Quist World Tour

When I worked at World Missions, our communications guy told missionaries to avoid two cliches when creating their slide show presentations—pictures of sunsets and the words “land of contrasts.” I understand the temptation, because Guatemala is, indeed, a land of contrasts. There is a wealth of beauty and great deal of poverty. We have eaten wonderful food of all kinds; about 47% of children under 5 here are malnourished. We have seen and/or stayed in gorgeous hotels, houses and neighborhoods in awe-inspiring environments; the percentage of people in poverty is 59%. There are colorful markets filled with traditional arts and crafts, fine jewelers offering Guatemalan Jade, and sparkling modern malls that put our local mall to shame; the percentage of people in extreme poverty is around 25%. A land of contrasts. Yesterday, we visited Lake Atitlan. This stunning body of water is surrounded by volcanoes and other hills. Colorful towns and resorts are scattered around the lake, ov...

On ruins, great guides, volcanoes and horse-riding. When you last heard, Allison and I were in Antigua, Guatemala, looking forward to seeing our friends. Mom and three young adult daughters graciously drove to Antigua to pick us up, introduce us to a local jewelry store and candy store, and take us to a lovely restaurant on a hill outside Antigua before driving us to their adorable home in Guatemala City. While they have a number of gates and locks for security reasons, this house is so cozy, a home full of love. We were there for approximately 2 hours before we all went to bed, because mom was also willing to take us to the airport for our domestic flight to the other side of th country first thing in the morning—we left the house at 5am. This is only half an hour early for her, because for her job, she can either leave at 5:30, giving her time to exercise, eat her breakfast and get ready (all at her office)at the office, or she could leave any later and spend all of that time in ...

When Allison told people she and I were going to Guatemala for spring break, almost everyone she talked to made the assumption that we were going as part of a mission trip. At first it made her laugh, because she’d never suggested that to be the case. We were looking forward to a fun and adventurous vacation that was decidedly not a service project! When it kept happening, though, she started to think more deeply about it. She didn’t tell me about it until we were on our way to Chicago, and when she did, she told me about her surprise that no one seemed to think you might just go there for vacation. Guatemala has old ruins, cities of thriving culture, vibrant cloudforests, beautiful lakes, and volcanoes, to name a few attractions. Beyond that, we’ve been looking forward to seeing our former exchange student Natalia, as well as her mother and sister who visited us at the end of Natalia’s time with us. Why wouldn’t we want to vacation here?! After a taxi ride from the Guatemala Cit...

After driving through 11 states with 6-7 teenage girls, I have heard one thing over and over. And so have the girls. Inevitably, when people hear what we are up to (and they do, because we are hard to ignore whenever we walk into a place), they turn to me and say the same thing: “You’re brave.” My fellow travelers and I have discussed this. What does that say to them, that everyone turns to me and says I’m brave? I’m driving around in my van, seeing cool places with some cool people. There is nothing especially brave about that. I love seeing cool places with cool people. Perhaps it took a bit extra courage for me to drive down a mountainside or to enter traffic in L.A., but for the most part, I’m having a great time, aside from being a bit tired from being the sole driver. I’ve seen a lot of places for the first time—Antelope Canyon, Joshua Tree, Hollywood, Santa Monica Pier, Las Vegas, and the Great Salt Lake, to name a few. For someone as afflicted with wanderlust as I am...

The Grand Canyon is so big that when we spent a little time exploring the rim, I felt as though I’d hardly seen any of it. It’s impossible to feel that I could ever “know” it. At the same time, the immensity stills something inside me, brings a new kind of perspective to my life.  In the last week, we’ve seen reservoirs on the Gunnison River in Colorado that flow from the waters of the Colorado River. We watched trees and groundcover being swallowed up by wildfire in that same area, because the land is too dry.  We spent time in Lake Powell in Page, Arizona, where the Colorado River is held back and regulated by an impressive feat of engineering, the Glen Canyon Dam, which ensures water to Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and California, among other states. My fellow travelers splashed and swam in the lovely cool water. The water levels have dropped a lot. The demand for water in the southwest increases. We stopped for a night in Williams, Arizona, where the town has held ont...

Sometimes things aren’t what they seem. A landscape of hills and shrubby trees opens up to a deep chasm. Taking the jr ranger pledge A teen who finds it mortifying to have her mother speak to her friends willingly takes her third pledge in a week to become a junior ranger. A long-in-advance hotel reservation at a well-reviewed, inexpensive family motel isn’t in the computer. And the motel has changed ownership. And the woman who took it over has run off to Vegas and her son is “trying to make a go of it.” Thankfully, there was an available room, exactly what we needed. And while it’s obvious the motel is experiencing a sad downturn in circumstances, we got there before it really hits the inevitable rock bottom. Travel is full of unforeseen turns and mysterious sights. Sometimes it works out fine, sometimes things get complicated. So far nothing has gotten too complicated. Garden goddesses In the last four days, we’ve explored a lot. One day we saw Garde...

Yesterday I embarked on a journey with six freshly-minted high school sophomore girls. One of them is my daughter, the others are her friends. We are taking a 17-day road trip in my minivan. Why so long, you might ask? Excellent question, really. Allison’s most highly desired endpoint was California, specifically L.A. and Universal Studios. But it’s kind of a long drive, so we need to break it up over a number of days so that I, the only licensed driver, don’t fall asleep . And so we left yesterday at 6:45 am. That is 15 minutes AHEAD of schedule. Unheard of. At 8:13 the passenger next to me announced that she had done everything she had brought with her to do. By 10:28 everyone was starving, so we ate lunch at a rest area somewhere in western Illinois. We got some strange looks pulling out our picnic since it was only 9:28 Illinois time. These first two days are the longest legs on the westward trip. We needed to cover a lot of ground to get started. We stopp...