Ahorita, Celeste and I are sitting in an internet cafe in San Pedro del Lago Atitlán. It´s off-season, so things are pretty dead except for locals, groups of Israelis and a few stoned Brits. It´s lovely though and the pace of life is at the other spectrum from our adventures in Antigua, especially since we have anonymity here and freedom to wander through the countryside here. Tomorrow we are planning (ha! as if we ever actually have ¨plans¨) on renting kayaks and heading either to a beach near Santiago or over to the reverred village of San Marcos. Everyone has had nothing but wonderful things to say about that village, so we must make it a priority to enjoy it´s splendor.
Having slowed our pace of life, yet still keeping an eye on our next destination, we have begun to set loose ideas of where we want to be around the holidays. I believe we will make it to Panama by December and will probably want to get work around that time too. We think it a good idea to make use of the busy season to make money and make friends than to try to travel with the hordes and end up with no connections during the holidays. But our short term goal is to finish up with Guate, traveling from here to Coban and Semuc Champey, then over to Livingston and into Belize (enjoying the beaches along the coast) and then back over into Guate to visit the Mayan ruins at Tikal. Then it´s a straight shot down through Antigua (have to say our goodbyes for real then! Alas.) and into the rest of Central America. We have one friend from Antigua who just moved to Nicaragua, so hopefully we´ll a connection there, but otherwise, it´s free-sailing from here!
Our last week in Antigua was great, but also made us realize how quickly the town became too small. Small dramas there trumped some of the ones we left behind in Portland, and knowing many of the main players in these dramas became exhausting. Our friends are lovely and fun, but imagining living in a town more incestious and gossip-ridden than Portland is just that....better left to the imagination. I hope to visit there often in my future travels, but have found relief in the peace and quiet of the lake.
We stayed for several days with a friend of a friend of Andres Alcalá (I would love to play Six Degrees of Seperation with him as the center, it´d be too easy!)--Jeroma, who lives in Panajachel. She has a beautiful three-bedroom house with a gorgeous yard and garden that overlooks the lake. Living with her and her partner, Matt for the weekend was one of the most rejuvenating experiences. Jeroma is 4 months pregnant and for me, indulging in cravings and baking her goodies was a true highlight. I made apple pie one night to go with her scrumptious homemade lasagna, which we ate while playing RISK--it reminded me of family game nights from my childhood. We swam in the lake with their labradors and sunbathed in the scant sun (the most we´ve seen in all our time in Guate probably, since it´s the rainy season right now). It is the first instance of us having any cable TV too, which was useful for us to finally get updated on the economic and politic climate back home. And to feel utterly grateful to not be bombarded by the negative campaigning, foul economic news, etc. by being so many miles and worlds away. Now if they will only send us our absentee ballots.....
Ok, I´ll fill in some other details later...such as the experience of being shot girls at Monoloco in Antigua and the adventures of riding the chicken bus to the Panajachel (which includes a run-in with an evangelical fanatic who made the entire bus pray for our souls...yes, really).
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