un trip, hombre

Friday i walked to school in formal clothes with my hiking backpàck ready to rock. Skipping out ouf work early a friend and i headed for the bus station around noon on Friday. We jumped on a chicken bus (colorful painted school bus) and headed 4 hours out of the city to Lago de Atitlan.

I knew we were going to a special place when i looked out the window just 20 minutes out side of pana, the lakeside city, and saw a cascading waterful down the side of the mountain next to the highway.

Pablo and I wondered through the small touristy town of pana and hoped a small boat to cross the lake to the small hippie village of San Pedro. Within minutes of docking, we were offered pot and coke in the street by a barefoot man wiht dreads. ´no gracias´and i was on my way....

Walking along with our a man approached us and said, there is a great hotel just up the way...come with me. We followed him and found our hummble home for the weekend. A Q25 ($3) a night room with hot water and two beds with no sheets. Hell, for 25 Qs it would do, we decided. For dinner that night we feasted like a king, drinking Q15 liters of Gallo (guate beer) and full dinners of steak, tortillas, beans, and rice for Q20.

Saturday we at breakfast on the lake front with the view of the crystal blue water scattered with diamonds completely surrounded by towering green volcanos. After we ate we headed to the rocks and speading themorning diving into the lake with no bottom, into the water that makes your soul feel good when you are submerged.

An afternoon of meeting up with more friends and wandering san pedro was to follow. At the a large church on top of a hill, i asked a women washing clothes if we could go inside to see the beatiful view that the chruch gave to the lake on the other side. She told us to follow her as she let us not only inside, but up a flight of stairs. On the second floor she didn´t stop as she went out ouside onto a balcnony and continued to climb up more and more stairs in the back of the chruch until we were on the roof. Making a 360 you saw the entire village, the entire sparkling lake, volcanoes sourunding you all all four sides spotted with lake side villages in the distance.

Sunday was lazy and we walked the streets looking for cheap guate jade and beatiful woven fabrics. Im slowling blending into the chapina lifestyle as my arms are slowly becoming decorated with colorful woven bracelets and my daily vocabulary include 'a la gran...' (oh my goodness)

Calling it a weekend the now four of us head on a bus to los encentros, a highway intersection and the sight of a make shift town where hundreds of busses fly by into different directions in guate. Drunken men walked the streets at 2pm on a sunday withbottles of rum in their hand and hundreds of peeople, many in full woven mayan dress lined the road waiting for their bus. Everytime a bus would stop for guate (the capital and our destination) a hundred people would race to it and the bus would be gone within 20 seconds, with poeple hanging out the side and some people stillr unning to catch it.

After an hour of trying to get on a bus, we realized, no matter how full the next guate bus is, we HAVE to get on it if we dont´want to end up on the streets of this shanty town with the drunks tonight. The bus rolled up and we pushed our way through the line grabing on to any part of the metal bus that we could. Pulling ourselves on, we looked back into the school bus and saw every seat filled with 3 to FIVE people per seat, and the isle full of people standing. So there I stood for four hours smooshed between a short man who didn´t smile, and a women and her crying three month old.

another weekend for the books man, another for the books.

On another note, I moved today. My living situation just wasn´t working out, so now i´m living one block from my work, for cheaper rent and free internet with one of the girls i teach english to.

I´m just rolling with it.....

Happy fourth of July !!!!