forever england

if i should die, think only this of me:

that there’s some corner of a foreign field

that is forever england. there shall be

in that rich earth a richer dust concealed;

a dust whom england bore, shaped, made aware,

gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,

a body of england’s, breathing english air,

washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home.



and think, this heart, all evil shed away,

a pulse in the eternal mind, no less

gives somewhere back the thoughts by england given:

her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;

and laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness

in hearts at peace, under an english heaven.



-the soldier, by rupert brooke



when i was 9, god answered my curious prayer for truth, in england.

when i was 16, i moved away on my own for the first time, to england.

when i was 21 and 22, i saw miracles everyday as a missionary, in england.

this summer, at 25, i returned on a soul-exposing independent journey, to england.



this blog is about to become a major travelogue (as if it isn’t already). the purpose is to update interested family and friends on my adventures, and the side-effect is hopefully to share some beauty and some enthusiasm for said beauty with anyone and everyone. i feel a little silly about slapping most of the details of my british isles trip on the internet, but i learned a powerful lesson while traveling alone: life is for sharing. i don’t think i’ve ever had such an intense desire to share – so read or look as you please! and let me know what you think, or what beauty you’ve found to share yourself.

p.s. to perfect

utah mountains – wildflowers – meese – jewels – sparkly lakes – picnic – good conversation – sunnyness



last few in-between days in utah before ireland, england and scotland? perfect, indeed.

let’s go fly through the jungle

after taking in the ruins, we decided to go for a little canopy tour and fly above the jungle.
there were 8 different lines and we zipped sitting, upside-down and superman/superlady style.
we were right up in the tops of the trees with the monkeys.
what is a stronger word for exhilarating?

we had dinner in the colorful little town of flores before heading back to the overnight bus.

we were on the front row of a double decker. i’ll never forget it.

i went from the bus to a taxi to the airport shuttle to the plane and back home. two weeks in guatemala, sensational and over. benjamin disraeli said, “like all great travelers, i saw more than i remember, and i remember more than i saw.”

***

“to my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – bill bryson

“traveling is a brutality. it forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. you are constantly off balance. nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – cesare pavese

“travel does what good novelists also do to the life of everyday, placing it like a picture in a frame or a gem in its setting, so that the intrinsic qualities are made more clear. travel does this with the very stuff that everyday life is made of, giving to it the sharp contour and meaning of art.” – freya stark

exploring tikal

after we got back to guatemala city from atitlan, we unpacked and repacked, left our luggage again at the hotel, and went to the bus station to hop on an overnight bus to the ancient mayan city of tikal. the bus was a huge adventure, and in a whirlwind after we arrived we were whisked off to some travel agency and then on a random van to the ruins, bleary –eyed and disconcerted. {i love everything about traveling, including the uncomfortable and frustrating parts!}

tikal is legitimately incredible. it was so neat to imagine what it would be like all those hundreds of years ago, populated and thriving. it is especially poignant to think about the book of mormon while there, whether or not these ruins could be tied to those peoples. tikal was cooler than i expected. also, it was hotter. and my only clean shirt (i really couldn’t bear the thought of putting on the outrageously dirty ones) was long-sleeved and warm in case of a random cold front. it all just made the experience more intense!

this tree, what the locals call “the tree of life” was right at the entrance to tikal national park. it was a good introduction to the amazing vegetation we were about to see.
tikal is literally in the middle of the jungle.


our tour guide reuben was delightful.


the ruins were so extensive, and we saw lots of cool things like the picture on the left, and lots of land covered mounds like the picture on the right. only 20% of tikal is excavated. 20%!


we met lots of cool jungle creatures, like this baby snake…

and dozens and dozens of spider monkeys and howler monkeys – who really do howl!

temple 4 is the biggest of all the temples at tikal, and we got to climb it. we ascended the stairs (both wooden ladders but in this century and stone steps constructed about the 4th century!) to the tippy top and the sweeping views were absolutely breathtaking. i stood up there and thought -
“this is so worth the 2 overnight buses – i’d do it just for this view.” check it out:

maybe a little bit sweaty?


i was so grateful for these two crazy travel buddies who entertained my ambitious itinerary.
katherine and peter were so fun to travel with.

lago de atitlan

when i bought my ticket to guatemala, i rashly decided to tag three days on the end of the trip after the service expedition. i had no idea what i would do with that time until the last day in the polochic. i found a few friends who were staying and who were up for my mildly crazy itinerary and we headed off to lake atitlan and then to the ancient ruins of tikal. it was really quite an epic adventure, including a lot of driving and two overnight bus rides. i was so glad we made it happen. it solidified my love for guatemala.

so after a glorious shower and night’s rest following the expedition, we headed south to atitlan.

 
after a long bumpy taxi ride we made it to this lookout point for our first glimpse of the lake. 3 volcanoes and dense alive jungle surround the banks of atitlan. from first sight, it was astoundingly beautiful.
we had to take a boat ride to our hotel – that is the only way to get there…neat. it was so stormy when we got there and i loved sitting in the bow of the boat watching the tumult and taking it all in.

all over these verdant and teeming mountains were little villages situated in the lush.

we took a little stroll around the village our hotel was in as night came in.

every night, the casa del mundo hotel has a candlelit family-style dinner for all guests. it was magic.

here was our view in the morning. i love getting to a place when it’s dark or nearly dark and then waking up the next day to discover where you are in the light of the sun.

our hotel had all kinds of terraces and hammocks and balconies to overlook that gorgeous water.
we rented kayaks for an hour and it was fantastic. this is peter, and we’ve known each other since high school. somehow got on the same trip to guatemala! 

we jumped off balconies and dove in – the water felt amazing.

we took a few boats around to see other villages along the banks of lago de atitlan.

this is in the largest of atitlan’s towns – santiago. our cute little impromptu-tuk-tuk-tour-guide took us to this lookout point. there is a significant building in the center of this picture. when he told us it was a mormon church we all started cheering quite raucously.

and then he let me drive his tuk-tuk! let me just say – it’s not as easy as it looks.

i say lago de atitlan is a spot of heaven. our time was quick but very well spent.
this post feels so travelogue-y. my point is: the world is full of jewels of beauty. i’m super glad i got to see this one.