In Maya country

I have been in Maya country for almost a month now, but sadly, had absolotely no opportunity to blog, which is a shame since life here is colorful.

I'll have to do most of the blogging after return to the USA, I am afraid, but let me here introduce some of my new Maya friends.

Bureaucratic delays :-(((

My passport expires on the last day of May 2010, that is a few weeks after my planned return from Belize. Which means that my passport would be valid during my entire stay there and a bit longer.

Yet, the government of Belize decided that any foreigner wanting to visit their very beautiful - and very sparsely populated - country needs to have a passport valid for 6 month after the date of their ... no, not arrival, but departure.

Oh, big brother, spare me!

Add to it that - due to international terrorism activities and ridiculously sharpened - in the wrong way - security measures - it is no longer possible to renew Swedish passports at honorary Swedish consulates - which there are plenty of, in every corner of the world.

No, nowadays you have to go to the Swedish embassy - in the USA a long plane trip from most of the country - be photographed and fingerprinted there... and then wait for the new passport to be manufactured.... in Sweden, sent back to the embassy and by the embassy to the nearest consulate... thus sparing you - generously - a second - expensive - trip to Washington. DC.

Oh, Big Brother.. too many Big Brothers.... utterly silly Big Brothers!

Since I was thinking of going to Sweden before my old passport expired anyway, a very nice employee of the Swedish embassy suggested a temporary passport now, which I could get in Atlanta right away. Alas, Swedish temporary passports are valid only for 7 months - fine if I were going on a short trips of a few weeks duration, but not on a prolonged one.

So on Wednesday I am off to DC, whether I feel like it or not...and no, I do not feel like going to DC in January!

It will be a long day: leave home at 5 am to drive to Jacksonville airport, fly to Atlanta, from Atlanta to Baltimore, take a subway ? bus to downtown Washington, get the passport formalities done... and then back to Baltimore, to Atlanta, to Jacksonville and home, where i should arrive shortly after midnight!

I may not be too old, yet, to survive the rain forest... but the bureaucratic amok of government bureaucrats pretending that they are "protecting their citizens" from either terrorists (USA, leaning heavily on the others) or illegal immigrants ? ... might very well kill me!

Watch out, Belize, for an invasion of European Union members, whose passports expire in less than 6 month after their planned departure!

Ma sa sa' la ch'ool = Is there happiness in your heart?

in Q'eqchi' (also known as kekchi and previously ketchi) there is no "good morning" or "good day" or "good evening."

But there is this lovely standard greeting: Ma sa sa' la ch'ool = Is there happiness in your heart?

To which you are supposed to answer (with a smile on your face, no matter what your real emotional status at the moment?) : Sa in ch'ool = Yes, my heart is happy!

As you see I just started learning some basic phrases and words in Q'eqchi'.

Let's try breakfast ingredients: wa (tortilla), molb' (eggs), kenq (beans) , chin (orange), cape (coffee).

And now, that we have eaten, it is time for a swim.

But first let's try to get a piece of vital information: Ma wan li ahin sa li nima? = Are there crocodiles in the river?

Going to Maya country!

This year started with unseasonably cold temperatures even in coastal Georgia, and, after freezing for a few days, I had enough of both the cold and - to be honest - of too much leisure, as I have only worked very little during the last six months and started having vivid dreams in which my brain talked to me complaining: "Please don't put me on a permanent retirement, if you want me to continue to work for you. I need more intellectual stimulation, I need more challenge. Let's have another adventure, shall we!"

So I gave in... after founding a very exciting opportunity: a ground breaking model of nature conservation by indigenous people - in this case: Q'eqchi' Maya in southern Belize.

In a few weeks I'll be there... supporting this model, helping to make it sustainable, so it could attract replication elsewhere.

My leisure retirement in Georgia will have to wait... again.

And I do hope my body would do its best to keep up with my brain's demands.

Belize is far too interesting a destination to just work there. :-)

Such a fabulous snorkeling: Sapodilla Cayes, here I come!

Golden years on the Golden Isles of Georgia

My retirement merry-go-round, i.e. "living the world" retirement type ended - I resolved - two weeks ago, when I moved to the Golden Isles of Georgia, to live my golden years in a more stationary fashion, thus the retirement-merry-go-round blog comes now to an end.

June and July were filled with travelling all around the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, (I promise to record those travels in this blog soon, under appropriate dates) before I settled on the Golden Isles, with their sandy beaches, fantastic nature preserves and the famous marshes of Glynn.

I shall continue my encore (= retirement, part time ) career of non-profit consulting offering hands on organizational and fund development to non-profits both locally and - for short term assignments - internationally, to aid them during the recession, and after it - especially rural and remotely located organizations, since these usually receive far fewer grants than other nonprofits, often due to lack of professional resources and far fewer public support due to their remoteness.

As for the rest, I plan to enjoy the beaches, forests and marshes, and the neighboring historical city of Savannah and the nearest large city of Jacksonville, Florida - both at a distance of 70 miles. I plan to visit my daughter in Atlanta often, visiting friends there and taking it the cultural offerings I so enjoyed there: opera, ballet, theaters, museums, my book clubs... enjoy what's left of my life!

I have enjoyed this blogging adventure for the last two years and all virtual - and personal - friendships I developed through it.

Till we meet again! :-)

Callaway Gardens mini vacations

At the end of May Disa received a stimulus package from Callaway Gardens, a huge English-type garden (2500 acres!), resort (2700 acres) and forest (8,500 acres) near Pine Mountain in central Georgia.

The stimulus package offered discounts at any lodging belonging to Callaway Garden resort, free entry to the gardens and all Callaway Gardens attractions plus free golf tee time, free tennis, free boat and bicycle rentals.

Since we both love Callaway Gardens, we decided to use this offer and went there last week for a three day, two night mini vacation.

Unfortunately, the weather was not ideal, because we had only one whole day without rain, Wednesday. It rained on Tuesday afternoon,

allowing us to enjoy wet and foggy vistas of the lakes (there are 13 lakes in the gardens, the biggest one with a large sandy beach) and the gardens during an early evening ride/walk through the property:

We enjoyed these aquarelle-like vistas, rain-drooping southern magnolias and the flowering bushes
and the mosses, who seemed to thrive after the rain.

to be continued

Belt tightening?

'What on earth ARE you wearing??? ' exclaimed my daughter last Friday when I went to fetch her from a car workshop, where she left her car for some routine maintenance.

I looked at her surprised. I had on a pair of jeans and a polo shirt - in my opinion quite ok an attire for an errand like that.

' Everything is hanging on you! You must have lost at least two sizes and can't were those "fat" clothes anymore' - she explained seeing my surprise... and instead of driving us home, she kidnapped me - in my own car - to a Talbots outlet store (this is recession, remember, thus the need to be frugal, while still polished, lol) - almost 15 miles away.

Everything there was between 40% and 75% off regural prices... and the selection was pretty good. So I got myself this funny pelican purse (no, I did not "outgrow" any of my purses, but I could not resist this one), especially that it was both stylish and a bargain!

and a few other items: among them this new navy top (despite Disa-s complaints that too many of my clothes are navy - I simply had to remind her that they now are too big for me to wear) and patterned skirt... about half a size too small at the moment ! ;-)

Well, since I returned from Puerto Rico I have been eating a lot of healthier food: lots of veggies and lean protein, nothing fried, (be it a lechonera style pork or tostones =double fried plantains, a typical everyday food of Puerto Rico, served, to make things worse with mayo-ketchup!), quinoa, millet and amaranth instead of rice, fresh sallads, etc.

I have also rejoined a gym, enjoying water aerobics and other group excecise classes and using an elliptical trainer now and then... so no wonder I lost 12 pounds ( of fat, I hope) since I came back, and should soon be ready for those of my newly purchased clothes, which are now a bit tight fitting.

But tightening of real belts is not so good for tightening of financial belts... unless, of course you shop at outlet stores... and don't overdo it ;-)!