In a nutshell...

Hola a todos!

OK, so we have A LOT of catching up to do! I can't believe it, but we have now been living in Antigua, Guatemala for exactly a year. Time has absolutely flown by. We still feel like newcomers in a sense, yet on the other hand feel like we have really settled into a very enjoyable and comfortable rhythm of life. I still love my work, it keeps me busy and I am

constantly encountering new challenges so there is never a dull moment. I no longer need to be a translator for Ben who has done a great job picking up Spanish. He has been doing a lot of skydiving work with the Guatemalan association and has turned it into a small business.

So here are the highlights from the past 6 months:

- On November 1st we celebrated the Dead of the Dead by going to a neighboring town to witness a kite flying competition and a decorative kite competition. The decorative kites were almost 4 stories high, made of bamboo and tissue paper, and unbelievably ornate (typically depicting a political message of some sort). You can see some of them in teh background in this picture...

- In December we headed to the Pacific Coast for the first time and pampered ourselves for a night in a nice resort with a pool overlooking the black sand beach and crashing waves. We needed a little heat and sunshine before our trip home to New England for X-mas!!

- We had a wonderful X-mas with our families on Cape Cod and then headed back to Guatemala just in time to head further south to Honduras for New Year's!

- We spent New Year's Eve in Copan, Honduras with some skydiving friends from El

Salvador who were there with their extended family (everybody in the hotel was related to our friends!). We spent a day hiking around the Mayan ruins in Copan which are famous for their ornate sculptures and icons, then headed to a family friend's house on a hill overlooking the valley for some dinner, lots of drinks and a huge bonfire (probably not the safest combination!!). We hit the town for the stroke of midnight (aka went to the only bar in town with live music) and rung in the New Year to sound of deafening firecrackers around town. The next day we recuperated in some natural thermal springs in the mountains outside town....aaaaahhhh que rico!!

- In February we mostly hung out in Antigua. Ben's mom came for a visit so we headed to the Lake for a weekend with some other friends and enjoyed a day of swimming and sipping local Mojitos and ended the night in a wood stove heated hot tub overlooking the lake...again, que rico :)

Delphine had a couple of work trips. One in which she went to the northern highlands and the other to the northern jungle region where she met a new partner organization funded by the Nature Conservancy and hired a young educator who will be implementing a new family planning program in a national park on the Mexican border. She will likely be heading back up in April and at that time will take a trip into the Park which is one of the most pristine jungle areas of Guatemala and home to a large jaguar population...should be fun!

- So that takes us to this month which is already flying by.... The town of Antigua is preparing for Holy Week and Ben is preparing to go to the US for a few weeks for some work. Last weekend we rented a boat with a group of friends to go whale watching and got very lucky. We saw a couple pods of whales which we were able to follow for about an hour and then saw sea turtles and a few dolphins. We finished the adventure with some ceviche at the Marina.

So that is the past 6 months in a very brief nutshell. Now that I see it in writing I realize

how much great stuff we have done and seen, and the adventures will continue in April.

We are heading to central Guatemala for Holy Week to hang out at some natural swimming pools

and waterfalls and then at the end of April we head to the Bay Islands of Honduras for

some white sand beaches and turquoise waters.....we can't wait!

Well, I hope you are all doing well, and for those in the Northeastern US that you survived

the worst of winter and are starting to thaw.

Saludos y hasta pronto.

Benito y Delfinita