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Can you remember your first day in kindergarten? Your first class in college?

I was six years old on my first day in a formal school setting.

Those days first grade was called Sub A in South Africa. Three front teeth missing, two braids, a brand-new uniform a few sizes too big, an empty bookcase (the boxy kind), and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich wrapped in wax paper. Me being the first...

These days you can explore virtually any place on Earth or under the oceans without getting up from your couch. Travel vlogs and blogs abound. Google Earth can zoom you to even the remotest locations for a 3D view, a street view, or a bird’s eye view.  Very little is left for the imagination.  Minimal risk and expense. Zero suffering.

ADVENTURE

Yet, as many who wander agree, virtual experienc...

A holiday means you can sleep in today. Or not.

Ear-shattering machine-gun-like percussion jerks you from slumber before the day breaks. Incessant whistle blows, and cheering over a megaphone follows. Torch-runners arrive in the village after running all night. The annual celebration of Guatemala’s independence from Spain is in full swing.

Across the Atlantic in West Africa, the national flag fl...

Ubiquitous and radiant, birds are true wildlife anyone can observe without flying to remote jungles. Since their presence is so commonplace, it is easy to be unaware of their magic. Yet they have the potential to mesmerize anyone sitting still long enough.

Stop and marvel

I only started paying attention when I lived on a forested hill in Guatemala in my forties. (Guatemala boasts more than 70...

Thanks to your support last month, we're donating $2,234 to Healthy Mommy & Me! This program, based in rural Guatemala, provides mothers and babies with prenatal and postnatal health care, as well as health education, family planning, vitamins, supplements, and food vouchers.

As you may remember, our donation represents 10% of our net sales in May. Without question, we owe the success of our fund...

During the month of May, you can help us support one of our favorite programs: “Healthy Mommy & Me.” Based in Guatemala, this program provides mothers and babies from rural communities with prenatal and postnatal health care, health education, family planning, vitamins, supplements, and food vouchers.

In honor of Mother’s Day, we’re running a month-long campaign to promote the program, which is...

On a blue sky day, high up on the Atitlan volcano, under the quiet canopy of giant old growth, Guillermo sits and stares. Observes. Admires. The contemplative artist. A dreamer. This is his happy place.

Here he discovers ideas for designing his skillful weavings: outside, in western Guatemala’s verdant nature where he grew up.

Somebody showed him how to weave and embroider when he was onl...

One way of describing a botanical nut is to say it’s a hard, round shell with something valuable or delicious inside. Not unlike a human head. And that is how the phrase “to be nuts about someone” came to mean thoughts about that person are filling one’s head, possibly driving one crazy.

Allow me to dazzle you with the extraordinary coconut while I introduce you to someone in the tropics whose ...

As they say in Hollywood upon completion of a scene, “It’s a wrap.”

Last year’s story was filmed, edited, and released. We have before us a new scene and a clean storyboard. It can feel fresh and exciting to imagine all the possible connections, adventures, and growth that can unfold this year. For some, the uncertainty can have an immobilizing effect. In reality, 2023 is only a sequel or the next ...

The story goes that St. Nicholas knew of a poor family whose three daughters stood no chance of marriage without a dowry. He secretly slipped some gold coins into their stockings hung by the fireplace to dry, thus infusing their hearts with hope. Earlier European traditions hold that kids left straw out in their shoes for Odin’s horses, and discovered treats the next morning, which he left in exch...