Guest Blogger: Flat Stanley!

Hey World! I'm Navajo Flat Stanley and I met Beth at her home in America last week. Since we are travel buddies for the moment, she said I could write a blog post for her.

I'm from Crownpoint, New Mexico and have been sent out to see the world by the students of Crownpoint Elementary School. Crownpoint is part of the Navajo Nation. Before I met Beth, I had traveled to Massachusetts and Georgia.

I am learning that the world is really small. When I was in Georgia, Beth was wading through massive flooding in nearby Charleston, South Carolina. She says traveling over forty hours from her hut to the Holy City was worth it as she saw over twenty of her closest friends and was there for her friend Sara's wedding. I'm not sure I would be good at wading through that flooding though, as I'm less than a foot tall!

While I traveled from Georgia to New England, Beth visited her father and grandfather in Newport. Then, it was the New Hampshire and Maine area for time with more family. Apparently even though she has bunches of friends in New England, she used all her time for family...well, family and me!

We went to Wells Beach to see the Atlantic Ocean. It was so big and blue! As we traveled, I got to see the beautiful colors that leaves in New England become in the fall-reds, yellows, and oranges! They don't do that back home!

Soon, we said goodbye to Beth's family and were at Boston Logan Airport where I got to taste my first Dunkin Donuts coffee while we waited to start the first of three flights to Lesotho-where Beth lives now.

I slept through most of the flights, even the fifteen hour one! At each airport, the bag I was relaxing in got searched. At first I thought it was my fault but at JFK airport the TSA rep said the smelly candles next to me looked suspicious.

15 hours on a large plane and still smiling!

Lesotho is a lot different than New England. The first few days we were in the capital city, Maseru, and spent a lot of time in the Peace Corps office. Finally, we left for Beth's village. Her village has about 500 families. Like my own community, it is about an hour to get to a real grocery store, but there are a few tiny shops in case people are unable to make the trip. Since most people do not have cars, that is probably important!

Lesotho looks a bit like home, which makes me a little homesick. There are even people keeping goats and sheep, just like the elders back home do.

I'll write another blog post about our adventures together in Beth's village before I hit the post office to fly on toward my next destination!

I'm glad this isn't the same Atlantic Ocean I saw in Wells.
This is from when Beth was in Charleston.

Beth with her sister, cousin, and cousin's son in Wells.

Oops, I forgot to put this up above. When Beth was in Maine,
she became a godmother, again! That's her new goddaughter
in her arms! 

Thanks world, 

                      ~Flat Stanley