…but it did happen. There are some photos of the New World Archaeological Compound Kate and I live & work in with 4 feet of water in some rooms.

Today the sun is out and the clouds aren’t so menacing. The rain has been fun, especially soothing at night. The sound is very lulling. The say the mosquitoes come out when the rainy season starts but they go away as the rain continues. I am just glad Kate and I aren’t living down the mountain where it is hot and mosquitoy all the time.

Our neighbor, Hoover, is very kind. He always offers us rides in his yellow/white 2000 VW bug. Turns out that in Mexico they did not stop manufacturing the classic Beetles until 2003. They are EVERYWHERE in Mexico. I am pretty sure that you can cross no major (or minor) street in Mexico without seeing one. As far as we can tell, and as far as cars have come- they seems to us to be the perfect car. It gets upwards of 50 miles per gallon & according to Hoover can fit at many as 13 people. I´m not sure how this is physically or legally possible, but I´ve been it already with 7 people and it was almost comfy. Very diverse little vehicles.

The fact of the matter is that in Mexico parking is a huge issue. These little champs of cars can only be trumped in that area. They do not have a radiator, they have an air cooled engine (I´ll admit to not having any idea about the merits of this, but it sounds impressive). They are user-friendly and can even float.

So, basically after drilling Hoover (in Spanish, mind you) about the pros and cons of the Beetles, Neil was sold. I, being very easily swayed by impassioned arguments, was quickly convinced. And then we created our vision. We wanted a lime green 2000+ Beetle with www.kateandneil.com emblazoned across it. We would import it to the US via one fantastic international road trip of glory and live the rest of our days with Beetle goodness.

However, a little superficial ´net research yielded the answer I was afraid I´d find. Turns out It is illegal to own & operate a Mexican Beetle in the US. There are no air bags and no side door impact beams. Apparently it may not meet emissions restrictions either. When we learned that upon crossing the US border the car would most likely be seized, our dream started to fade.

All is well. We just got the fast internet installed after a killer day talking to 15 internet techs, 5 phone techs, an actually guy coming out to and fixing the phone lines. Anyway after 6 hours of yelling on the phone and at each other (I am sure Kate will mention this in her blog) we got it working. It is still not that fast but man does it beat dial up. Well enjoy the vid.

We have had the enormous pleasure of having two friends in town for the past week. Ashley Sanders & Chris Neilson are on a whirlwind tour of Mexico & Guatemala & have come to San Cristobal for some rest & relaxation that only a strange archaeological compound can offer!

It has been fun to have Ash & Chris join us on the rancho (ie the compound… not really anything like a ranch, except it does have a garden, and is in Mexico). It`s mostly fun because it gives Neil and I a chance to chat with other people. Not that we don`t enjoy each other, but we’ve been hitting it pretty hard lately with only each other to bounce ideas & thoughts off of. And, if you know anything about Ashley Sanders, you know that she LOVES a good conversation. Or any conversation for that matter.

Recent discussion topics have included:

* If you could put in a robotic body part what would it be?

* What do you want to emulate & avoid about your parents?

* What does it mean to live the law of consecration in our day?

* If you had to choose one extreme sport hobby to obsess over, what would it be?

I of course said, Robotic Spine, being supportive but being a more direct communicator, give everything you earn to the Bishop Hugh Nibley style, and four-wheeling in a tricked out H1.

Don`t judge me.

We have been trying to perfect brownies here for our neighbors. So far they are pretty good, but not quite like the boxed delight at home.

Aside from full-time brownie making…

In an all-time record for fastest calling given, with exactly 8 days in the country Kate was called to be the Gospel Doctrine teacher in the San Cristobal Ward.

It is a great ward. They just made the transition from branch to ward about three weeks ago. It will be exciting to teach about the New Testament in Spanish. I´ll have to brush up on my vocabulary & find some Spanish scriptures. I am also excited to introduce the concept of timeliness into the ward, which on average goes over at least 20 min over the lesson times, from what we´ve seen so far.

They haven´t really caught the gyst of not hitting EVERY point in the manual. Unfortunately, I have a tendency to go over time as well, so I have assigned Neil as keeper of the time. He is going to flag me down if I get to close to the end without winding up!

It´s going to be exciting!

Well here it is, our first attempt at a video. This video was taken at a festival in a small town outside of Xela, Guatemala about a week and a half ago.

I am trying to get more of the videos on our YouTube account, so be sure to check back often.

Mexico things are going well. We are currently having a few friends visit for a week and it is nice to have the company. I have been working hard to get the computer systems up and running in the compound but things go much slower in Mexico than the US. Much needed high speed Internet takes up to 10 days to install once the order has been placed. So by next week we should have it. Also to add a little more adventure to our stay, the compound’s water supply has been failing all weekend and we have had to go most of the weekend without water. Not that it is hard or anything, when I lived in Kenya it was much worse, but when it comes unexpected and you are unprepared, and you need to go to the bathroom, and there is not water to flush the toilets, then things get a little uncomfortable.

We love it here, though, and are enjoying every second. We will try to get more of our videos up on YouTube as soon as we get a fast internet connection (I will try and post one more tomorrow), so be sure to check back. Also we will get a commenting engine installed this week so if you’re struggling to find a place to leave a comment don’t fret, it is on its way.

P.S. our YouTube site is http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=kateandneildotcom

We have finally arrived in San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico. Hurrah! After what seemed to be much more than 10 days in Guatemala we are glad to be settling in and not hotel hopping & carrying heavy bags on crowded buses any more. (Although I have to admit here that Neil was carrying about 75% of the total weight in his gigantic-could-fit-an-adult-human bag).

San Cristobal is a big-ish city in the southernmost state in Mexico (Chiapas). It has it´s pretty touristy center part of the city, replete with vegetarian restaurants & hippie hang-outs, but our place is about a 15 min. taxi drive from the center.

We are living in a compound that holds a bunch of artifacts and offices for the New World Archaeological Foundation, which is based at BYU, but the main out of country office is here in Mexico.

It is a pretty strange place with a main courtyard that holds a secret-garden esqe little place (see above). There are tons of huge cabinets that hold all kinds of Olmec artifacts from pottery to obsidian arrowheads to bones. There is a library with all kinds of archaeological books, maps, manuscripts etc.

Our living quarters are part office part apartment of Neil´s boss, Dr. John Clark. This is the professor he has been working for about 4 years at BYU, drawing maps and artifacts for Dr. Clark´s publications.

This is our little front porch in front of the apartment. We also have a little staircase that leads to a deck on the roof with a great view of the surrounding hills and the city of San Cristobal.

We are living in a compound that holds a bunch of artifacts and offices for the New World Archeological Foundation, which is based at BYU, but the main out of country office is here in Mexico.

It is a pretty strange place with a main courtyard that holds a secret-garden esqe little place (see above). There are tons of huge cabinets that hold all kinds of Olmec artifacts from pottery to obsidian arrowheads to bones. There is a library with all kinds of archeological books, maps, manuscripts etc.

Our living quarters are part office part apartment of Neil´s boss, Dr. John Clark. This is the professor he has been working for about 4 years at BYU, drawing maps and artifacts for Dr. Clark´s publications.

This is our little front porch in front of the apartment. We also have a little staircase that leads to a deck on the roof with a great view of the surrounding hills and the city of San Cristobal.

This is a view of our kitchen. We have a stove, a microwave & even a toaster- which we didn´t have in our apt. back home. So, we are really living in style down here. Speaking of style… you may be able to make out the old fashioned car curtains and the file cabinets, Dr. Clark is definitely more of an academic than an interior decorator.

And, of course, you can see our huge jug o´ purified water. We only drink bottled water. Neil has ventured out of the safety of this practice, and paid the price in stomach troubles. So, we have learned our lesson.

This is a view of our kitchen. We have a stove, a microwave & even a toaster- which we didn´t have in our apt. back home. So, we are really living in style down here. Speaking of style… you may be able to make out the old fashioned car curtains and the file cabinets, Dr. Clark is definitely more of an academic than an interior decorator.

And, of course, you can see our huge jug o´ purified water. We only drink bottled water. Neil has ventured out of the safety of this practice, and paid the price in stomach troubles. So, we have learned our lesson.

Just to the right of the kitchen is a little office space. Neil and I are happy to have internet in the apartment, primarily so that we don´t have to pay through the nose to use the internet at internet cafes, but also so we can keep the website updated! We also have a phone. Send us an email and we will get you the number.

There are also a bunch of random things that Dr. Clark has left in the apartment like old tools and artifacts lying around, as well as a frighteningly large quantity of size 18 old man hiking boots from the 1970s. That´s first on the list of (many) things to get rid of!

We went to the chapel today and it was great. The branch here just turned into a ward about two weeks ago. They were all very friendly and kind. Another family lives here on the compound, and they are members as well. They have been taking care of us and showing us around for the first couple of days.

We are really excited about living here in San Cristobal. We are looking forward to quite the adventure.

Neil and I have spent a lovely week in Xela, Guatemala. It`s in the North West-ish corner of the country. It’s a good 6 hour bumpy, dangerous (due to driving customs) trip. Thus, not as many touristas make it up here. Therefore, we like it a lot more than the more touristy parts. No nappy-dreaded drunkards giving us whities a bad rap.

It´s a really pretty city that looks pretty European in the central part. We have been taking classes at the Kie-Baalam Spanish school. We each have had our own private tutors for a week. It`s been a lot of studying, 5 hours a day, but it`s been really good to get back into the grammar etc. Neil has already picked up present and preterit tenses.

Si no fuese blanco, seria latino!

Last night I nearly had a nasty accident in the bed, lucky I was lucid enough to make a dash for the restroom before tragedy occurred. I am not one to brag about much, but my so called iron tummy is something else. While I traveled India with a university group I think I was the only one never to experience gastro-intestinal issues.

As a kid growing up in Kenya I would eat/drink just about anything that came my way, be it from the floor, a sketchy food stall, or my friend’s mother’s cooking…and never had problems. Yet, here I am in Guatemala and just after the week mark I have been hammered with a mean old bug. I skipped my Spanish class this morning (we were going to a big market) because I was too scared to go far from a restroom. Anyway I am feeling well enough to go across the street to an internet cafe…Kate just came back from class…so I better finish up.

Anyway Xela (Quetzaltenago) is great; I would recommend anyone traveling to visit. Kate and I are moving on to San Cristobal tomorrow some time, and while sad, are excited to move out of a hotel and into a long term apartment.

P.S. We have some great video footage of traditional Guatemalan costume dance, we will post it soon.