Five Fabulous Fotos

Last spring, a colleague and friend suggested that we all bring five photos from our spring break adventures to a happy hour and project our memories onto the wall. Five is enough to get an idea of what your friends did, but not so many to overwhelm the viewers, especially if the gathering fills one of our apartments.

Thus, the 5 Fabulous Foto Fests were born and the tradition has continued. After summer break, we decided on five categories in which to share pictures:

1. Family
2. Food
3. Friends
4. Fun 
5. Fiscellaneous (you get it, right?)

What follows are the five pictures that I selected for the Foto Fest and a few stories about them.

I was fortunate to visit lots of family over my break, but the family member who was most exciting to see was one I had not met before: my niece Jozy! Isn't she adorable?

Jozy n me

Although there were many great meals this summer, the food shot that wins the selection comes to you from Antigua, Guatemala. I spent the last few days of my three week trip to Guatemala in Antigua before flying back to the states. This was my second visit to Guatemala and it proved to be an amazing country once again. Beautiful nature, friendly people and plenty of Spanish!

Gluten free vegan falafel on pita bread in Antigua.

Friends was a hard category for me. There were so many fun moments with dear ones and it was challenging to choose a favorite. I hope your feelings won't be hurt if you aren't here. :) Really this photo was my selection because it was an amazing shot, showing my three new Spanish friends and it gives you a glimpse of the beautiful Lake Atitlán in Guatemala.

This picture won the best all-around photo by popular vote at the Foto Fest!

Sara and Violeta look on as Pablo back-flips into Lake Atitlán, near Santa Laguna

In Seattle, my friend Yasmin was kind enough to allow me to use her house to host an afternoon reunion my second day in town. This was a great chance to see a lot of people in my former home city. I love the light and sense of fun in this picture...and of course all my friends! I deem it runner-up in the friends category.

Like the previous categories, there are plenty of pictures in my library that could be classified as fun. This shot of me (photo credit: Violeta, who has a fancier camera than I do) is another one from the lake, at a jumping spot near San Marcos. I like the way it looks like I'm stepping on a cloud. We spent a weekend in San Marcos and a lovely afternoon in this national park. After jumping and swimming we hiked to the top of the ridge, to take in views of the lake and check out Mayan offering sites. The evening ended with live music at our hostel. It was a pretty perfect day.

Doing something a little bit scary is good for you.

For the Fiscellaneous category, I chose a panorama shot of Lake Atitlán, my home for three weeks this summer. I spent two in Panajachel, living with a host family, attending four hours of language school a day, making new friends and exploring. This photo was taken from a hike out to some Mayan caves on a ridge above the lake. My Spanish teacher and I hiked out here during my last day of class. You can see the lake, the town and one of the volcanoes; these sights filled my view and my mind during my time in Guatemala.

Guatemala, I miss you!

School is well underway at the time of writing this - we are almost finished with first quarter already in Yangon. I took the Foto Fest idea as inspiration and created an assignment for my Spanish 3 and 4 classes in which students brought in pictures from their summer and shared them with the class, describing them in Spanish, of course!

My next Foto Fest with work friends is scheduled for early November. I'll let you know how it goes. 

What camera am I using for all these great photos? This Olympus Tough one.

What I'm Reading:

• Just finished Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon, her memoir is fascinating on music, fashion, art and feminism levels.
• Also just finished We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Everyone should read this short essay, especially folks with kids.
• Working on the young adult novel by the author who I obsessed over during my thesis-writing days at UW, Ray Loriga, El bebedor de lágrimas.

What I'm Listening to:

• The Mynabirds, What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood
• Sonic Youth (inspired by Kim Gordon's book, mentioned above)
• The New Division - awesome LA-based band that I discovered on a night out in Seattle
• Screens, The Pink Hooded Falcon, another Seattle-discovery (Yes, I miss the live music scene in Seattle A LOT.)
• Desaparecidos, Payola

Some Food I'm Eating:

• Thanks to my sister for these healthy breakfast cookies! Peanut butter vegan and gluten free and protein-packed.
• Another one from my sis, to-die-for-vegan FUDGE.
• Loving the tropical fruits in Yangon: pineapple, mango, papaya, pomelo...

Where I'm going next:

• Bangkok, for a visa renewal, shopping and hanging out!
• Ko Lanta: beach bound for Fall Break!

Stay tuned to hear about these trips!