Days 3 & 4 -Guatemala 2013

Day 3 we were in Chetumal and walked around the city and down by the bay. The mural pictures below are from inside the state congress building of Quintana Roo. This mural was massive and covered the walls and ceiling. I LOVE local art and it was mind blowing. In the scenes there were quite a few political, religious, and historical agendas being portrayed. The pictures don't do it justice!

We then took the "express" bus to Belize City......which was anything less than an express trip. This bus did eventually get us to Belize City after stopping at every intersection on the way to pick up and drop off locals to home and work. Needless to say, we were the only tourists on the trip. What an experience! To add to it, crossing the border into Belize from Mexico was an experience on its own....what a mess. After this very long trip we waited at a bus station for a few minutes for our next bus to San Ignacio. This bus was also a local bus that was ....nothing less than long......very long. We finally made it to San Ignacio .....get our hotel and headed down for a lovely dinner.

 

Today (Day 4) we took a local tour up to the Myan Archeological site at Caracol (which means snail). All I can say is that it was simply AMAZING! I am still in awe of the size and architecture...I mean, the sure size of these structures sent me into shock.

 

 

 

Our tour guide was fabulous and really engaged in us understanding the history behind the structures. The tour just included the three of us (Gramma, Mark, and me) and our guide who was a Nature excavator and knew the land, plants, and trails.

 

 

 

 

The drive took about 2 1/2 to 3 hours each way up an extremely bumpy and eroded road. Our tour guide also drove like a lunatic (as Gramma put it)......she was in the front, Mark and I in the middle seats holding on for our lives. Honestly, that was so much fun, and Gramma even managed to drink her coffee not spilling one drop.....the mark of a true traveler.

 

 

On the way back we stopped at a granite water cascade (giant waterfall of death, according to Mark) which was simply the icing on top of a wonderful day...a Grand day! We left around 7:30am and returned close to 6pm.

We are now sitting in our hotel readying ourselves for a good night sleep after a lovely dinner and MUCH needed showers as we had been trumping through the jungle all day. We are having a grand time and missing all of you.

- Kristin Noel

 

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Day 2 -Guatemala 2013

We are still in Mexico today! In the morning (la mañana) we went to la playa (beach) a few blocks from our hotel. The beach was so beautiful and the sand was like powder. We also ran into a sand sculpture for Day of the Dead.

We spent time at a beach side bar and had natural coconut water from a coconut......served in a coconut. Way cool! We then went on a lovely swim in the ocean. We then traveled via bus (autobus) to Chetumal.

 

Once in Chetumal, we found our hotel and went to dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant. Gramma and I shared pesto pasta! .....another long day of travel. The bus ride was 5 hours. Our hotel is nice with 3 double beds.

We will walk around tomorrow in Chetumal and then travel across to Belize. Interesting, Belize is actually an English speaking country as it is part of Britain.

 

 

 

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T-minus ....TODAY!

We made it! Currently in Playa Del Carmen ...went out for a wonderful dinner and staying in a lovely hotel (Barrio Latino). Heading to the beach tomorrow morning (mañana) and taking a bus (autobus) to Chetumal tomorrow afternoon near the Belize border.

 

It has been a LONG day of travel, but certainly an experience. The locals are so kind and encouraging with my broken Spanish, but I can tell just from a few hours that I am absorbing more! ..can't wait to see how fluent I can get after 3 weeks!

 

Thank you family and friends for your prayers!

Happy Travels,

Kristin Noel

 

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What's in a Wedding?

         After a wedding-filled spring and summer I spent time this morning looking back over the 5 weddings we had the privilege to be apart of.  I have always loved weddings since dreaming of my prince charming riding in on his white horse after watching Cinderella and many other "princess movies" .....many of which I still watch and love today.  There is something about weddings that I love....that most of us love.  It's not the details or the dress.....it's something else.  Even the most cynical of people can tear up at a wedding.  So why?

        Naturally I remember my own romance and was brought to a very special book Adam and I read during our dating and courtship...The Book of Romance by Tommy Nelson.  This delightful book reads as a commentary of the Song of Solomon and leads you through dating, courtship, engagement, wedding, wedding night, honeymoon, and the biggest chapters...marriage.  It is a book that has stuck with us and one we have read parallel with each of the stages of our relationship.

        Chapter 4, The Wedding God Desires for You to Have starts of by explaining that "God's plan for a young couple is to have a holy, pure, and joyful wedding celebration to unite their lives as one spiritually, emotionally, and socially."  These characteristics can be easily overlooked in this age of wedding prep and details, but I can honestly say that each wedding we witnessed this year, as different as they all were, embodied each of these.  Nelson continues by pointing out several hallmark moments of a great wedding: "a wedding is a holy and divine moment....it is a moment in which God is fully present as the foremost witness to the wedding vows."  Maybe the fact that God is PRESENT is the reason a wedding is such a special time.  As a body of faith we believe God is everywhere, all the time, but there are times when we "feel" God present....a wedding is one place I feel God the most.

         Another hallmark is that a wedding is a time of celebration and joy.  Whether the wedding is on a rainy Thursday afternoon or at the peak of summer on a Saturday....in a church, on the farm, or in a yard.......it is a joyous occasion.  Nelson describes the atmosphere as being "filled with laughter, praise, and song.  The emotional climate of the room should be warm, with a feeling that no matter what might happen in the way of glitches in the pomp and circumstance, nothing truly matters except the love and happiness of the couple being united in marriage."  Looking back on our own wedding I remember bits and pieces of the details...our family probably remembers more, but 3 years later what you remember is the look on your husbands face when you walk down the aisle, the feeling of love and support from your family and friends, and the overflow of emotions when you first enter into this union before God.  It truly is a day of celebration!

         After looking back on the importance of the wedding day for the couple....what about the family and friends....the ones left behind when the couple sails off for their honeymoon and their new life!?!  There is a bittersweet feeling we get as we wave goodbye as the ones left behind.  Maybe it's the fact that even though you may have seen that couple weekly or daily before the wedding...the day after their wedding....the moments after their union....they are different.....they actually "look" different....they are no longer 1 but 2!  If you know me well at all you know I could never claim to NOT be emotional....I am mostly a blubbering mess at weddings.  I can't help it.....I never have been able to go to a wedding and not tear up....not feel emotionally connected to the couple and their union.  This summer has been an emotional roller coaster for me as we have witnessed a best friend, 2-1st cousins, and our siblings say "I do."  What a blessing it has been to witness these unions, but boy o boy has it been tear jerking and emotional!

          Things I have learned:  1) I am certainly an extrovert at heart........I LOVE weddings.....I wake up ready for the day....I love the build up with the showers and wedding prep.....I love setting up....and absolutely LOVE the ceremony and reception...I could literally dance until my feel fall off!  But at some point during the reception my energy starts to leave....right about the time the guests start to go back to their lives and by the end of the night (when the couple leaves) my mood drops from high to low....I always say "I could live a wedding day, everyday"....crazy I know, but I never feel as alive as I do at weddings....  2) The next morning is the hardest....knowing that the celebration is over.....I find myself yearning for that fuzzy feeling we all had the day before.  This is where God speaks to me the most.....there is an important mental shift that happens as I again celebrate (although more internally and with less dancing) their new life and the wonderful journey they are about to embark on....and  3) You inevitably reminisce your own union.......I always remember vividly the same points during our own wedding and the emotions I felt as a bride looking at my groom.  I realized that after our wedding, I look at weddings differently.  They are not just a fairy tale....they are no longer about the dress and the reception....they are about the union....the family....the relationships.....God.  They are so much more.....and believe me I built weddings and marriage up to be this wonderful moment of perfection as a little girl gazing at her own mother's wedding dress.  What I have realized is that a wedding is not perfect....a marriage is not perfect.....it is SO much better than perfect...it is real!

          I love weddings for the emotions, for the memories, for the cake, and the dancing......but most of all I love the fact that even though the union is the same under God.......every wedding is uniquely perfect in it's own way!  Whether you say "I do" in an intimate chapel on a Thursday evening, a blissful rainy afternoon, on your parent's front porch surrounded by memories, on a farm in the middle of nowhere, or literally tying the knot on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon........God was there and we all felt it!  We thank you for sharing your special moment with us and pray for your marriage each and everyday!

Now for the memories --------->

Mr. & Mrs. Dugan Corsolini

Mr. & Mrs. Trey Lewis

Mr. & Mrs. Kyle Simmons

Mr. & Mrs. Cody Harden

Mr. & Mrs. Austin Veteto

Congratulations!