• the archeologists who have excavated pottery from the lake bottom have turned up a series of the most surreal, laugh-out-loud items (see right and below...)
• this tremendous lake was formed by a huge volcanic eruption 85,000 years ago, one that sent ash as far away as Florida; and

So it’s been quite an experience for me to find myself living in a country where the weather is as changeable as my moods. Most mornings here in the highlands of Guatemala are gloriously clear and sunny, full of flowers, birdsong, possibility…

We have begun to buy newspapers regularly (makes for lots of hilarity on the street corner, since our Spanish is quite terrible). This week we read in the newspaper that Antigua was hosting a conference for indigenous delegates from the governments of 23 countries. The next day, the delegates published a proclamation in the newspaper. But we had seen no evidence of their activity anywhere in the city, in the streets ….

I’m grateful to have friends who listen to my musings, and muse back again….quite striking to me yesterday was the juxtaposition of Ann’s comment about the “parochial nature of life”—> that is, the necessity (given the limits of space and time) to attend to what is deeply personal to us, and Shaye’s interest in hearing me “speak from my heart,” along her concomitant disinterest in quotations from others....

And yet. And yet.