Hot & Cold

It was 2008 summer vacations; I went with my family to United States of America (Colorado and then Florida).

It was like 10:00 am here in Guatemala and it was like a normal day, really nice weather, a sunny day and there were some clouds.

I get in the airplane and started my trip to United States going to the Miami International Airport, it was really really hot, and the temperature was high. Actually inside the airport it was comfort for me because of the air condition keeping the temperature a little cold.

I wasn´t there because we were going to Miami or Orlando, we were there because we needed to take two airplanes to go to Colorado.

We waited like two hours until they called us to come in the second airplane. It wasn´t like the trip to Florida (Florida is like 2:30 hours from Guatemala) because Colorado is at 5 hours from Guatemala we would get bored.

We were bored in the airplane, it was at night and the cold weather started feeling and the windows started getting tarnish.

Finally we arrived to Colorado, we feel the difference within Florida and Colorado, it was really cold, and I remember I bought a hot chocolate, then we get in the rented car and my dad started driving to where we were going to sleep. We were going to Boulder and the airport was in Denver so it was a long cold trip in car.

We get in the house at 2:00 AM so we went to sleep.

I woke up and the first thing I saw in the window was snow, there was a lot of snow, everything looked white: the mountains, the houses, the cars and the parks. We ate and then we went outside, I wanted to touch the snow with my own hands (without hand gloves), I touched it and it was really really cold, we played snow wars, we made a snowman, we went to ski, etc. Every time I went out of the house my feet fingers started to get frozen because of the excess of cold.

One day I went to the shopping mall and the highways was frozen also, I remember the car´s diameter said -15°, it was really cold.

In the highway were caution signs because of the deer, bears and all type of animals of the mountain. We went to an ice skating place and we skate on ice.

An afternoon I was on the mountain and we saw a lot of rabbits, it was beautiful but then we saw a coyote trying to catch a rabbit so we get out because there was a sign that said coyotes were dangerous; Another day I went to a lake and when I get there, the lake was frozen, I saw some ducks walking in the ice of the frozen lake, then we saw a big caution sign saying “Beware of Mountain Lions” refereeing to the Pumas.

The trip in Colorado gets to its end, we were going now to Florida again but we would stay some days.

We arrived, we get out of the Miami Int. Airport and then we could feel the hot temperature, I was sweating just going out of the car.

We were in Miami, it was hot but then we started going north to Orlando where we were going to sleep and be 5 days.

We get to Orlando and we went to a Hotel and it was really cool, you could be in shorts every day in every place and you would feel good.

We went to the Saw grass Mall, to Universal Studios, Island of Adventure, The Everglades, it was really cool, but the weather was like crazy; there were hot days and then in the afternoon it was raining.

Then we went again to Miami to sleep 1 night because we were going back to Guatemala.

We went to Miami Beach and it was so cool, I could be naked and I would feel comfortable, it was really hot but cool because of the pools, the exclusive cars, the beach, the restaurants, the hotleas, etc.

Finally we get back to Guatemala and everything came back to normal, a sunny day with really nice weather, and there were some clouds.

Person I Admire

His name is Federico Ranero Cabarrus, he was born in Guatemala and he has 5 brothers.
He lost his father when he was young.  He was very close to him.
After a lot of difficulties during his life, he became a doctor, and he gained a partial scholarship to study Pediatrician in a school in Costa Rica, where he had met his wife.

He came to Guatemala and lived in the same block of my father; I like the good relationship he has with my father, they became good friends and until now they are still like brothers. (He is 10 years older than my father).

He loves me and my brothers as if we were his nephews, he encourages us to be better persons in our lives but he also punishes us when we do bad things.

He is like an uncle to me and my brothers, his sons are also very good persons and threat us (me and my brothers) as if we were family. We had go to many places and countries together like: Cancun, Belize, the Beach, Miami, El Salvador, Playa Del Carmen, Tapachula and Huatulco (Mexico).

I admire him because, I know he had to work hard to be who he is now, and he said he always kept in his mind that he wanted to help the children of his country (Guatemala).
So, he worked on a very important project. He is one of the pioneers introducing the "Oral Re-hydratation" program in Guatemala, which is a project were kids can re-hydrate just by drinking water with dissolved serum instead of being injected with serum (which is more difficult).

This is something of a big importance because people can have the accessibility of doing it in their own home instead of going to a hospital, which makes it easier and cheaper.

 This is a big contribution to our country because Desnutrition is one of the worst problems our country is facing and is the first reason of kids’ mortality in Guatemala.

He has a very good experience in his doctor career; he had go to Doctor’s meetings in countries like: Greece, Argentina, USA (Washington, Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, etc), Mexico, Italy and Austria.

He also has experience managing teenagers’ problems and I like how I feel when I am with him because he makes me very confident and secure.

Besides of what he works on, he is a very nice person with us.  Is the kind of person who you can talk to, and tell him if something worries you knowing that he would not tell anyone.  Is someone who is very open mind, and I feel he can understand teenagers very well.

He has two daughters and one son.  His son is now studying in Chicago at a university, and his daughters had become also very successful in what they do.

His wife is a very nice person too, very correct and faithful to God and that gives them the balance of a family that I admire too. (She is from Costa Rica).

He likes the music, he plays the piano very well and he knows about my dream of being a professional musician. He had helped me when I need to buy a new guitar or something; he had gone to my public concerts to support me. His daughter also helped me with my music giving me advices and showing me tips.

He likes the cars (mostly the old, classic cars) he has a collection of classic cars and has a really cool replica of “Herbie” but in red color, he also owns a Cadillac from the year 52’ and he calls it “Queen Merry”, I also like cars but I like mostly the new models.

For that and many more reasons, I fell Federico is more than my father’s friend, he is like my and my brother’s uncle, a sponsor and guide for me.

Miracle

Hello, this is my first blog and now I'am writing this as my homework for Miss Kelsey.


I wasn't born yet, my mom was on her 1st.year at the university and my granfathers lived alone in Huehuetenango.
My Mom's uncle "accidentally" had a baby but he didn´t take care of his daughter so my grandfather took his father role.

The little girl was called Catalina, she lived with my grandpas since she was two years old becoming like another daughter, and a sister for my mother.
She lived there until she was 4 years.

One day my Mom´s uncle (the real father) came to her house and said that he needed Catalina because her mom was traslading to USA (she was from New Mexico), so Catalina started to cry because she wanted to stay with my grandfathers but it was not possible.  Even though Catalina didn´t wanted.  she was crying inconsolably.

My granfather, my uncles and my mom suffered much his departure because Catalina was part of the family, she lived part of her infant years.

Time passed, and anybody knew anything about her; my grandmother had a picture of her (when she was 3 years) in her night table and she still miss her.

The miracle comes here:
Catalina is now 24 years old, her name is not her original name (her mom changed it), she lives in New Mexico and one day she was looking for something in her mother´s drawer and she found a Guatemalan passaport with her name.  So, she asked her mom why she had it, but her mom told her she didn´t wanted to talk about that part of her life.
Catalina was surprised but curious... so she started looking for her real name on the internet and she found a doctor with the same last name.

She called him and left a message on his answering machine.  He called her back very surprised.  He certainly was part of her family (he is another uncle of my mother who lives in Conneticut) so he also was excited; but firstable didn´t know what to do... or say.

Catalina wanted to know about her past and she had a lot of questions on her mind like: Is my dad alive? Did he love me? Did he look forward for me? Why was I in Guatemala? Who was that lovely lady who was brushing my hair in that beautiful garden? (Refering to my grand mother in her backyard), What does all that images and memories mean?

My mom´s uncle (who called because of their same last name) gave her my grandmother's phone number, so they already talked.  And it was a very special moment for both of them.

Finally today is July 11, and she is in the process of coming to Guatemala with her husband, to find out all that questions she have about her life. But as my Grandmother says..."the important thing is.....that now, she knows she have a family in Guatemala, that cares for her, and that all our daily prayers for her wellness, now we can be thankful they were really listened" no matter what she might find about her real father.