Article by Hadeel about the conference

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090516/WEEKENDER/705159787/1080

Day 1 Morning Photos

Judy Rand is fabulous... Here is our first morning. Hadeels is in there a few times too! :-)

Me and My New Best Friends, The Nobel Peace Laureates...

Hi dorkage factor here, but whatever, I was starstruck ok?!

Video

I'm dorking out in one of the other videos too (I forget I think it's the participant reflections one.)

Don't know if you're following our blog, but there's some neat stuff with much more to come... (believe me I know, I'm the editor in chief :-) )

But I think the best stuff is on our Twitter page.... Quotes from the brilliant women from all over the world who have come here with us.

Plus I'm twittering my own self at my personal Twitter

Long, busy days, but tons of tingles and goosebumps, even welled up - or rather, was there any time when Mairead Maguire spoke that I didn't well up? She is the sweetest, gentlest, smiliest person ever - she's luminescent, but she gives barn-burners on stage! Wow. Jody Williams, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, and Shirin Ebadi (Nobel Laureates as well) also amazing, powerful, moving speakers.

I'm so lucky to be here.

Non-stop...

Well I'm SO BUSY that I hired a photographer to take photos of this place for me and bring them back so I could look at them in my hotel room while I work... :-)
Kidding.

Almost.

So check out these amazing photos taken of this place by the photographer for the initiative...

Photos of Antigua and Casa Santo Domingo (where we're staying/conferencing) Be sure to click the arrows on the right hand side to see all the photos.

My goal tonight is to get some sleep..... After just a few million more things.... :-)

Working Hard...

Working very hard, twelve hours already today and maybe a bit more later tonight after a late dinner, but it's definitely a lovely place to work hard! Plus the food is amazing, they make my bed for me (well they would, but I don't let them....), and there's a pool, sauna, hot tub, and gym - all outdoors, surrounded by tropical vegetation and flowers - none of which I've used yet, BUT I WILL!

The Spanish is going pretty well, and ... what else can I tell you...

My head is mostly filled with mundane details about the website, media, communications, press releases, the reception for 200 people that the hotel realized it doesn't really have room for, and other blah blah blah...

I posted some photos below. The first two are the view from my balcony, the next are shots of Antigua, and the girl weaving is Angelina, who is 21. The piece she's working on has been worked on for three months already by her, her sister, and her grandmother. It has intricate shapes of animals woven in. The lady in the door is Julia, with baby Guadeloupe. Julia's mother, Maria, was also in the shop, as well as 8 year old Clara whose favorite subject is math and her teacher's name is Celia. We met them yesterday when we were touring with Ana. So lovely.

Antigua, Guatemala

First 2 are the view from my balcony.

Guatemala

So it's been awhile, internet, since you've heard from me.  Well - not the internet as a whole, but the whole blog thing kind of fell by the wayside.  What prompts me to write again? The obvious - travel - and my incessant need to share every thought that crosses my head which is thwarted by the high price of texting from here... :-) I'm in Guatemala for three weeks - 2 working and one vacationing afterwards. My new organization (started there in February) is hosting a conference in Antigua, Guatemala from May 10-12th, and I am one of the lucky who got to come down early to work on preparations on the ground. 

I am staying at the Casa Santo Domingo, in Antigua - an old convent, now a museum, which houses a 5 star hotel. It's a bit like the garden of Eden, I expect - magnificent crumbling stone walls, fountains, flowers, scarlet macaws, hummingbirds.... It's amazingly beautiful. From my stone and wrought iron balcony I can see volcanoes, orchids, a stone fountain, gardens, etc. My room has a vaulted ceiling with large dark wood beams, stoneXstuccoedXwalls, and Mayan textiles on the beds. When I arrived on Friday night, the stone corridors, open to the gardens through stone arches, were lit with candles and candelabras. Very peaceful, soothing, beautiful. My first morning I ate breakfast in the garden with Guatemalan coffee and read the newspaper in Spanish, feeling very lucky.

I am here to work, and have been, but I have had time this weekend as well to see a little bit of Antigua for a few hours each afternoon. I love Central America - I love the painted stone walls and bright colours and the smell! It smells warm and mountain-y, with hibiscus and other flowers... Yesterday I wandered the streets and then the markets, mesmerized with all of the colour of the weavings and other textiles, the wood carvings, the fruit and other wares. 

Last night I worked late on the website, eating dinner in my room - my first time with room service. :-) I took a few hours in the afternoon while it was nice to wander around Antigua, with the promise to myself that I would do my work hours in the evening. It worked out perfectly, as when I got back to my room around 4.30 pm it started to rain very hard, so I sat with my balcony doors open, working on the website listening to the rain and thunder until around 10.30 pm, smelling the delicious smell of rainy gardens. There are worse ways to work.

This morning I had breakfast with my colleague, Ana, who is wonderful, and the also wonderful woman who will be photographing the conference. It was a lovely breakfast in the garden. Afterwards we toured the spaces that we will be using for the conference, evaluating many details, and then Ana took us for a tour of the town, pointing out essentials like the printing/copy shop, cell phone dealer, medical clinic. It wasn't all business however, and shopping ensued. We spent a couple of sunny and relaxing hours wandering the streets and markets and getting acquainted with the city. Ana is a wealth of information about secret gems - the best coffee, the best places to buy things, the store with the amazing natural cremes and lotions, the best shrimp, and the best margaritas. The combination of having lived in India and being a native Spanish speaker makes her an Olympic champion bargainer to boot... 

I'm back in my room now, resting a bit, and waiting for the verdict on the big change-over from the old website to the new... So far it looks - in transition.

I'm going to rest a bit today, as I know starting tomorrow it will become very intense.

My first earthquake

http://english.sina.com/world/2009/0503/238456.html