Me & Who

Lunch with Santa

My mom and I took a drive to Leavenworth this past Thursday.  It is a little town in eastern Washington where the city ordinances require that all buildings be built in old timber frame German style, and all the signage fit the same time period.  It makes for a very quaint, delightful-looking town.

There are all sorts of shops to visit, and my mom and I started our afternoon by getting lunch at Sandy's Waffle Haus.  When the waitress seated us, I looked to the table closest to the window, and who should be sitting there but Santa Claus.  he wasn't dressed in a red suit or a hat, but it was him.  he was a tall, portly old man with glasses, bushy white hair and a long, white beard.  He was wearing black suit pants and a white shirt, and I thought about asking him if he was on break, but thought better of it.  

Instead, I got pictures of me and three other characters we met up with over the course of the day.

The knight in shining armor.  I asked him where his horse was, but he declined to comment.

The nutcracker.

The bear.  He was my favorite, and I actually really like this pic of me.

Anyhow, there you go, Michael, another Me & Who for you.

I Always Loved a Guy with an English Accent

So my dad and Katie-Beth and I were wandering around doing some pre-game stuff, and who did we run into, but the Gecko!

I had to have my picture take with him.  Because, really, how many times are you going to run into the Gecko in the course of one lifetime?

I'm guessing not that many.

The Nicest Ute I Ever Met

I actually know lots of nice Utes.

But I don't think I would choose to sit next to a Ute at a game where BYU is pitted against U of U.

Which is why it's funny that that's exactly what happened.

And BYU pretty much gave the game away. My high school football team could have played better than BYU played this weekend, and my high school football team was never very good.

ANYway, as I said, I ended up sitting next to a Utah fan, and I thought it would make for a very annoying game. But, aside from some light-hearted ribbing on both sides, it was actually a lot of fun.

So here is your picture: Me and the Ute.

Me and a Day at the LDS Museum

For starters, I decided to collect some eggs, like the pioneers did.

The chickens weren't cooperating, though.

But then we had a little talk, and things worked out.

And then I decided I needed to get some exercise in, so I went for a little jog.

I'm not sure who this guy is, but I think he beat me.

Then my sister and I decided to do a bit of ethnic dancing.  I'm not sure exactly what this display had to do with the Book of Mormon, or the Church in general, but it was fun.

And just so you know, she's my little sister.

We did such a great job dancing, that one of the missionaries gave me a high-five on the way out. Yay!

And before we left, Stephen and I decided to chill with Moroni for a few minutes.  Apparently this one was at the top of a chapel near the Washington D.C. temple.

Star Wars Sunset

When I decided to move to Utah, nine out of ten people who had lived there at any point before said to me "That's awesome!  Now you can go to Cafe Rio!"

I have still not been to Cafe Rio.

When I told people I was going to Tikal, they said "That's awesome! You can see the Star Wars view!"

Apparently, the view from the top of Templo 4 is the view used for the Star Wars forest/ewok scene.  Whoda known?

Anyhow, not everyone gets to see a sunset from the top of Templo 4, which, at 70 meters high, is the tallest structure in Tikal.

Nope.  Only the people who bribe the guards get to see that sunset.

It went down something like this:

Richard talks to Domingo the Guard. 

Domingo the Guard says "Meet me at Templo 4 at 5:30, and you can stay past closing time at the park."

Richard talks to the group.  "Domingo says that we can see the sunset from the top of Templo 4, but it will probably cost us."

Okay, so those probably aren't direct quotes, that that was the general gist.

About 25 bug bites, 2 liters of sweat, and 4,500 steps later, we arrive at Templo 4 at the pre-determined time.

And then it rained the way that it rains in Guatemala.  A lot.  So we waited for a while, taking a much needed nap, and then Domingo disappeared and handed us off to his friend whose name I don't know.

But he was carrying a very large gun.  I felt a dual sense of security and trepidation at that observation.  On the one hand, if we happened to be hunted by a jaguar or run down by crazy drug lords, we'd be in good hands.  On the other hand, if things went south and they decided to hold the rich Americans for ransome, the fact that our guide had a very large gun would probably not be good for us.

But I decided to be optimistic.  And Richard and his brothers were there, and they are pretty much angels from heaven, so I figured not much could happen to me while they were around.

As usual, the view was spectacular, and none of the pictures I took really did it justice.  Sunset pics will come later on Two Inches.  For now, here is me with the security guard and his gun.

P.S.  This was a totally different day (about 8 days after the other pics), even though I am wearing the same shirt.  The main difference was that, by the end of this particular day, it was soaked with sweat.

Forever Ever

Ever. As in A-vair. Sort of, anyway.

Ever Castillo was one of three teachers we met with a few times during the week to discuss and teach various teaching strategies. Ever teaches at a secondary school built by CHOICE and the LDS church that serves students who, some of them, walk over an hour and a half (uphill, both ways, really) to attend. Without CHOICE and the supply donations from the church, most of the students would not have schooling past grade school.

The government has largely turned its back on the Q'echi people and other people in the Polochic region of Guatemala. Most of the teachers have not been paid for over six months, yet Ever and his collegues continue to teach because of the love they have for the children and their desire to give them a better life than what they now have.

I was deeply touched by Ever's dedication to the students, the love he has for them, and his determination to give them the education they deserve. Though I did not play a large part in the talks we had with Ever and his collegues, he still made a strong impression on me, and I continue to pray that things will be better for them.

P.S. That was a really hot day.

The Kafka Crowd

When we went to Antigua we were kind of flying by the seat of our pants. Once I pulled out my Guatemala guide book, and Kara made fun of me. Still, no one else knew anything about where we were, and come about 1:30, we were all tired, hungry, and needed to use the bathroom.

The great thing about being foreign in Guatemala is that pretty much anything can make you sick, so eating out is an adventure. Water? Makes you sick. Juice? Sick. Ice? Sick. Fruit? Sick.

So I think we were all a little bit nervous when we succumbed to desperation and hunger and found a rooftop restaurant called Kafka's.

There is a lot of crime in Guatemala, and, apparently, especially in Antigua. Most streets we walked on there were guys with very large guns walking around. Most businesses only had a small door, unobtrusive, and you had to look for a moment or to to determine what it was. Other businesses had large, heavy wooden doors with locks on them, and the peep windows that I thought only existed on the gates of castles and forts.

We found Kafka's by accident, and, once we got up there, were surprised to find that it served a very white crowd. The menu looked palatable, and soon we were all chowing down on our first official Guatemalan meals.

Mine was pasta alfredo. Ha.

The owner, Kevin, came over to say hi and chat with us. He was Guatemalan, but he lived in the states for a while and got some of his recipes from there. I wish I had gotten my pic with him, but I forgot and instead got it with the rather hesitant waitress and a friendly but odd patron who had been in the city for two days. He was a ship jumper and traveled around the world earning board on ships by offering to do maintenance along the way.

Please notice in this pic that my clothes are clean and I am not sweaty, and, though you can't really tell, I don't smell. This all changed later.

My Good Friend, Basillo

On Saturday morning, the first morning we were in Guatemala, a small group of us decided to go to Antigua, which was just under an hour away.  Some quick arranging by Aubrey got us two taxis, and I ended up being the only Spanish speaker in the taxi that Josh, Aubrey and I were riding in.

And by "the only Spanish speaker" I mean the only one with a sampling of Spanish vocabulary.  But Basillo said I was very good.  We chatted about the elections, our families, where we were all from, the fact that Antigua was founded in 1592 (as he told us several times), and also that he likes dogs.

If I ever go back to Guatemala, I know who my taxi driver will be.  Me and Basillo, we're tight.

I'm a Rockstar

When Rebekah and arrived in Gautemala City the first night, we were met by the driver from our hotel. He was holding a sign with my name on it.

I was famous. People from other countries flock to the airport to meet me. In the middle of the night even.

And I should have taken a picture of it, but there were vendors coming at me from every angle, begging the famous Darcy Creviston to buy their Guatemala pens and key chains. The picture kind of slipped my mind.

So instead I got a pic of our driver in the morning, the one we kindly asked to take us to the other hotel, where the rest of our group was meeting.

I don't think he was totally into it, but hey that's beside the point.

Me and Some Anonymous Hikers

So this weekend my sister and her husband invited me to go on a 4th of July hike with them. The way Michael described it, it would be a quick morning jaunt, and we'd be back in a couple of hours.

Well, it was  more than a jaunt.

In fact, it was pretty much straight up the mountain.

But I survived, so all is well.

Here is my pic with some nice hikers who were standing close to us at the waterfall site at the top.  In return for my random pic with them, I took a few of them together too.

The little kid I'm holding is my sister's kid, Parker, who I couldn't put down because he is a MANIAC and would run straight into the river if you let him.

P.S.  Everyone who lets me take pictures always jokingly asks about me posting them on facebook.  I never post them on facebook, but I also rarely mention my Me & Who blog.  Most people are probably happier that way.