Wrestling With Lions

Costa Rica

2008-07-16T12:41:00.002-05:00

Costa Rica, originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Our photos from our trip to Costa Rica are now online...Click the picture above to be sent to our flickr site...

Trying to get a video or two online also, as well as some more pictures that didn't upload properly.

We will be in the U.S. for about a month starting this weekend.

Semana Santa en Palatalik

2008-03-24T13:24:00.001-05:00

Semana Santa en Palatalik, originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

The kids and I have just returned from Lake Atitlan in Central Guatemala. I've put up some pictures in a rush, but haven't put the finishing touches on everything yet...more to come.

Gringo en Machu Picchu

2008-02-28T19:16:00.001-06:00

Gringo en Machu Picchu, originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

It´s 1,751 steps from river in the valley below to the front gate of Machu Picchu...´cause I thought you needed to know...

More later.

p.s. my wife rocks.

Max's Lost his First Tooth and Zoe's First Day of Pre-School

2008-01-18T16:47:00.001-06:00

Busy week this last week. Max, as you can see, lost his first tooth and Zoe went to pre-school for the first time. I'll add to this post in this weekend with more pictures.

Max's Lost his First Tooth, originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Polkadot Bikini

2008-01-04T10:10:00.001-06:00

Polkadot Bikini, originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

About to add the last set of pictures from the holidays. Here's a little something in the meantime. Zoe loooooves her bikini, and threw several fits when we tried to get her to put on something a little less racy (and more UV resistant, the girl has sensitive skin...)

As always, if you want to see more pictures just click the picture above and you will be sent to the rest of our photos on flickr.com.

G

Merry Christmas from Roatan!

2007-12-24T14:44:00.001-06:00

Roatan Sunset 1, originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

We're celebrating Christmas and New Year's from Roatan, Honduras this year.

We've made it to the island and have discovered that our rented house is about 20 meters from a dolphin sanctuary. Free dolphin shows all day! Snorkeling from our pier and lovely sunsets. Great company too... (as well as free high speed internet!)

I'll try to post a couple of pictures during quiet moments at night...but if there are few of those, let us say Merry Christmas to everyone now!

Santa

2007-12-16T19:47:00.001-06:00

Zoe and Santa, originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Getting ready to go away for the holidays...

This year on the beautiful beaches of Roatan, Honduras.

Added a few pictures to tie up lose ends, including:

Trip to visit Santa at the US Embassy Christmas Party

Pony Rides and parades (with Santa natch) in downtown Guatemala City at Pasos y Pedales

Fireworks, Christmas cookies and CDC issued Personal Protection Equipment

Kim's nighttime birthday carriage ride in Antigua

Our view from our balcony

Max's first organized sporting event

Halloween

Semuc Champey

2007-12-05T21:41:00.001-06:00

IMG_1241, originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Some more pictures from Thanksgiving in Semuc Champey courtsey of our friends Jen & Jim and Courtney & Al.

Thanksgiving 2007

2007-12-01T15:32:00.001-06:00

Zoe y Max, originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

We spent Thanksgiving this year with our friends Allen & Courtney & Wiley and Jen & Jim & Emma & Abbie. We went out to a beautiful spot called Semuc Champey, which many of you have heard of us talk about before. We stayed in a small town called Lanquin about 40 minutes away from Semuc.

Max Transformers

2007-12-01T13:18:00.001-06:00

Max Transformers, originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Trying to get caught up with photos before the Holidays start. So to start things off here is a drawing from Max.

He is just at the beginnings of reading, but he has the idea....and he has figured out that Spanish is a lot easier to spell in than English! This is, of course, his interpretation of the Transformers.

Otherwise things are great. Zoe is at a very wonderful stage now and Max is enjoying school. Kim and I are busy with work, but otherwise good.

More pictures soon from Thanksgiving soon.

Zoe's Latest Words

2007-10-16T00:30:00.000-05:00

All right...I know I haven't put anything up lately...I keep trying to put up some pictures and my slow internet connection keeps choking on them...very frustrating.

Anyway, thing here are fine. Zoe's birthday was last weekend. She is old enough now to understand the concept of presents, much to her delight.

Her latest words are "house" and "no". She says "no" in exactly the same way as her buddy Leyla, which is pretty darn cute.

Max is doing well with Kindergarten. His school is really close by and he has a very good friend/schoolmate that is a close neighbor also and is teaching him to swear like a sailor in Spanish. Kinda hard to police when he actually knows more cuss words than I do...

Kim and I are both working a lot, but things are going well.

And finally, the seemingly interminable rainy season seems to be finally winding down. I don't feel like I am very susceptible to weather induced depression...but 5 months of nearly daily rain is just about my limit.

I'm trying to get some pictures up, but it may need to wait until I can get someone from the phone company to come out to look at our phone wiring...

Huracán Felix

2007-09-05T09:52:00.000-05:00

Huracán Felix

Or should I say “Depresión Tropical Felix”?

It looks like we will be hit by Felix here in the Guatemala, and it even looks like the storm will pass directly over the capital. However, by the time it gets here it will be considerably weaker in terms of wind speed. If there are any problems in
Guatemala they will be related to flooding and mudslides, rather than wind.

We don’t expect any problems here in the capital, but if something happens, I will post on this blog as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, things here are going well. Max has started Kindergarten. Zoe’s vocabulary is rapidly growing. Kim and I are both extremely busy with our new jobs. Our new apartment is turning out to have been a really good decision. In short, things are good.

I have just finished a big project with work and have a little more free time, so I will try and get some pictures, videos, etc. online soon.

Gerard

Earthquake in Guatemala

2007-06-13T20:52:00.000-05:00

We are fine. Not sure why this made such a splash in US news. In fact, I didn't notice the earthquake because I was driving. As of yet there are no reports of major damage or deaths. Hopefully that holds up over the next few days because communication is down with some of the south of the country (the part closest to the center of the earthquake).

I didn't notice the earthquake, but Max sure did. He thought that the wind was blowing really really hard and was going to knock the house over. (There was a really big storm at the same time as the earthquake). Apparently, lots of things were banging in the house and the TV was sliding on its stand, but nothing fell and nothing broke.

Here are some of the details of the quake if you are interested: (and on a more exciting note, Zoe learned a new word today: "Bum")

Magnitud 6.8 FRENTE DE LA COSTA DE GUATEMALA

miercoles, 13 de junio 2007 a las 19:29:46 UTC

Preliminary Earthquake Report

Magnitud	6.8
Fecha-Hora	· miercoles, 13 de junio 2007 a las 19:29:46 (UTC) - Tiempo Universal Coordinado · miercoles, 13 de junio 2007 a las 02:29:46 PM hora local al epicentro Hora del Terremoto en otras zonas de horario
Localización	13.63N 90.73W
Profundidad	64.8 kilómetros
Región	FRENTE DE LA COSTA DE GUATEMALA
Referencia	115 km (70 miles) SSW of GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala 135 km (85 miles) WSW of Santa Ana, El Salvador 155 km (95 miles) SSE of Quezaltenango, Guatemala 1110 km (690 miles) SE of MEXICO CITY, D.F., Mexico
Calidad de la Localización	Estimado de error: horizontal +/- 5.7 km; depth +/- 5.5 km
Parámetros de calidad de localización	Nst=164, Nph=164, Dmin=774.5 km, Rmss=0.93 seg, Erho=5.7 km, Erzz=5.5 km, Gp=134.9 grados
Fuente de información	USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID	usdnbi

Wednesday, June 13, 2007 at 19:29:46 UTC

Earthquake Location

The Lopez Family in Guatemala

2007-06-09T11:05:00.000-05:00

My Dad, Mary Loy, Toni and my Grandma visited us in Guatemala a couple of weeks ago. Here are some pictures from their trip: Lopez Trip Fotos

Last Year's Semana Santa Videos

2007-04-09T12:32:00.000-05:00

Kim's dad was here last year for Semana Santa and made some really great videos that can give you an idea of the spectacle that is Semana Santa in Guatemala. I will try and get our considerably less professional videos from this year up soon. In the meantime:

Here is a video from Antigua:

Here is a video from Santiago Atitlan:

For more of Tom's videos please see his website: http://www.hauntedbywaters.com/

Semana Santa in Antigua

2007-04-09T00:13:00.000-05:00

Baskets at night.
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Kim's mother and sister were in town this week for Semana Santa (Holy Week). We have a ton of pictures up on our flickr.com site (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wrestlingwithlions/sets/72157600057847356/)in the Semana Santa 2007 set. I will try and put up a few more posts this week describing some of the pictures....and I have a backlog of other stuff I want to put up. Fortunately I have finished a major project recently and will hopefully have more time in the next few weeks before the next project really gets going.

Kim and los jefes de salud

2007-04-08T23:40:00.000-05:00

Kim and Oncho
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, the director of the CDC, and Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, visited Guatemala last week. Kim had a chance to talk to them during their visit. The picture is of Kim presenting her work on onchocerciasis (river blindness...or Oncho, if you can't pronounce the full name like me...). Dr. Gerberding is the woman with white hair that is obscured and Sec. Leavitt is the man in the suit. She also ended up touring Antigua with them. You can see more picture s of their visit at this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wrestlingwithlions/sets/72157600039583501/

Long time.....

2007-03-10T16:35:00.000-06:00

MaxBook001
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

I haven't written or posted anything in a long time...

So I'm trying to get a lot of stuff up at once here....

To whet your appetite here is a book that Max recently made for his school. Click on the link and then follow the rest of the pages in the set.

Be back soon with more pictures and news from the family.

Christmas 2006

2006-12-25T22:24:00.000-06:00

Man, do Guatemalans love them some fireworks.

Starting around 8 pm yesterday until about 1 AM Guatemala City was full of fireworks. They peak at around midnight. They are not professional fireworks…more people powered…There are literally tens of thousands of people in the streets with their own private stashes. It was unreal. One of our neighbors laid out a string of Chinese firecrackers about 40 yards long. There was so much smoke that we could barely see.

We had a funny start to our day. Max woke up and came into our bed at 7 am shouting "Merry Christmas"...but...he crawled in with me and went to sleep for another hour.
Kim finally got Zoe up around 8 and brought her into bed with us....and she starting whacking Max in the bottom and laughing and laughing trying to get him to wake up.

The kids had a great time opening presents. Zoe seemed to grasp the concept pretty well. She ooohed and aaahed whenever it was her turn to open a present. Thanks to everyone that sent presents, they were much appreciated.

Kim did a fantastic job with the turkey and dinner. She had to wrestle someone in the store for the last butterball in all of Guatemala, but it was worth it. As we were finishing up dinner, around 6, there was a whole second round of fireworks for reasons we don’t fully understand yet. It’s the second holiday during with fireworks were set off at exactly 6 pm…kind of weird (the other is the 7th of December burning the devil festival…)We finished up the night ice cream and apple pie and the movie A Christmas Story.

Gotta go…I have to work tomorrow….Merry Christmas all!

This week in Guate

2006-12-17T16:29:00.000-06:00

Bumper Cars
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Not much to report really...getting ready for Christmas. Going to Christmas parties, and, of course, going to the zoo to ride on bumper cars.

I'm just going to put up a couple of pictures and leave it at that for now...

Power Ranger Max
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Zoe's First Santa Claus Freak-Out
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

What a difference a week makes...

2006-12-12T14:41:00.000-06:00

Just another quick post as I am working. Here is an update on Zoe's progress with walking:

El Diablo de Antigua

2006-12-08T01:23:00.000-06:00

El Diablo de Antigua
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

¡Feliz Siete de Diciembre!

Hope you enjoyed burning the Devil today!

I'll add a bit more tomorrow, but I've got a project to finish for work right now...

In the meantime here is Max singing at his last day at his preschool:

Zoe's 7-12th steps

2006-11-29T20:42:00.000-06:00

Getting the hang of this Youtube thing...kind of...I keep getting the ends clipped off of the videos...

Here is Zoe actually walking...we can't count them as her first steps, but close. Earlier in the evening Kim saw her walk all the way across her bedroom.

Zoe in Rio Dulce

2006-11-28T20:41:00.000-06:00

Just trying out putting up videos on Youtube. We went to Rio Dulce and Livingston this weekend for Thanksgiving. Zoe is just on the verge of walking. Here is a short video of the hotel lobby where we stayed:

Rio Dulce/Livingston

2006-11-26T23:13:00.000-06:00

Chickenman
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

We were in Rio Dulce and Livingston for Thanksgiving this year (which is on the Caribbean Ocean side of Guatemala).

Once again don't have a lot of time to post photos or write much, but I thought this painting on the side of some guy's house in Livingston was too interesting not to post.

More later...

Max in the sun

2006-11-22T23:15:00.000-06:00

Max in the sun
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Just another quick one, because I have a lot of work to do if I am going to join the family in Rio Dulce for Thanksgiving weekend. Really like this shot. Kim took it with her new camera.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Family Photos

2006-11-22T12:36:00.000-06:00

Family Photo1
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

We had a great time with Kim's birthday this weekend. We had a whole bunch of pictures taken in Antigua...I'm going to post some of them this week, but here are a few from the first glance...

Sopresa de boliches

2006-11-19T22:34:00.000-06:00

Sopresa de boliches
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

It was Kim's birthday this weekend. We had a little surprise party at a local bowling alley, followed by a second party at our home. No better way to celebrate 40 than a little rock'n'bowl followed by a candle -lit catered cocktail party.

Clown faced Zoe
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

We followed up with a weekend in Antigua and a photo shot with a professional photographer...we'll see later this week how the picutres turned out...

Gotta get to work, but here are a couple of pictures from the weekend.

Todos Santos and more

2006-11-16T11:56:00.000-06:00

Max and Gerard, Todos Santos
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez.

Just a short post here since I am running off for work and errands. I just wanted to post a link to all of the pictures I have put up recently on my flickr.com site. Which is, by the way, http://www.flickr.com/photos/wrestlingwithlions/ .

Most of these new pictures are from Todos Santos (All Saints' Day) which is November 1st. There is a region in Guatemala that is famous for having these huge kites fly on that day. Everyone goes down to the town cemetery, cleans up and decorates graves of family members, and, for reasons I do not fully understand, flies kites. Some of the kites are normal sized, some 10-30 feet tall and some are purely decorative and incredibly huge...like a couple of stories tall kind of huge.

Also included are some pictures from around the house and from Guy Fawkes Day celebration we went to with some British friends. Most of those pictures are in the "This Week in Guatemala" section.

Zoe and Max, Sharing
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez.

Gotta get going back to work.

Brote Misterioso de Panama

2006-10-16T14:23:00.000-05:00

Arnulfo Franco/Associated Press
gerardlopez2001.

Kim went to Panama last week to help investigate an outbreak of a mysterious disease with the CDC. Here is an article in the New York Times about it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/16/world/americas/16panama.html

Gerard Lopez - Wine expert

2006-10-11T11:46:00.000-05:00

Get a cocktail, two glasses of champagne, two glasses of wine and a dessert liquor in me and this is apparently what I look like....

Probably for the best that it doesn't happen very often...actually has never really happened before. Fortunately there was no picture of what I looked like at four am that night...

I went to Vegas with my buddy Jake from here in Guate and a load of his friends (and brother). Trip was courtesy of my loving wife (who ended up, quite unfairly, having to deal with a car accident and several vomiting children.)

And no....I didn't win.

Pacaya en la noche

2006-08-23T12:36:00.000-05:00

Grupo de aventureros

Well we are finally back in Guatemala. Travel back home was fairly uneventful. We had one short delay and we missed one flight....Actually just Max, Zoe and I missed the flight. The travel agent had the kids and I flying on a separate flight from Kim on one of our legs. Fortunately no harm done as there was room on Kim's flight.

Our house was intact, and with the exception of an overly filthy fish tank and some mold in some of the closets, in perfect order. Good to be home. Max was excited to see his fish (after we cleaned the tank were finally able to see them that is) and get reacquainted with his toys. Zoe is doing pretty well, but is a little fussier than usual, probably adjusting to being home again...

We have managed our first outing already on Tuesday night.

Volcan Pacaya is about 20 miles south of the capital and has been slowly erupting for the last couple of weeks while we were gone. Slow motion rivers of lava have been rolling out drawing huge crowds during the day and night.

We went up last night with some friends to see the fireworks. After several hours of rush hour traffic, wrong turns, rumors and miscommunications we finally arrived at the parking lot for the trail at about 8:30, well after dark. It was a mild hike through a well maintained path...well maintained until it was overrun by a huge river of recently cooled lava. Unfortunately we missed the main part of this current eruption and had to climb a bit over the recent lava to get to where some fresh lava was flowing out.

Climbing on recently cooled lava is pretty cool. It's unstable and shifts when you step on it. It's also still pretty hot. There were parts that I passed where I would look back to the spot where I had just walked and see a glow through a crack and realize I had been walking just over a red hot patch with a cool crust above it. At one point I put my tripod down to take some pictures and when I was packing it up I burned myself on it; some of the rubber on the feet had melted and the metal of the legs was burning hot to the touch. You get the feeling as you walk on it that it's actually hollow and fragile, so it's hard to shake the feeling that you're going to drop you through to the really hot stuff down below. It's also very sharp and irregular, making for difficult climbing because you can't use your hands to balance yourself without getting them cut up.

I was able to get within about 10 yards of a good sized patch of lava. Close enough that I could feel the heat on my face and the air shimmered a little bit. All in all a really good time. Didn't get back home until 1:30, but it was worth it...

Madonna de los flores

2006-06-04T20:15:00.000-05:00

Madona de los flores
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

We bought this last week with my first paycheck.

Semana Santa

2006-04-22T03:13:00.000-05:00

Angelito
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Please click the picture above to see a ton of pictures from Semana Santa.

I started a new job recently (finally) and haven't had a lot of time to update things lately. I'll try and get more text up and some general news over this weekend.

In the meantime, check out pictures in the Semana Santa Set on my flickr page.

Spidermax

2006-04-03T13:58:00.000-05:00

Spidermax 1
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

My sister got my son, Max, a Spiderman costume for his birthday. As soon as he got the thing on he wanted me to take his picture. When I got the camera out he immediately started posing in classic Spidey action poses.

Spidermax 2

He's probably seen only 5 minutes of Spiderman from the movies (just the "swing around the city" scenes really...he's a little young for the violent scenes...he get's scared of Doc Oc and I'm sure the Goblin would give him nightmares). Despite his limited exposure, he managed some pretty good poses, all, I might add, without any prompting from his parents.

Spidermax 3

More news later this week... Including some news on the job front for me...

Max's Birthday (longer)

2006-03-16T10:35:00.000-06:00

Payaso

So it was Max's 4th birthday this last weekend.

We had a big piñata for him at Fun House. A Piñata in Guatemala is what we call the birthday party itself. Fun House is one of many children's party venues in the city. It's a pretty good idea actually.

Girls from Kerube

They have indoor (and some outdoor) play areas where the kids can run around. They have a menu of things that you an choose from like bounce houses, clowns, magicians, piñatas, lunches, etc. etc. and your own personal party MC that moves things along and takes care of problems.

The kids go crazy for the piñata...joke's on them, it's sugar free candy.

Imagine if Chuck E. Cheese just focused on only doing kid's parties and the whole restaurant was booked just for your party. Probably the easiest big party we will ever have...

Los Tigres: Max y Parker

It looks like some generic banquet hall or something from the picture above, but it was pretty cool. I have to say that I actually had a good time, something I can't honestly say that about any other kid's party I've been to.

Spider Senses Failed him...

Before I forget...just a quick story about Max that I've been meaning to tell. I drive him to school every morning. Although it is a short drive, there is often a lot of traffic. We sit and traffic and listen to my iPod, trying out different music. I'll put something new on and ask him if he likes it. If he does, I'll find some more music similar to it.

Gabi

One day we were listening to something, I can't remember what, and I asked him after a minute or so if he liked it. He said, in all seriousness, "it's ok...but, Dad, can we listen to Zeppelin."

I shed a proud fatherly tear.

Natalia

His current favorites: White Stripes, Led Zeppelin, Mule, Eisley, Black Eyed Peas, and, of course, the rock classic WeeSing: Nursery Rhymes and Lullabies. We're (and by "We" I mean just me really) working hard to push against the toddler's tendency to listen to the same damn CD over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

A general update on our prospects here in Guate. We are here until at least November of this year...for certain. After that we are not 100% sure, but it seems more and more likely that we will be able to stay here until the Summer of 2008. More as it develops.

Look this way

Max's Birthday

2006-03-15T00:21:00.000-06:00

Laughs
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Max's birthday was today. His big birthday party was on Saturday. I'm putting this picture up as a placeholder. Go ahead and click it and it will carry you to the flickr site where the rest of the pictures are. I'll come back and add the rest of the pictures to the blog when I'm not so tired.

Paul en Pana

2006-03-09T19:47:00.000-06:00

Paul en Pana
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

My Stepfather-in-law is visiting this week. We took a day trip out to Lake Atitlan and Panajachel today.

After all the excitement of having a virus last week...I still don't know what virus I had...or even if I had one! I ran my computer through 4 anti-virus scans (Zone alarm, Norton, AVast and PC-ilin) and through several Anti-spyware programs and didn't find anything. Also, no complaints from anyone passing anything along either...weird.

More later, including a trip to Copan, Honduras.

Mardi Gras

2006-03-02T00:26:00.000-06:00

Mardi Gras
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

...or Trick or Treat...

Seems I've gone and infected half the people I know with an unidentified virus.

How embarassing...

It is, in so many ways, like contracting an STD and having to call everyone you've dated for that last couple of years...not like I would know anything about that...

Anyway, if you are here as a result of getting said virus, a thousand apologies.

I don't know what happened. I've got a firewall, I've got updated anti-virus software and I scan attachments and files regularly...

It's triply embarrassing since I'm supposed to be a computer guy....

I'll keep the blog a little more updated for the next couple of days as I try and track down the virus and find a cure.

Under Construction...

2006-02-22T01:08:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the long delay in posting...lots of pictures and news to come...

Click on Max to see some of the pictures I've already put up...

Piñata

2006-01-26T16:54:00.000-06:00

Piñata
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

It's been a little while since I put anything up...so here's a little taste...

We went to a birthday party this weekend for our friends' three kids (2 families + 3 birthdays). They has the party at a small amusement park on the south side of the city.

Included are some random pictures of the park and some others from the last couple of weeks. I should have a couple more up in a day or two from Kim and I hope to have quite a few more up from our December trip to the States.

While everyone else is doing fine, Max is sick today. He started school last week so this was pretty predictable. He's been napping for hours now, so I'd better go wake him up...more later.

Fuego

2006-01-02T12:00:00.000-06:00

Fuego
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

This is the volcano that I climbed last month. It popped last wednesday. Two rivers of lava about 2km long and a tower of ash just as high. No one hurt and no evacuations...there aren't any towns in the immediate vicinity.

Climbing Volcan Fuego (and Acatenango)

2005-12-06T12:09:00.000-06:00

Fuego, Acatenango y Antigua
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Haven't updated in awhile...Between internet outages, Thanksgiving, the baby, two short trips and plain slothfulness, I haven't managed it...

Thought I would put up a few pictures from the trip though.

As you may know from Survivor Guatemala (can you believe Stephanie turned on Judd?!? Can you believe that I watch that show every week!?!?!) Guatemala has 30 volcanoes. From the capital you can see at least 4 of them: Agua(3,759m/11,348ft.), Pacaya(2,551m/8,369 ft.), Fuego(3,769m/12,365ft.) and Acatenango(3,975m/13,041ft.) (of which Pacaya and Fuego are active).

On the Friday after Thanksgiving my friend Dan, his friend Mike and I traveled out for an overnight camping trip to Fuego. We met up with two guides and were dropped off on the north side of Acatenango. Notice the change in names there? The plan, I was to discover, was to actually climb over the top of one volcano and down the other side to a shoulder between the two where we would camp the night. We carried all of our camping gear, food and water as there were no facilities at all on the mountains.

I'm not exactly in peak physical condition right now...a fact that became abundantly clear about 100 yards up the trail from the beginning. It took a considerable amount of willpower not to call the driver back to pick me up in the first hour...actually, to be honest, more like the first five hours. The huge pack I was carrying certainly didn't help things, but I'm sure it wasn't more than 30-40 pounds.

Only one mishap on the way up...well, not really mishap, more like a misunderstanding. I did not understand that Acatenango has two peaks, so you can imagine my surprise when we reached the top of the first and looked out to see that I had a whole second peak to complete that was even higher than the first. Of course, in hindsight, it's pretty ridiculous to be upset about it as I can clearly see from the balcony at our house that it has two peaks, just as I could from the road in Antigua.

We summitted the second peak, took some pictures and made our way down the shoulder to camp. During the night we could hear the rumble of Fuego as it vented. It sounded like a not so far away jet engine and occasionally made the ground shake a little.

We woke at 4am to pack up camp and headed part way up Fuego to watch the sunrise.

Dan and the guides enjoyed a victory cigar with the sunrise.

Leaving our packs on the trail, we climbed the rest of the way up Fuego to watch some of the lava venting. Unfortunately the crater itself is too dangerous to approach so we had to stop 400 yards shy of the top. Also unfortunate is that right now the lava flow (a trickle really) is on the opposite side from the trailhead, so we could only see lava when it really spurted out like this:

Coming down, as the cliche goes, was much harder than going up. Lots of loose scree, and difficult overgrown paths, but we did, of course, eventually make it down...

All in all a good, though short trip.

A couple pictures of the kids and our Christmas/new years plans next post...

Over the Shoulder

2005-11-20T20:18:00.000-06:00

Over the Shoulder Zoe
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Just a little comparison between Max and Zoe at about the same age...

Not much time right now to write...

Pulled my hamstring playing Ultimate today and need to ice it again.

Last Week

2005-11-08T23:36:00.000-06:00

Last Week
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Rough week last week...

Tried to get rid of the pacifier because it was causing some problems with her feeding...

You can see how well that went.

Quite a few late nights and a lot of screaming.

We went back to the pacifier for this week, but it looks like we might be going off it again.

Poor girl has developed some hardcore
infant acne too. Hopefully it will clear up soon.

It's been hard to keep up with the pictures and the blogging...but I'm trying.

More soon.

Boquitas Diana

2005-11-08T23:31:00.000-06:00

Boquitas Diana
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Just a couple of ads that have caught my eye around town...

Diana's Snacks was on a truck driving into town...Particularly strange as the two sides of the truck had pristine versions of the same ad...you would have thought someone would realize that Little Diana possessed and covered in rusty sores was not good branding...

The other is all around town. I suppose a herd of wild horses is a better image than Bob Dole shilling Viagra.

Halloween Night

2005-11-08T21:24:00.000-06:00

IMG_2598
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Max, Antonio and Maya on Halloween.

Didn't have a lot of luck in our neighborhood.

Last year we were caught unprepared for Halloween. I had no candy at all and Kim was somewhere with the car...I think at the movies...so I couldn't run out and get some. I had tons of kids ringing the bell. I didn't have candy and I didn't know enough Spanish at the time to tell them to go away nicely...so...I turned off all the lights and hid.

This year we were totally prepared, pumpkin and everything, but we had maybe 20 kids for the whole night.

Max and our neighbors went out, but only got candy from about 4 houses...sigh...maybe next year.

Max & Tamira

2005-10-31T00:34:00.000-06:00

Max & Tamira

Max and his buddy Tamira (aka Bob the Builder and a Lion) at a Halloween party this weekend.

Believe it or not, Guatemala (at least the Guatemalan upper/middle class) have really gone nuts with the Halloween thing. It caught us by surprise last year...I had no candy at all and ended up turning off all of the lights and hiding out from the incessant flow of trick or treaters.

This year we have not one, but two costumes ready for Max, a jack o' lantern, a huge bag of candy to hand out, and trick-or-treating at the U.S. embassy and in our neighborhood. Should be fun...more pictures tomorrow.

Max and the Thunderbirds

2005-10-27T01:32:00.000-05:00

Max and the Thunderbirds
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

We just got back from the Thunderbirds air show.

I’ve never been to an air show before…really freakin’ loud. And MAN! those things are fast…and apparently only interesting to a 3 year old for about 7 minutes… after that the multi-million dollar jets, best of the best pilots and cutting edge aerial acrobatics lose out to a pile of rocks and sand.

Oh well…

Actually, to hear how he tells the story to his mom, you would think that it was the highlight of his young life, rather then a loud noise that distracted him from piling the biggest rocks he could find.

Nappin' 'n' Grinnin'

2005-10-25T23:16:00.000-05:00

Nappin' 'n' Grinnin'
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Max and Zoe hanging out on a sunny afternoon.

Tomorrow the U.S.A.F. Thunderbirds are having a air show here in Guate...should have a few good shots from that...

Guate Sunset

2005-10-23T22:21:00.000-05:00

Guate Sunset
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

The view from our balcony...on a good day...if you stand on the ledge...and zoom in a little bit...and crop out some of the trees...

Zoe in a blanket

2005-10-22T22:55:00.000-05:00

Zoe in a blanket
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Not much to say today...

Here is Zoe relaxing on her blanket.

Kim's mom is leaving early in the morning tomorrow (5am) so I'll cut short for today...

Kim in Antigua

2005-10-21T01:16:00.000-05:00

Kim in Antigua
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Just a quick one...should be going to bed...

But I really like this picture of Kim. She's just relaxing in the sun at the Posada del Angel in Antigua, Guatemala. (same B&B Bill Clinton stayed at when he visited Guatemala).

Abuelita

2005-10-21T00:59:00.000-05:00

Abuelita
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Kim's mom, Carol, has been visiting with us this week.

She's been a great help and Max has really really enjoyed having her here. She is indefatigable when it comes to stories, that's for sure!

We spent the weekend in an Antigua, but most of the week just hangning out in the capital. Because of the damage caused by Hurricane Stan, we were not able to travel with her much around the country.

I'll try and post some more pictures and links from Stan this week...

It's late and it's almost my turn to put Zoe to sleep...so enough for now.

Convent's Basement

2005-10-21T00:52:00.000-05:00

Convent's Basement
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Kim really liked this picture...It's a weird large ciruluar room under the cells that the nuns stayed in...before the earthquakes destroyed the convent.

You can't see it in this picture but there are 6-7 hooks set high in the ceiling. No one has been able to figure out what the hooks were used for, nor what the full purpose of the room was. It is the only room in the convent that survived the earthquake intact.

er...This is from Antigua, just outside of the capital...Used to be the capital, but suffered a major earthquake a couple of hundred years ago...

Perrito

2005-10-16T23:50:00.000-05:00

Perrito
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

We were in Antigua this weekend for Max's Clausura.

For the uninitiated, Antigua is an old colonial city about 45 minutes away from Guatemala city. It's a small charming town with old houses, tons of ruins, cobblestone streets and is surrounded by hills and dominated on one side by the striking inactive Volcano Agua. A Clausura is an end of year show for Guatemalan schools.

Max was, as you can see, a dog. He and his classmates sang and danced in front of around 200 family and friends of the school. Afterward the song/dance, Max went up to the mic and recited a fairly long poem entirely in Spanish. Neither Kim, Kim's Mom (who is in town for the week), nor I could stop crying. he was so adorable and he had learned this long poem without Kim or I realizing it. I think it was the first time that I can remember where I felt the overwhelming urge to grab the nearest stranger and say through my tears of pride, "That's my son!"

Of course, I have no idea what the poem was about...

Some more pictures of Zoe coming soon...I think she is starting to look almost exactly like max did when he was a baby.

Max's New Jungle

2005-10-14T21:59:00.000-05:00

Max's New Jungle
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Zoe is getting so much attention we thought we would even out the scales a little bit by having Max's room turned into a jungle...

Reminds me a bit of Max's room from 'Where the Wild Things Are"...

I was going to suggest putting one of the Wild Things gnashing their horrible teeth in one of the corners, but thought better of it.

Kim's mom is in town this week. Max and I went to the airport to pick her up, but where 15 minutes late because of traffic. She realized she only had my cell phone number and no idea where our house was. She borrowed a phone from a Guatemalan guy who happened to speak English.

I foolishly told her we were walking in the door and hung up before finding out where she was standing. I found the guy with the phone, but couldn't find her! 10 minutes of frantic searching later she called again from another guys phone...and we finally found her.

Not a good way to start a trip in a strange country! Hopefully we can improve on it a little bit this week....

Max's end of school play is tomorrow in Antigua...more later.

Zoe's Room

2005-10-13T01:47:00.000-05:00

Zoe's Room
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Just a quick little post. Zoe & Kim are doing well. Kim said today that she's not as tired as she expected to be...so far.

Zoe is about as well rested as any creature could hope to be. I don't see her eyes open very often.

I'll be sending emails out with info on how to order pictures through www.shutterfly.com if you are interested...

More tomorrow.

Max & Zoe II

2005-10-10T02:28:00.000-05:00

IMG_3435

This is a duplicate picture...

I'm having some problems getting blogspot.com interface to work today, so I'm actually posting from my flickr account. Unfortunately, that doesn't allow me much opportunity for fancy formatting (and doesn't allow me to edit my poor spelling or grammer once I have posted the picture and text)

I'll try and iron out the details this week and repost/reorganize as I am able.

I will also get some better copies of this pictures up on shutterfly.com so whomever is interested can order prints online. Most of the pictures I have posted here might be good enough quality to print...but shutterfly will be quite a bit better.

Also, apologies if you were not on our email list for our original anouncement. That was a detail we neglected we when were preparing for the birth.

I basically made up the list and sent out the announcement as I was rushing to get Max to the hospital to meet his sister. I'll go through the next couple of days and update my contact book and at least send out the link to this site (and flickr) and the shutterfly photo site.

More later....

Finally, a cuddle and smile

2005-10-10T02:20:00.000-05:00

IMG_3395
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Max was pretty shy with Zoe to start out with...

When I brought her into the room the first time he stayed on the other side of the room and cracked up laughing.

We told him her name for the first time and he said, "Zoe is terrible name." and laughed uncontrollably for awhile.

Then, for the next half hour or so, he pointedly ignored her completely.

Slowly by slowly since then he has gotten closer and closer. Max and I made a cake, a sign, balloons, and ribbons for Zoe's homecoming/birthday party, which he did enjoy doing.

Now he loves kissing her and touching her. And he always follows the directions of Dr. Gracioso who told him to wash his hands first and always kiss the back of her head instead of her face so that he doesn't make her sick.

So he's slowly coming around.

Tonight he tried to feed her cake. I guess the sharing thing has worked a little bit...

G & Zoe

2005-10-10T02:14:00.000-05:00

IMG_3357
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

I lobbie for months to get a nice new digital SLR, I've taken a million pictures with it to figure out how to get good results...

...and Kim just picks up the thing and takes this really great picture...

Kim & Zoe

2005-10-10T02:05:00.000-05:00

IMG_3345
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

'nuff said.

Cast & Crew

2005-10-10T02:04:00.000-05:00

IMG_3324
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Doctores Gracioso y Sanjose, Kim, Zoe y Marcia (from left to right)

Dr. Gracioso was the pediatrician. He didn't come in until Zoe was born. No complications and everything healthy so he didn't have a lot to do...not sure what the Apgar score was...

Dr. Sanjose, in addition to being a pretty good looking guy(in a mustache sort of way), was an excellent doctor. Unlike most Guatemalan doctors, he was willing to do everything he could to faciliate a natural birth. Guate Doctors perform C-Sections at the drop of a hat for the most part. Even the term natural birth means basically any birth that is NOT a C-Section, including epidurals or otherwise medicated/facilitated births. He was fantastic from beginning to end.

Marcia was our doula, sort of like a birth coach. She was excellent as well. She is the wife of one of Kim's colleagues. She put up with one of our pecuilar requests, which was not to know anything about how the labor was progressing (namely how far along Kim was dialated). She was of great help in getting the baby to engage properly and avoid any medical procedures.

Kim and Zoe were incredible.

I am really proud of them.

as a ghost...

2005-10-10T01:53:00.000-05:00

IMG_3311
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Zoe was born in a big bathtub in our hospital room. She was born a little over a week early, hence a pretty healthy coating of Vernix (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernix_caseosa).

It's odd stuff...almost like a white wax. Comes off after the first bath...er...except I guess that in this case it would be the second bath.

Big difference between movie newborns and real ones, huh?

Max & Zoe

2005-10-10T01:47:00.000-05:00

IMG_3395
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

no...we did not pick Zoe because it is a three letter name, like Max...

...and no we did not pick Zoe based on any Firefly/Serenity characters...although we are quite pleased at the coincidence.

We turned an American family down the street onto Firefly a couple of months ago. They've become pretty hardcore Browncoats. Both of them assumed that we would name the baby after one of the characters (although they both thought River or Kayla before Zoe...)

Zoe Roselie Lopez

2005-10-10T01:41:00.000-05:00

IMG_3334
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Zoe Rosalie Lopez has arrived!

Born Friday Oct. 7, 2005 at 6:30 AM Guatemalan time (8:30 Eastern)

8 pounds, 6 oz.
19.5 inches long
14.25 inch head (circumfrence)

Welcome Home/Happy Birthday Zoe!

2005-10-10T01:32:00.000-05:00

IMG_3437
Originally uploaded by gerardlopez2001.

Max & Kim hold up the sign Max helped make for his little sister. Spider-web of ribbons was his idea...he wants to call his sister "Zoe Spider-man".

Max & Zoe

2005-10-10T01:07:00.000-05:00

Las Rayas Blancas

2005-05-24T20:17:00.000-05:00

Review of the White Stripes show in Guatemala from Prensa Libre (first in Spanish, then in English)

a mystic atmosphere surrounded by apples

The White show apoteósico

Por Hilda Rodas

Con frenesí e hiperactividad rítmica, sellada con una tonalidad roja intensa que se trazo desde el parpadeo de las luces del escenario, pasando por los pantalones de Meg y Jack, hasta los rostros agitados del publico; White Stripes cargo la noche del miércoles ultimo al presentar su nuevo material Get Behind me, Satán en el país.

Dos instrumentos básicos (guitarra y batería), un piano y algunas percusiones en el parapeto instrumental (backline) fueron suficientes para acompañar a la electrizante voz de Jack –el circuito preciso de comunicación con el publico-, que junto a la sensual y vigorosa bataquera Meg hicieron su entrada enmascarados, para luego mostrarse tal cual en un intento de constatar, quizás, la pureza de su propuesta. La hora y media de espectáculo fue en su totalidad un derroche de sudor y euforia, en un ambiente místico rodeado de manzanas, con un mensaje sutil.

Si bien los jóvenes estadounidenses no hablan español, intentaron establecer una comunicación musical invitando a la gente a cantar con ellos al final del show. A juzgar por los gritos en un solo tono, no les entendieron; y sonriendo tuvieron que terminar sin coro su concierto minimalista (con elementos punk y blues), pero seguros de que la gente que hizo retumbar el expocenter del Tikal Futura Hotel, la paso muy bien.

Puntuación:

Organización **** Telonero **** Acústica **

Publico ***** Luces **** Seguridad ***

with the sensual and vigorous drumming Meg

The tremendous White show

By Hilda Rodas

With frenzy and hyperactive rhythm, sealed with an intense red tonality that was set from blinking of the lights of the set, passing through the pants of Meg and Jack, up to the excited faces of the audience; White Stripes carried the night last Wednesday to present their new material Get Behind Me, Satan in the country.

Two basic instruments (guitar and drums), a piano and some percussion in the instrumental backline were sufficient to accompany the electrifying voice of Jack –the precise circuit of communication with the audience-, that together with the sensual and vigorous drumming Meg they made their entrance masked, in order to show an intent to prove, perhaps, the purity of their proposal. The hour and a half of spectacle was in its entirety an abundance of sweat and euphoria, in a mystic atmosphere surrounded by apples, with a subtle message.

If the young Americans don’t speak Spanish well, they intended to establish a musical communication by inviting the people to sing with them at the end of the show. To judge by the screams in one pitch, [the crowd] didn’t understand them; and smiling they had to finish their minimalist concert (with elements of punk and blues) without chorus, but certain that for the people that made the expocenter of the Tikal Futura Hotel shake, it went very well.

Grades:

Organization **** Opening Act **** Acoustics **

Audience ***** Lights **** Security ***

the precise circuit of communication

As for me...

It was my first rock show in a long time. I had a blast. Good mix of old songs and new songs. The crowd, which was mostly chapin (Guatemalan) but had a very high gringo ratio, was really into it. It was held in a convention hall type place with a level floor. There were a couple of times, especially during the hits from Elephant, that you could feel the floor moving like a trampoline and threatening to dump us into the bowling alley below.

My ears rang for days and I couldn't have been happier...

Playlist (in no particular order):

Blue Orchid
The Nurse
My Doorbell
As Ugly As I Seem
The Denial Twist Passive Manipulation
Little Ghost
Seven Nation Army
The Hardest Button to Button
Black Math
I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
I Want to Be the Boy
Hotel Yorba
Ball and Buscuit
I Think I Smell a Rat
Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
Jolene (Dolly Parton song)
Part of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" (Stooges) mixed with another song I didn't catch...
...and probably a few more I don't remember or couldn't recognize...

an abundance of sweat and euphoria

Long Time Listener, First Time Caller

2005-01-12T12:39:00.000-06:00

Welcome!

After taking a several year break from maintaining a website (the old www.wrestlingwithlions.com). I've decided to start up again.

Of course, it's a heck of a lot easier now than it was five years ago!

Going to take a little while to get everything up and running. I just wanted to make a start today.

Will hope to have some real content up over the course of the next month.