dripping with passion

if i should die, think only this of me: that there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever england. there shall be in that rich earth a richer dust concealed; a dust whom england bore, shaped, made aware, gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, a body of england’s, breathing english air, washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home. and think, this heart, all evil shed away, a pulse in the eternal mind, no less gives somewhere back the thoughts by england given: her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day; and laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness in hearts at peace, under an english heaven. -the soldier, by rupert brooke when i was 9, god answered my curious prayer for truth, in england. when i was 16, i moved away on my own for the first time, to england. when i was 21 and 22, i saw miracles everyday as a missionary, in england. this summer, at 25, i returned on a soul-exposing independent journey, to england. this blog

utah mountains – wildflowers – meese – jewels – sparkly lakes – picnic – good conversation – sunnyness last few in-between days in utah before ireland, england and scotland? perfect , indeed.

after taking in the ruins, we decided to go for a little canopy tour and fly above the jungle. there were 8 different lines and we zipped sitting, upside-down and superman/superlady style. we were right up in the tops of the trees with the monkeys. what is a stronger word for exhilarating? we had dinner in the colorful little town of flores before heading back to the overnight bus. we were on the front row of a double decker. i’ll never forget it. i went from the bus to a taxi to the airport shuttle to the plane and back home. two weeks in guatemala, sensational and over. benjamin disraeli said, “like all great travelers, i saw more than i remember, and i remember more than i saw.” *** “to my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – bill bryson “traveling is a brutality. it forces you to trust stran

after we got back to guatemala city from atitlan, we unpacked and repacked, left our luggage again at the hotel, and went to the bus station to hop on an overnight bus to the ancient mayan city of tikal. the bus was a huge adventure, and in a whirlwind after we arrived we were whisked off to some travel agency and then on a random van to the ruins, bleary –eyed and disconcerted. {i love everything about traveling, including the uncomfortable and frustrating parts!} tikal is legitimately incredible. it was so neat to imagine what it would be like all those hundreds of years ago, populated and thriving. it is especially poignant to think about the book of mormon while there, whether or not these ruins could be tied to those peoples. tikal was cooler than i expected. also, it was hotter. and my only clean shirt (i really couldn’t bear the thought of putting on the outrageously dirty ones) was long-sleeved and warm in case of a random cold front. it all just made the experience more inte

when i bought my ticket to guatemala, i rashly decided to tag three days on the end of the trip after the service expedition. i had no idea what i would do with that time until the last day in the polochic. i found a few friends who were staying and who were up for my mildly crazy itinerary and we headed off to lake atitlan and then to the ancient ruins of tikal. it was really quite an epic adventure, including a lot of driving and two overnight bus rides. i was so glad we made it happen. it solidified my love for guatemala. so after a glorious shower and night’s rest following the expedition, we headed south to atitlan.   after a long bumpy taxi ride we made it to this lookout point for our first glimpse of the lake. 3 volcanoes and dense alive jungle surround the banks of atitlan. from first sight, it was astoundingly beautiful. we had to take a boat ride to our hotel – that is the only way to get there…neat. it was so stormy when we got there and i loved sitting in the bow of the