Day Three.....Guatemala

We are in the Caribbean Coast. Ready for another Adventure Brent is alway good for a Boat Ride

Even with a load of Old Folks (Not us). We are up for a Race

Not to sure about wearing the Life Jacket

Passing through a fishing village. Made me think about the Gullable Gulls story.

Now wonder they don't wash the boats down.

Four years old...Cute as a Pin....No life jacket.. Crocks in the Rio Dulce (river sweet). Check out the boat.. School is available but so far from home that they don't get school.

She came over to show me the lobster that she had caught.

This is her home on the river. Must be laudry day.

Believe it or not the bus went down these streets. Got to be good.

Kind of reminded me of the old days.

These are called Stelae's. We are at a Myan site

called Quirigua. The high priests had these made in their honor. Notice the headress and they lots of Jade to indicate how powerfull they were. There arms are folded and they are holding a sword. Like that of Laban. They also had a round sphere like the Liahona When they found these they were all on the ground and they needed to stand them up.

Good chance to discuss with Brent what was really going on. Loved the opportunity. He was so much fun to be with.

Diane surely liked what we were seeing.

It will be good to get the pictures they took on their camera.

This is one of the Cieba trees (Tree of Life to the

Myan). They get about 300 years old.

Give you a good idea how big these trees can really get. They said that this tree is about 200 years old.

Sure were some wonderful things to see. Can't wait to take the kids there.

The stories told by these carvings are amazing.

This is where you could imaging King Mosiah giving his talk. The Acoustics were amazing.

More of Day Two

Everytime there was a new high Priest. He built over the top of the Altar of the Previous High Priest. He wanted to be bigger and better. More Jade head dress. More feathers and bigger alter. Orginally these altars were plastered over with a smooth surface. The were also bright colors In't she Cute!!! What a great travel companion. Climbing one of the Altars. They were solid because they just kept making it wider and taller than before The Mayan calandars were so accurate that they were within four hours of our current calandar. The hole in this rock was situated so that on June 21st if your standing so as to look through the hole, the Sun would shine straight through.

This is a picture of the rock with the hole from the back side.

This in an Altar that was in the process of being built over. They would expand it, then fill the void with rocks before they plastered it over. Didn't ever get finished because of the draught... and they moved on

Some of the courts were amazing. Well...all of them were.

The rise on the steps were very high because only the high priests were allowed to go up. So they made it somewhat difficult.

Most of the courts were not grass but solid limestone between them. The way they were positoned you could clap your hands and you could hear it for a very long distance. The aucutics were fabulous. I can finally understand how Mosiah could have had such a large audience and be heard by everybody.

Day Two

Traveling out of New Orleans. I always thought that the boot of Louisiana was solid. Not so..... No wonder there was so much trouble with Katrina and the oil refineries. It took most of the night to work out to the Gulf of Mexico We used our time during the trip to do all that we could do not to gain weight. Good eating. We found that an 800 foot long boat could be a great walk. Eight times around equals 2.8 miles. Diane and Stephen had a bet before they left. Can't wait to see who won. (Jerusalem or the Tractor)

Here I am following up the rear. So what new

Pretty fancy place to eat. Just one of many restaurants

on the boat. Too many forks for me. We had great company from our group

We took lots of Pencils, Crayons, Notebooks, erasers

etc. We had backpacks to get them off the boat so that

they would not be a noticable. We were told if the Authorities knew what we were

up to they would take it all away.

All smiles in Coasta Maya, Mexico. The weather

was great and our backpacks were full with no

one the wiser. The water was sooooo blue. Next time I will

be certified to Scuba Dive. Right Brent Cute little school. One room with kids that don't

have the supplies they need. What a coincidence

Go figure ! Wonder who is inside? This looks like a great place to reduce the weight

before we continue the day!!

Just Loved talking to the kids. Some of us could use the language.....Some

couldn't but don't think the kids didn't know

what was being said to them. LOTS OF LOVE Best Pay Ever......We got a special song No Diane and Catherine.....You can't stay.....

Too much Grandma in you. Well ....off to the bus for the rest of the journey These Altars were cool. Everytime there was a

new High Priest, they added to it so that theirs was

bigger and better than the one before.

This is a ceiba tree. In the Myan culture

it is the Tree of Life. If I had the space

to expain it, you could understand. There about 50 sites that have not been reclaimed

in just this one spot. Anytime you would see a hill

like this in such a flat land, you would know the

Archeologist needed to come Right next to it. One compelely done.

ADVENTURE OF A LIFTIME !!!!

I am getting the hang of this blogging a little but find that when you post.... you need to work from the bottom and end with what you want to be first. This won't work real well for what I would like to to. I also can't spend the time to blog the entire trip in one setting. I will try and share as much as possible but will say that I will not even touch the surface of what a great experience it was. To spend eight days with Brent and Edie and Stephen and Diane with Catherine was Sooooooooooooo Muchhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Funnnnnnnnnnnnnnn !!!! I wish the other Brother and Sister and their spouses could have experienced it with us. Maybe another time. I will try and share thoughts and pictures of each day ..one at a time. We were gone for eight days. We traveled the Gulf Coast and spent time in Central America. We had adventures in Costa Maya Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Cozumel Mexico. We visited ancient Mayan sites that are thought to be those of the Lamanites, Jaradites and Mulicites. It did not make a testimony but certainly strengthened one with all of the evidence and similarities of the Book of Mormon times and Prophets.

Getting Started

We all get through security except Brent and Edie They went through there stuff and took some items. Brent tried to pay for his checked luggage with his credit card and it was denied. I think he is getting to think this is a bad oman. We had a great experience at this little Branch This is the same Church the the University of Utah members attended when they were there for the Sugar Bowl. This guy was all polished up. At first I thought it was a statue. He started to move with the music and was looking for a donation. It was actually pretty entertaining The building in the French Quarter were pretty cool looking We got a treat at a place called "Cafe De Mode" They were famous in the French Quarter for making something like a Scone with LOTS of powder sugar. People were sitting at a table to eat them. Can't imagine how you could eat them without standing over. Catherine had the best stance We spent part of the Day in the French Quarter

of New Orleans seeing the sights. They were

playing awesome music in the park area

We Walked along the boardwalk. This guy just held in

this position without moving. It made my arms tired.

He wanted you to put money in the box in front of him.

If he worked as hard at a job as he did to hold still he could

probably hold a pretty good job. We go through port security...they make us

take off things like in the airport. They reminded me

that I needed to take off my watch and put it in the

plastic bin. It goes through the xray and comes out the

otherside. It only went 6 feet. I get my coat and go to

put my watch on my wrist.....It's gone. I tell the Security

that I wanted my watch. We ended up going up the level

of Supervisors at three levels. I tell them that it wasn't a very

expensive watch but somebody owes me a watch. I tell them

that only person by me was my brother and he wouldn't steal

my watch. They asked if they could talk to him. They are all waiting

on the otherside of security wondering what it taking me so long....

Edie and Brent come over and I said did you steal my watch. They

said No....Then they looked in her purse and there is my watch.

You Turkey Brent...... I will get even.

Just Before Boarding for the Adventure of a Lifetime

Getting Settled into our Room

Diane and Stephen giving the Wave so they

could get started

To My Sweet Daughter Audrey

I have realized how much your blog means to us in keeping in touch with your lives so far away. Our must be equally important to you. Sorry for being a slacker. I'll do better. Next post..........Book of Mormon tour and cruise.......Can't wait