Lago Atitlan! And future plans!

Howdy all!

Reporting in from Guate Guate Guate!

I'm here at Lago Atitlan...a deep lake in the crater of a volcano! It's huge...sooooo big....
I'm staying at La Iguana Perdida in the lakeside village of Santa Cruz...the only way to get here is via scary-ass little motor boat! No roads! It's a hip little gringo hostel. It costs about $18 a day to stay here, the bed and all three meals included!

Miriam and I left Antigua yesterday afternoon, and it took about 3 hours of windy roads, deep into and out of ravines, to get here. The roads were good, but the turns were steep, and the dropoffs very scary...so I was nervous a bit...but apparently the insane Guatemalan drivers rarely drive anyone off the edge to their deaths...so.

I'm here alone, now. I was planning on returning to Xela with Miriam today, and then making my way back north this week...but Atitlan is so lovely and cheap, I decided to stay on a couple more days (Miriam needs to be in Xela tomorrow for work). I'll probably head out Tuesday or so, but there's a possibility of working reception here in exchange for room and board...so I might do that for a week or two. I dunno. Could be a neat experience. They do dive certification, kayaking, hiking, etc...and the place is probably one of the most beautiful spots on the planet.

That's all for now! Miss you all tons!

Pax

Quick update

Howdy all!

I dont have a whole lot to report! Tuesday evening I got into Antigua, which is a beautiful city! Very European, sort of...cobblestone streets, lovely, tasty restaurants, pretty things for sale everywhere. Oh yeah, and a volcano bigger than Mount Olympus rising straight up above the town! Nobody climbs it much, though...its a toughy. I might climb one of the smaller ones, to the east or west, though...if I feel better. Miriam and I have both had the belly bugs come back! Dunno why...book says it can last up to a week...so if thats true I could still have another day or true of this crap (literally!). Ah well...its not that bad really, but it makes climbing vocanoes unappealing. Walking around the town and hanging out in the evening drinking and eating is quite pleasant, though.

We took another crazy camioneta into Antigua...crowded and driving too fast. This time, a dood came on board and for 40 minutes extolled the virtues of the nasty jar of ointment he was selling, complete with visual aides. Apparently, this stuff will cure foot odor, jock itch, diaper rash, herpes and even depression! I think the appropriate word is "snake oil salesman."

Still planning on going to Atitlan tomorrow evening. I hope I hope!

Pax

Piece of advice...

Don´t eat funky meatcake things from comedores in rural highland Guatemala. Just don´t.
I spend the weekend more or less sick. Not too bad, really...but blech. Had to happen sooner or later, I suppose. So the last couple days I´ve been eating strictly canned or packaged food at Miriam´s house, as well as Subway at the mall thing in Xela. Yay.

On a better note: before I got sick, Friday afternoon Miriam and I climbed a volcano, and hung around the little lake that´s in the crater. It´s called Chicabal (or something like that), and was an absolutely hell of a hike, but amazingly beautiful. About 5 miles each way, we climbed climbed climbed...It´s at over 8000 feet in elevation, so I was out of breath a lot of the way. I´m still a little sore. The lake was a deep blue green, surrounded in dense jungley hills, full of mist and birds chirping. Way neat.

Tomorrow we are traveling to Antigua, where Miriam has a training thing. I´ll be spending Wed, Thur and Friday exploring around on my own, probably drinking with her and her Peace Corps buds at night. Then we´re spending the weekend at Lake Atitlan, which is a major tourist spot, as well as sacred to the Mayans. Then heading back to Xela, I presume. I´ll probably start making my way north again shortly after that.

Missin ya all!

Pax

Movin on south!

Howdy again, all!

So the flight went great to Tuxtla. The place was a hellhole, though...super hot, super humid, and dirty and noisy. As soon as I got out of the airport taxi at el zono central, a dood hustled me into a van bound for San Cristóbal, and I was there in 45 min. The road was narrow and winding, up thru the mountains of Chiapas. Very beautiful.

San Cristóbal was amazing, though. High mountain town, brightly colored, leftist politics, zapatista supporters everywhere, etc. Lots of other travelers. Rains like mad every afternoon between about 4pm and 5pm...When I got in, I walked a couple miles to the hostel, and wondered the whole way why the sidewalks were 1.5 feet above the cobbled roads...it´s because the rain comes down so hard the streets fill up half a foot deep, or more. Everything sort of shuts down, and if you´re outside, nobody cares if you camp out in their doorway for a bit. The rain was so loud it shut down conversation in the crowded café I was hanging out in.

I spent last night staying up late chatting with two Canadians, two Aussies, a Brit and a Mexican. Was good fun. Did a little more walking around, looking at the tent market of the indigenous Chiapans...then took off for Comítan. Comítan is okay, but just sort of bland. Nothing really going on here of any interest to a traveler. Tomorrow I shuffle off toward Guatemala.

:)

-Pax

En Mexico!

Hi all!

Just a quick note: I got into Mexico City around 2am last night, after more than 28 hours on a bus. Not sure I want to do that again. :) But it was kinda fun...in a weird, introspective sort of way.

This city is mega huge, but seems pretty cool. I stayed in a hip little youth hostel in the middle of the Distrito Historico last night, and will again tonight. It doesn´t deserve the reputation it has for being dirty and unsafe...it is actually very pretty and seems quite nice. I am sure there are plenty of scary areas, but that is true anywhere. I´m about to go out exlorin!

I leave tomorrow around 11:30am for Tuxtla Gutierrez, then on to San Cristobel de las Casas.

P