Back from the lake...but headed out AGAIN!

Hello All!!

It´s been a few days since I¨ve had the opportunity to post my adventures from the lake and of course my life here. I am, as I´ve said many times before, having an incredibly wonderful experience.

Admittedly, last week, it was very difficult for me to adjust to my new surroundings, my insanely odd host family and Guatemala lifestyle in general. Not feeling entirely comfortable and used to the surroundings did cause a few moments of anxiety. To be expected, right??

However, this past weekend at the lake changed everything for me. We headed out to Panajatchel around 7 a.m. on Saturday morning. Because of construction in the nearby towns, we had a 3 hour private bus ride. I have found, after oh 4 different modes or types of transportation locally, private buses are an extremely nice asset to have. The bus ride was uneventful. I had the opportunity to speak with a 15 yr. old who has come with her mom, Susan, to Xela to study Spanish for 6 weeks. She has apparently started dating her host brother, as in, they refer to each other as ¨novios¨ and this Friday she is headed to what some would consider in the States, the Prom with him. She was going on about how she tends to dangle information to her Mom, giving her (and I quote) ¨just enough information to not ask too many questions.¨ It was an incredibly unusual experience, for the first time, to be the one on the other end thinking this girl was way to young to be talking about this crap! Especially as she´s experiencing so much in a new environment.

After we arrived in Pana, we walked the town a bit, but there wasn´t much to see other than vendors and well, the street. We then charted this massive double-decker of a boat to the nearby island of San Marcos, which was also our home for 2 days. We found our rooms, dropped of our stuff and boarded the boat again to tour around the lake. The best way to describe my living quarters was essentially a ¨bungalow¨ or maybe treehouse even (!?) in a truly tropical environment. We had to climb a set of stairs to get to the room and inside were 3 beds for Rachel, Sarah and I, my treehouse mates. The 2 beds were on the bottom floor and the third could only be accessed by way of another ladder to a loft-type area. It was truly gorgeous.

After boarding the bus, we headed to Santiago Island where we did some shopping in the rain. Truly, I cannot mind this weather considering I live in the hottest place on Earth, or just about. The shopping was incredibly fun as I found some good finds to take home with me. The people here are very talented in their abilities to make jewelry and weave, but more importantly paint! I met an artist who has his work displayed in the Heard Museum downtown. AWESOME work he did and the others on the island. After Santiago we headed to San Pedro Island, which is known for having ex-pats. head to for vacation and end up staying, opening their own tiendas and such. We ate at the Freedom Cafe in which the menu proudly displayed the world smoking a joint. The food was AMAZING (I had veggie fajitas in a honey-soy sauce) and I enjoyed the company. The atmosphere was cozy (on pillows and mats) while it rained outside.

After San Pedro, the group headed back, in the cold and rain, to San Marcos, where we ate dinner and went into another natural sauna. Myself, Ned, Tyler, Joaqim the Swede and Sarah all crammed into a stone sauna that is headed by natural fire and wood. Again....AMAZING! We brought in red and white wine, water and some beers and had a great time for an hour...seriously a truly awesome time with these people!!

Went to bed shortly after as we were exhausted by this time. I slept fairly soundly and woke up way too early. It´s been hard for me to sleep in for what seems like a year now. After getting up early, myself and some others took a short walk to get some breakfast at ¨Moon Cafe,¨ which is a remote cafe that overlooks the lake and serves only natural vegetarian foods for a reasonable price. I got a breakfast burrito with unusual ingredients, namely brown rice, and LOVED it. Also, I haven´t had a bad cup of coffee in Guatemala (of course) yet. After breakfast, I hoofed it back to our hotel (the Paco Real) and had a massage for an hour and a half from a Berliner woman who now prefers ¨the third world¨ and has been living on San Marcos for at least 3 years now. She was great and I felt wonderful. Had lunch with Rachel, hung out for some time and then headed back home on the bus. Admittedly had LOTS o´car sicknes on the return and had to get creative on my breathing methods, but eventually made it home, had amazing Indian food here (who would have thought??) and crashed for the night. A great weekend of relaxing...finally, after a year. Hard to think, that a year ago I was essentially slaving away at this idea of becomming a SpEd teacher in Atlanta. Admittedly, this is way better...lol!

As for Monday and Tuesday, I have kept Karen as my instructor for this week, but will probably change next week. We have been having great conversations and I´ve learned a lot from her in a short amount of time. Turns out my former teacher is not working this week either and it´s almost as if he is no longer working with the school. I´m not really sure of the situation surrounding his whereabouts. Monday was extremely uneventful except for the movie we went to, which was a documentary about the Buena Vista Social Club. For those of you who have the music, GREAT! but for those of you who haven´t heard it yet....GET GET GET!! Had the movie and vino...relaxing evening. Oh! and I got to talk to Ash. back home on the telephono. Esta muy bien!

Today: went by so quickly! Had studies in the morning, of course, signed up for a trip to Tikal...will explain when I know more about the trip and eventually ended up at Escuela de la Calle with Ben and Corinne. There, I drew, by hand, on a wall, the names of the 20 days of the Mayan calendar. LOVED being with the kids. I find that, apparently, my Spanish is actually getting to be pretty good and I feel comfortable conversing with the kids. They are really kind and sweet and so eager to please the volunteers! After studying design for the past 5 or more years has really paid off as now my artwork is painted onto the walls of EDLAC here in Guatemala...lol. We were there for about 3 hours. The ride there, in my opinion, sucks. We take what´s known here as a microbus, which is essentially a van that should only seat 6 and instead carries literally on average 20 people for 1 quetzal, which equates to like 7 cents. It´s not my favorite and I did ride the famed ¨chicken bus¨ on the way back as well. It is extremely cheap transportation but there is a ton of pollution and you have to not mind small children, the possibility of animals or individuals in your lap. Muy intersante.

Not sure yet as to the future I have here in Xela, past 3 weeks of studying. I may ask my family if I can pay them to stay where I´m at and receive meals. I would really enjoy having that as my homebase! and then volunteering at various schools (I have 2 offers here) in the area. It´s a great way to learn Spanish and I love love love los ninos in Xela.

That´s it for now as I must head to study!!

pictures to come on the next post...