After roughly six months of silence, I’m finally back with an update. Between work, two nights dedicated to Spanish lessons, three nights booked for basketball, boxing, and tennis, and being the only one with the will or ability to cook real dinners in the house (step it up, Misha), I’ve been finding it difficult to allocate time to write. Luckily, the December slowdown and a few well-placed days off has allowed me some time to not only get a few posts written, but to actually do a few things worth writing about.
My previous post detailed our return to a normal routine and our trips to Antigua Guatemala, the Spanish colonial town an hour or so outside of Guatemala City. Since that time, we have each gotten a tattoo in Antigua, experienced road blockades in protest of democratic backsliding related to presidential election interference, taken two weeks for R&R (see this previous post for description of R&R), saw the giant kites of Sumpango, visited Lake Atitlán and Tecpan (which I’ll detail in my next post), and saw the exceptional fireworks show that accompanies the lighting of the Gallo Christmas tree at La Plaza Obelisco from the best seat in the house. With all of that going on, Misha had the unenviable task of switching from the consular to political section during the busiest time of the year for her portfolio (human rights). It’s been quite the transition, to say the least.
I’ll give our Autumn recap in chronological order, starting with a weekend stay to Finca San Cayetano. This beautiful little resort features a restaurant, coffee operation, and a handful of cabins at the foot of Volcan de Fuego. We were able to relax in a hot tub drinking fresh coffee straight from the source while watching the routine mini-eruptions from the volcano. Next, we spent two weeks bouncing around New England. We spent a few days in Massachusetts with friends and family, went up to New Hampshire to do some house hunting, and finished up with a few days in Portland, Maine. While we didn’t find a house on this particular trip, we did find the perfect house a few weeks after our departure. Excitingly, we closed last week!
In early November, I had the pleasure of seeing los barriletes gigantes, or the giant kites, of Sumpango. In celebration of All Saints’ Day and the Day of the Dead, the town of Sumpango hosts a festival where several dozen giant kites are displayed, and in some cases, flown. The kites that fly are roughly 10-15 feet across, while the largest are several stories tall. The kites are handmade and supported by bamboo beams, and the work begins as early as August. This year, the festival was delayed a few days due to rain, but it didn’t stop thousands of people from showing up to listen to marimba music, drink Quetzalteca cocktails, and feast on grilled meats and vegetables.
A few weeks later we were off to Zone 14 for the Gallo tree lighting. Gallo is the most famous beer brand in the country, and they’ve been hosting a tree lighting in the city for nearly 40 years. It’s 145 feet tall, 57 feet wide, and has approximately 1.5 million lights. The lead up to the lighting features a performance of the nutcracker, musical performances, and a whole lot of chaos on the streets surrounding the plaza. We went to the rooftop of a friend’s apartment building directly above the plaza, and for nearly 30 minutes following the lighting we had fireworks exploding all around us. They were so close that a few sparks even had to be stamped out on the fake grass covering the rooftop.
It was an eventful fall, and we hope to keep exploring new parts of the country as our final year in Guatemala keeps rolling. In my next post, I’ll detail our first trip to Lake Atitlan, a must-see for anyone visiting the Land of Eternal Spring.
Beer and Diplomacy 
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