Gabe setting up the tents for friends for the weekend

The skies over New England are grey. That gun-metal grey that suck the soul right out of the most sanguine personalities when faced with a low, drippy ceiling for days on end. It’s rained most of the past two weeks; or so it seems.

A few of the trees are beginning to blush from the memory of their summer’s exploits.

Nights are crisp enough to cuddle close beneath our rainbowed hued blanket and dream dreams of all the places we’ve left our hearts. I’m reasonable sure it’s the blanket itself that is creating the dreams, as if into it, on a backstrap loom, were woven the threads of eternity; each colour a different path our feet could have taken.

Our days on this end of the continent are numbered: 25, to be exact, but we launch in a mere 10.

The preparations have begun in earnest.  Checklists are a daily site on the table, right next to school work and boxes that arrive by post with an array of treasures we’ll carry south: a 3 lb bag of our favorite sprout mix, to ensure healthy greens all winter, several jars of vitamins and essential oils to ward off illness, and a special handmade blue soap that is miraculous in it’s ability to de-stink little boy feet.

The good news of the week:  We have housing!

View of the house from the waterfront

That’s right!  For once in our lives, we know where we’re going to be before we get there!  We’ve scored an adorable little cottage, nicknamed “The Doc’s House” on the shores of Lago de Atitlan.

It’s a ten minute walk out of the town of San Marcos, population 3000.  There is no bank (hence no ATM), no chain store, and just a couple of tiny guest house style hotels in the town.  We’ll do a lot of walking, and kayaking, and we’ll take a boat ride to do everything else.  Is there internet?  The key question for us… maybe.  We’ll sort that out when we get there!

We’ve started getting the usual pre-launch set of questions and comments:

• “Wow!  You’re still going?
• How is that working?
• Do the kids REALLY still want to go, AGAIN?
• How long are you going to do this for?
• What happens if someone decides they don’t want to do it?
• How many months are you going to be gone for?
• Wow.  Really?

We’re used to the questions.  Most people asking are genuinely interested in a kind way.  The true nay-sayers are few.  The answers haven’t changed that much in three years, but our confidence level in delivering them has.  And the kids can speak for themselves.

• Yes, we’re still going.
• It’s working great, better all the time, actually, as we figure out how to make money as we’re moving and our horizons continue to be broadened.
• The kids really DO want to go again, they’ve been counting down for weeks, they did the happy dance when we finally bought the one way plane tickets.
• We’re going to do this for as long as we’re all enjoying it… maybe forever, who knows?
• Right now, we’re all having a blast, if that changes, we’ll reassess and do what’s best for everyone; but we’ll cross that bridge when, and if, we come to it.
• We’re going to be gone from the USA five or six months this time, but there’s no guarantee that when we get back it won’t just be a quick stop on the next adventure.
• Yes.  Really.

… and as for the kids… I’ll let them tell you themselves:

Gabriel

Gabriel: “I love living this way because we get to go out and not be sitting inside watching TV all the time.  In Guatemala I’m most looking forward to swimming and horseback riding… maybe SCUBA diving if we go back to Belize.  The best thing in my life is being able to be with my family all the time.”

Elisha

Elisha: “I like living our life on the road because we get to see a lot of different cultures and live a different way.  I wish people understood that it isn’t very hard to live this way.  The biggest benefit is getting to learn other languages quickly.  This winter I’m looking forward to getting my SCUBA license.  I held my breath a full minute this morning.”

Ezra

Ezra: “Well, I like traveling this way because it’s fun being able to see most of the things that other kids can’t see.  I’m looking forward to horse riding, kayaking and maybe hearing the jaguars in the night, but not the howler monkeys, I don’t like their shrieking.

Hannah sewing stuff sacks for the trip

Hannah: “I like traveling a lot because it’s really cool to get to see new things and other cultures and because I tend to feel cooped up if I’m in one place too long.  Traveling has opened my eyes to the fact that America isn’t the only culture, or even necessarily the most rich in culture. I have a new appreciation for the freedom of choice that we have as Americans.  People here have more money and more political freedoms than in many other countries where that’s not the case.  I’d like to continue traveling because I really enjoy it, which is good because I’m stuck in this crazy nomadic family! 🙂 As I’m getting older, traveling to different 3rd world countries has opened my eyes to some of the needs in the world I would like to spend some time volunteering in the places we find ourselves to make the world a better place.”

Hopefully you’ll make an account with us, sign up for the RSS feed, “like” our Facebook page, or in some other way ensure that you get our updates and travel along with us again this winter.  This week marks the beginning of our regular blog posts… visit us here, or come see us in Guatemala.