Semana Santa.

Holy Week is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter. It starts on Palm Sunday and includes the religious holidays of Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) and Good Friday.  Holy Week commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ and culminates in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.  When I think of where to go to celebrate Holy Week, the last place that woud come to mind is Guatemala.

Will he come with me?

Ispoke with my brother Mark today.  He's just  few years younger than I am.  He's a doctor who lives in San Mateo, California and though we don't see each other often, we share many interests in common that whenever we do get together, time flies by quickly because no matter what we do, we thoroughly enjoy ourselves.  One thing we definitely have in common is a penchant for galavanting and exploring new places.  I told him of my plans to go to Guatemala for Semana Santa and I asked if he would be interested in going with me.  Of  course, I was doing my best to twist his arm :-)  I don't know if he as just trying to be polite or if he really meant it, but he told me he would think about it.  I hope he decides to come *keeping my fingers crossed* :-)  The last time we traveled together was a few years back when I made a trip out to the Bay Area.  He had a hankering for a road trip and so did I.  We pulled out the map of California, bounced around a few ideas about where to go and ended up settling on Death Valley National Park.  Yep, Death Valley which at 280+ feet below sea level is the lowest spot in North America.  Name sounds foreboding but it was a place neither of us had been to and the information provided on the park's website made it sound like a very interesting place to see and it turned out to be exactly that.  If you've never been, you must put it on your list of places to see in the US!

¡Hola Guatemala!

S

o you want to know why am I going to Guatemala? Simple answer. Because I want to experience a very special event and to explore a country that I know almost nothing about.

Memories of China and Mongolia.

This is the diary of my trip to China and Mongolia in the summer of 2009.

I'm writing this posting just a shortwhile after having returned to the US. At the moment, I'm sitting at the departure gate at La Guardia airport. My connecting flight back to DC has been delayed by who knows how long thanks to a really bad thunderstorm hovering over Long Island.

It has been an extremely long travel day and I really, really just want to get home. Luckily, I have my computer and all the photos I took on this trip to help me pass the time.

As I scroll through the pictures, I'm still amazed by all the experiences I had on this trip. I had a phenomenal time from start to finish.

Things in China are of scale and scope that is often hard to fathom. Current day China has a largest population in the world and it seems like all of China was visiting the same sights I was.  Everywhere I went, I was surrounded by masses of people.

And, if Beijing is not already the largest city, geography wise, in the world, it soon will be. The size of its airport is most certainly daunting as one terminal is more than a mile long!  Unlike DC, where we only have one highway that encircles the city, Beijing has 5 and I was told there would soon be a sixth Ring Road.  Unbelievable!!