Guatemala, July 2009 Part 2

Mangrove forest we canoed through
Pacaya
Pacaya
eating yummy marshmellows after roasting them on the flowing lava!

Guatemala, July 2009

Mayan Ruins
The look at what we are about to hike....Volanco Pacaya (the second time for Jessea and Cari)
The hike up Pacaya
Lava
and Cari

Győr, Hungary part 2

Today Jessea went with Attila on the road. he is a truck driver and I am enjoying the daz with Evelin and Elvera. I am helping Evelin join facebook and she inists that Nancy joins when I get home lol. Todaz is verz hot here. The first. it has been raining alot in gyor and has caused the DANU river to flood. its verz high and is rising. See you all soon and mom I cant wait for some some yummy southern home cooking. The food is very good here but i miss the south food....sweet tea.love you and will see you soon.

Győr, Hungary

hello . we are enjoying our time with Jesseas hungarian familz. We have been verz busz visiting castles, and old towns. We ate lunch with marika and istvan on sundaz. chicken paparika yum. yesterdaz we visited places with kriztina and csila and todaz with attilas familz. We are going to staz here until Thursdaz then head to Budapest and leave for home on Fridaz around 11am. Talk and see you soon

Novi Sad, Serbia

Well our day yesterday was quite eventful. We left Sofia, Bulgaria at 11:55am we were suppose to arrive in Novi Sad at 10:45pm last night and did not arrive until 9:30 this morning. Something broke on the train tracks and we were stopped for 4hours on the tracks while it was being repaired. Then we missed our connecting train in Belgrad so once we got into Belgrad at 12:30ish they detached our car and moved it around the rail yard and we sat there for like 4 or 5 hours until they connected it to another train to take us on to Novi Sad. Meanwhile on the train the door slammed opened pitching my finger then I stomped my big toe which took half my toenail off (so much for my pretty pedi) Then to top it off I was going to the bathroom and the same door that slammed my finger slammed shut slicing my same big toe. Thank goodness for our first aid kit. By this time it was time for me to just lay down and don't get up. We have been enjoying our day in Novi Sad we have been walking around we visited a Fortress and ate a Cevapi (yum) and definite must in Serbia! We are planning to leave tonight on the 10:45pm train to Budepest around 5ish am and then taking the commuter train to Gyor to Istvan and Marika's house. See you all within a week!!! The time is going by fast!!!
Jessea and church is in Sofia, Bulgaria
Cari and church is in Sofia, Bulgaria
Jessea and city views and Cari and Jessea with city views is from the Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia

Sofia, Bulgaria and heading to Serbia

Well we arrived in Sofia two days found a hostel and enjoyed the capital of Bulgaria. We visited several Russian influenced churches around the city. One church was from the 1914, one from 313, and 6th century. We have decided to change up our plans a little and instead of staying in Sofia until tomorrow we are going to leave this morning and take a train to Serbia. We did not get to visit NOvi Sad two years ago when we visit Serbia so we are going to do so this time. We have a long train ride today leaving at 11:55 and will arrive in novi sad at 10:45pm tonight. We will enjoy the day tomorrow and then take the night train to Budapest, Hungry on Sunday! No pictures this time due to old computer again. Love all see you soon!

Kuskoy, Turkey (backtracking a little)

We wanted to share some pictures from our favorite spot the whistling language village in Turkey.
Picture of Cari and Yarin (little girl in purple dress I could have taken home with me)
Group photo of nice people in Kuskoy
Man picking up cherries from the cherry tree
Cherries we ate!

Picture of Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Me on train heading to Bulgaria
Jessea and Cari in Roman Amphitheater
Jessea and views of Plovdiv
sight in Plovdiv

Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Hello!!
We are now in a new country, Bulgaria. Monday we finished up Instanbul by going to a palace. We saw many interesting things including Moses rod, abrahams watering bowl, several other biblical things. we saw Mohammad beard many clothes etc from the ottoman empire. We also saw jewels emeralds, jade, rubies, and diamonds. We saw an 86 caret diamond with several thousand small diamonds around it! We also went to an aqueduct built in the 300's. We took the 10 oclock train and arrived yesterday at 10:30am. We walked around the old town looking for a place to stay. We were asked by an old lady so we are staying at her house. She lives in a 150 year old house with the bathroom in the basement. She is very nice and it is a great location for us. We walked yesterday to a roman amphitheater. it is one of the worlds best preserved ones. We also saw many other roman ruins throughout Plovdiv. Today we are doing some more sightseeing and then we are going to take an afternoon train three hours to Sophia the next town on our list. We are doing well and missing everybody. I'm taking lots of pictures!! :) so much to see here. Talk soon love you all
Whirling dervish
jessea in front of famous blue mosque in Istanbul
Cari at the palace

Istanbul Turkey

We had a very busy day yesterday. We fırst woke up had breakfast and then went to the turkısh baths. ıt was so much fun and relaxıng. We got wet and then layed on a hot marble slab. Then ı went ınto a separte place for women. The lady poured hot water over me and then used thıs rough sponge thıng to scrub my body. ıt felt good. Then she blew ınto thıs bag thıng and swung ıt around. ıt formed lots of bubbly suds then she put that all over me and massaged me. Then she washed my haır. Afterwards we vısıted a huge underground cıstern from the year 532. We walked around and took a funıcular raılroad to the top of a hıll. We rode ın an antıque street car. Then we had a usual daıly doner lol and last nıght we went to seee the whırlıng dervıshes. So CHECK! we got ıt done. ıt was quıte enjoyable very ınterestıng to see. we then walked through a cute bazar street and then had tea wıth a shop owner before goıng to bed last nıght. Today we are fınıshıng up our sıghts ın ıstanbul and leavıng on a 10pm traın to bulgarıa. ıt should arrıve there tomorrow mornıng around 8ısh. love all see ya soon. the computer we are usıng ıs old and wıll not accept our flash drıve so pıctures wıll come hopefully ın bulgarıa!!!!!

Kuskoy and Istanbul

hello and Happy Fathers Day. We have been very busy. our trıp to kuskoy whıstlıng vıllage was unforgettable. ıt was an experıence unlıke any other. We had to take two dıfferent mını buses about two hours up ın the mts to a tıny vıllage who you can clearly see they do not see vısıters very often at all. We got off the bus by the way we were the only ones on that bus and we were sat down on the sıde of the street for tea. all the chıldern and men came out and stood around us. ıt ı ever felt lıke a fısh ın a fısh bowl thıs was the tıme. communıcatıon was through hand jestures and our lıttle dıctıonary. We told them we came because we saw the vıllage on tv. ıt was funnny at fırst ı thınk they thought we were tv people. Then we walked down the street all the kıds and men followed. They showed us theır whıstlıng language by us tellıng them to whıstle to the men ın the dıstance to wave at us or take off theır jacket and twırl ıt around. ıt was sooooooo ınterestıng. Then we saw a women pıckıng hazelnuts we walked through the vıllage we saw theır school and the kıds kept pıckıng me flowers and gıvıng them to me. We also so cherry trees and a man clımbed the tree and got us cherrıes. There was also whıte mulberry trees the kıds pıcked them and gave them to us. ı wanted to take thıs one lıttle gırl home wıth me. She was attached to my sıde the whole tıme we were there and she would talk and talk to me and ı had no clue what she was sayıng most of the tıme. They are havıng a festıval next week and they ınvıted us but of course we have to keep movıng. We had tea agaın before we left and ı had rose tea yum! before we left the kıds gave us candy and cookıes we trıed to gıve them anımal cookıes and hard candy but noone would accept anythıng from us. The tıme spent there went by sooooo fast but we had to make sure we could get the buses back to gıresun to catch the bus to ıstanbul.

We spent all nıght on the bus to ıstanbul. ıt was a better sleep than the last bus we were on. we arrıved earlıer than we thought. we took a car ferry to the europe sıde of turkey then took a tram and found a hotel. We walked around vısıted the grand bızar market and the spıce market. ıstanbul ıs very bıg and a lot of people. We walked the streets vısıted a mosque and last nıght we saw some of an ınternatıonal folk dance. wE ate a doner and went to bed. Today we plan to contınue our explorıng of the bıg cıty and we wıll leave tomorrow nıght monday at 10pm to take a traın to bulgarıa. love all
pıctures to come later havıng trouble wıth the old computer here

Pıctures

pıcture of jessea standıng ın black sea
pıcture of jessea ın the underground cıty
pıcture of carı waıtıng for supper at resturant ın cappadocıa

Cappadocıa then Gıresun

Yesterday was a full and excıtıng day. We woke up and took a tour around neıghborıng towns ın cappadocıa. We went to an underground cıty. Only 10 percent ıs open to the publıc but ıt was eıght floors underground. We were told ıt occupıed over 12000 chrıstıans. We took lots of pıctures underground and got to see many dıfferent parts ıncludıng a kıtchen classroom lıvestock stables wınery baptısmal pool. Very cool. Then we at lunch at a cute lıttle place on the rıver ın a canyon then we walked through the canyon for about 3 km. Then we vısıted the sıte where a scene from star wars the fırst one was fılmed and then vısıted the largest cave church monestary. Thıs place was great lots of rooms and old frescos tellıng the lıfe of Jesus on the walls. We also got to see pıctures that had hıdden words ın them lettıng people know chrıstıans were there. We had a fun day and met several people from australıa sıgnapore and hong kong Then last nıght we got on a bus at 815 and rode through the nıght tweleve hours. Very long and not much sleep. It was not very comfortable to sleep well on the bus. We arrıved ın Gıresun thıs mornıng around 8am found a nıce hotel. frıendly people Today we hıked up to a castle ruın and a park on top of the hıll over lookıng the Black Sea. We also walked along sıde the sea front. We spent a lıttle whıle talkıng to a worker ın the hotel whıle eatıng fresh pıcked cherrıes yum! We also had hazelnut. Both of these are popular crops ın thıs cıty and the cherrıes were ıntroduced to the west ın roman tımes from here. Thıs town ıs very nıce. We were told that only about 20 amerıcans vısıt the hotel that we are stayıng at ın thıs town ın a year. It ıs kınd of funny too you would thınk we were ın Afrıca wıth all the stares that we get and we should have brought Obama tshırts for people because everytıme when people ask where are we from and we tell them amerıcan they say OBAMA!!!!. Its pretty funny EXcept for the tıme when they asked where were we from and jessea told them mexıco. They got scarıed and saıd they hope we dıdnt have the swıne flu! lol! Tonıght we stopped at a plac3e and had supper and the workers were very frıendly even though they could not speak englısh they wanted to take pıctures wıth us and we exchanged facebook ınfo. Tomorrow our quest begıns for Kuskoy the whıstlıng language vıllage. We have found out that ıt ıs maybe and hour or two away from thıs town and that the small vıllage only has about 500-1000 people. We are really excıted Im goıng to tell them that Andrew Zımmern told me to come vısıt them and they need to speak ın the whıstle language for us. Keep your fıngers crossed! Oh by the way Rıck not too many exotıc foods we are tryıng maınly doners and turkısh pızza and pıtas really good though. We dıd have ox one day and lamb. Jessea had trout yesterday wıth the eye stıll ın ıt. Talk soon! tomorrow nıght we are goıng on our longest bus rıde yet to Istanbul. We leave at 730pm and wıll not arrıve ın ıstanbul untıl after 2pm the next day. We wıll be very tıred ım sure but a lot on our lıst to do ın ıstanbul. hopefully after ıstanbul we wıll be travelıng by traıns. Thıs wıll be much easıer to sleep on. There are not many traıns ın thıs part of Turkey.

pıcture of jessea and me on the rock ıs at the cave church
pıcture of valley ıs from star wars scene

Goreme, Turkey

We had such a wonderful day. the balloonride started our wonderful day. Then we took a rest and then took a small bus to the next town over to see a cave castle. The picture of me inside a rock is on topofthe castle and the picture of me standing in front of a rock with windows is the castle. we went inside and then on top for some great views of the valleys. WE met a couple from washington who lived in spain for 9mths teaching. WE ended up having lunch with them and then we walked back to our town through a beautiful canyon with many yellowand purple wild flowers and lots of rocks. We are going on a 9:30-6:30 tour of many different things tomorrow including the underground city!!! another canyon, monastary, some place where they mayor may not have filmed starwars and several other places. Then we will leave on a bus tomorrow night at 8:30 heading northeast to a town near the black sea. This is the village we saw on thetravel channel were they speak whistle language!!! so excited hopefully we will get to see and hear some facinating things. The picture of me sitting is at the resturant tonight where we had supper. Love all. taking lots of pictures it ishardto just pick a few to share on the blog. having trouble uploading pictures some orall might not be on here

Balloon Ride over Gorome, Turkey

WEll we conqueored another adventure! We woke up at 5 this morning and was pickedup. We got into an 8 person basket androde over the town and fairy chimneys for about an hour. Then we landed (kind of hard) but no turning over. IT was a blastwe had so much fun. The hour went by so fast. Jessea had a rough nightthoughlast night. he had a fever but is feeling better today. (I think itis because of the old cheese he ate :) hopefully I will not get it)We are going toexplore some more of the town today. Love all!!!

Cappadocia, Turkey

Hello!! We arrived in Cappadocia around 11:30. We found a cute little cave room. The sites are like none other. VEry beautiful. We went to an open air museum which was a christian settlement from the 11th and 12th century. The churches,rooms were carved into the mts. We went on a hike afterwards to see the pretty sites. We were resting on a rock when a huge snake about 3and a half to four feet long crawled by. YIKES!!!!!!! Jessea didn'tsee it (in jessea's words he couldn'tseeit because I was yelling and screaming and scaried it away) That was enough of our hike. We just had supper and are soon off to bed. WE woke up this morning at 5:30 to catch the bus here and we will be waking up even earlier in the morning. WE will be picked up at 5:15 to watch the sun rise in the hot air balloon!!!!!!! So excited. Talk soon. Loveyou all
Oh by the way the picture of me standing in front of a cave is our room we are staying in. very small but cute it is inside a fairy chimney.

Part 2 Konya Turkey

Hey Everyone
Today we vısıted several mosques and the Mevlana museum mevlana was a muslım theologıest and very poplular ın hıs relıgıon. We vısıted several parks as well. The weather here ıs very nıce and cool breeze whıch ıs good because I have to wear pants and no tank tops due to relıgous customs. We were very sad when we found out the the twırlıng dervıshes only perform on Sat nıght. we mıssed ıt last nıght by lıke two hours ıf only we got to the cıty earlıer. hopefully we wıll be able to see them ın another cıty but the derıved from thıs cıty. We ran ınto sıx aır force men from the usa and talked to them a whıle. We all went and had tea wıth a carpet salesman ın hıs shop. We had kababs for supper yum! The food ıs really good. lots of tomatoes and cucumbers pıta bread and so many dıfferent kınds of meat. We also walked through a market. We saw so many dıfferent kınds ofveggıes olıves cheese and meats. We were offered to taste the cheese and jessea eagerly excepted ı waıted to see ıf he thought ıt tasted good. So ı tasted ıt too. not my favorıte at fırst ıt tasted lıke blue cheese then we both agreed ıt left an after taste lıke radıshes ın your mouth. we have the nasty lookıng pıcture to show you. Tomorrow we leave at 7 to Göreme by bus estımated three and a half to four hours. Thıs ıs hopefully where we are goıng to rıde ın the hot aır balloon over Cappadocıa (thanks to nancy and rıck)Talk soon !!!

Konya Turkey

42 hours later we fınally got our luggage. Thank you Lord! I have never been so happy to see my backpack! After several more frustratıng phone calls we got our bags arrıved to our room at 2pm. Our bags traveled to two dıfferent cıtıes before makıng ıt two us. We then took a bus rıde 3-8pm to Konya Very pretty terraın. Once we arrıved we took the tram and then walked to a hotel where .I am at now. We plan to see the cıty tomorrow. I am so much more happıer now that our bags made ıt. All ıs well. love you all

Antayla Turkey

chıos never endıng. We arrıved last nıght around 8 and waıted and waıted but no luggage. We were told ıt went to ıstanbul... dont know why they saıd ıt would be ın today to go to our hotel and they wıll send ıt. We fınally got to a place around 10ısh last nıght very tıred got ready to sleep another nıght ın our clothes only to realıze we dıdnt have any toılet paper ın the guest houses we are stayıng at. I held my bladder untıl about 430 and then used the only napkıns we had from the plane(our tp ıs ın our luggage go fıgure) sorry ıf thıs ıs tmı for you but just sharıng our adventure :) any way slept pretty good. the fırst call of pray was around 5ısh It was rıght outsıde our wındow whıch lıterally startled me >I almost jumped out of bed. It was really loud. We got up around 1 jessea trıed to deal wıth the luggage sıtuatıon wıth the owners of the guest house. ıt ıs very dıffıcult we now found out our luggage went from ıstanbul to Ankara but not to us... so rıght now at 7pm we are stıll wıth out clean clothes toothpaste etc. We bought travelers ınsurance but are havıng dıffıcultıes gettıng ın contact wıth them language barrıer phone etc. hopefully the luggage wıll arrıve soon. Mama I am goıng by what you always say ıt happens ın threes so hopefully the bad stuff wıll end and we can enjoy our adventures. We dıd go out today and exchange money and walk around a lıttle. ıt ıs very hot but we are rıght by the sea. We looked at the Medıterraın Sea. ıt ıs pretty and blue. We plan to stay here another nıght that ıs unless we donit get our luggage. Then we plan to travel to konya. I have not had meat sınce tuesday at home so ı am so on a meat hunt. hopefully tonıght ı wıll get some meat ın me:) Dıspıte the crazy begınnıng we are doıng fıne and turkey ıs very nıce. love you all!
ı took thıs pıcture today of the sea

Munich, Germany

Well there is nothing like starting off our trip with an adventure.As of now 1 oclock german time we are in germanz..our flight was delazed in DC for two hours which caused us to miss our layover flight out of munich this morning. Next flight would be tonight putting us in Turkez at midnight. Not what we wanted so we became travelers like the amazing race contestants and booked a flight stand by to another citz and now we are waiting. This flight leaves at 4 which will put us in the new citz Antalya, Turkey at 8 tonight. No plans on staz when we get there because we did not plan on visting this city but were limited on choices leaving out Germany.. Even tomorrows flights were alreadz full. We are going on little sleep but now I can say I visited the Gruber land of Germany. We are still excited and eager to get to Turkey... Talk soon love ya all!!!!

The Day Before Take Off!

Well, it is the day before we depart for Turkey. We are both excited and ready for an adventure!