Saints of the Lake

          When the lancha docked in San Marcos there was a handful of local boys all jockeying to carry our luggage. We like to just do things ourselves, so we waved them away and attempted to find our posada. We decided to stay at a place called La Paz. They offered yoga every morning, vegan meals on site, and had a traditional Maya sauna, for only 50Q per person a night (6$). We stayed in what they called the dorms, but it was just a big house with a bunch of twin beds placed spaciously apart. We were the only ones in the house. It was like we had the big house all to ourselves for 150Q.

          San Marcos was the first time we actually felt we were in the jungle. There is only one road big enough to drive on, and it sits in the very back of town, this was a town of paths. The main 2 paths ran parallel leading away from the beach. The paths were sometimes stone, sometimes earth. They were barely wide enough for one person. These paths give San Marcos its intimacy. On either side of you are giant banana trees, coffee bushes, citrus fruit trees, and palm trees. Here and there even smaller paths lead between houses, or to other inns. It was very small, very relaxed, and very natural. We loved it there!

          The population is mainly hippies from all over the world, here to practice yoga or participate in the month-long silence program at the local holistic center. We explored the small area of San Marcos and came upon a nature preserve. We didn’t want to pay to get in, so we went back to the posada.  After talking with Andre, the manager at La Paz, we discovered the reason for paying at the preserve. We had to check it out! The next day Andre offered to watch Oscar so we could venture out. The preserve had the most picturesque views of the lake, but I didn’t bring my camera, we weren’t there for the views! After a few wrong paths, we followed a rocky ledge trail around a bend to come up on a beautiful wooden deck. The deck had a great view, with a small wooden gate on the outer edge. Looking down you could see into the crystal clear water. There was a group of 5- 8 year old local girls swimming —30 ft below! The leader of the pack climbed out on the shallow rocks, trudged up a slim trail to the deck, swung the gate open, looked back at us, and jumped-yelling the whole way down! It felt like a direct challenge to me! A European girl about our age snatched her clothes off and jumped in. I had to do it! I stood on the edge, assured myself there was nothing to be scared of, and jumped! It took what seemed about 2 mins to fall. It was exhilarating! I climbed out and did it again! Jay did the computations in his head and figured there was a 99.6% chance he would die when he jumped in, so he never did. I tried to convince him his math was wrong! The lake was cool and clear. The volcanoes sat looming in the distance. It was a beautiful hot day, perfect for swimming!

          That night Jason, Jay and I got in a temescal ( a traditional Mayan sauna). It is powered by wood burning in a big metal barrel. We did a couple of 15 min rounds. It was nice with a sink included to splash yourself when the heat was sweltering. The acoustics were incredible and elicited a chorus of Gregorian-ish chants from all of us. Eeeeeeeeeee-ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh-uuuuuummmmmmmm-bow-ow-ow, I’m sure we sounded drunk or crazy, but it was hilarious! San Marcos was so great we stayed a few extra days! We participated in a Mayan chocolate ceremony with a “cacao shaman” named Keith. Cacao is the bean form of chocolate, before it is processed. I think this guy was a little wacky, but he means well and his ceremonies are free so we attended.  Keith has a background in psychology and his ceremonies aren’t much more than a group therapy session where you talk about your life. The Mayan used chocolate in various forms, for it has been found in its symbolism, pottery, culture etc, but its actual usage hasn’t been determined fully. Keith believes it was used as he is using it.  Chocolate is a proven stimulate. It has caffeine in it, it also contains antioxidants, and endorphin boosters. According to Keith it helps your brain to work more efficiently because it opens capillaries. Keith uses chocolate in its cacao seed form, grinds it himself and mixes it with water. It is then given to the participants to drink, they can mix pure canela sugar in it, or even hot sauce to allow it to mix better in your blood stream. Then our group just talked. He asked us about each of us, where we were from, why we were there. There were maybe 12 of us. I don’t know what religion Keith was, or anyone else in the group. The chocolate stimulated our emotions and people were more willing to open up. It was refreshing to hear about what other people struggle with, makes you feel more human. I couldn’t believe I could actually feel a difference from one cup of chocolate. I had a bit more energy and willingness to talk to people I normally wouldn’t engage, kinda like lotsa coffee  or espresso. It was neat to be able to experience a delicacy of the Mayan world, pure chocolate is rare to find in the US, and its very expensive.  Keith’s chocolate is for sale all through Lago de Atitlan and San Marcos and online as well.

          The next morning we took a boat over to San Pedro la Laguna, a bigger more touristy city, also our connection to Antigua. We have heard so many good things about San Pedro, but we weren’t very impressed. There were lotsa tourist shops, all selling the same things. The bars and restaurants all played terrible American music. San Pedro’s only highlight was Los Thermales. A set of thermally heated rock pools. They harvest the hot water from the thermal pools. We traveled down a dark path and made a reservation with the tiny old woman. It takes thirty mins to fill a pool, we told her to give us an hour and we grabbed some food! We came back to a bubbling, rock rimmed pool, surrounded by candles, for us to share. It was a very relaxing cool night, looking over the lake on the side of a volcano! Pretty cool!

          Jay had been fighting a cold and the next day he woke up with a fever. It didn’t help that the posada was having construction done, starting at 7am. Jay stayed in bed til noon, and luckily his fever dropped. We got to the park an hour before the chicken bus to Antigua was to arrive. The park square was pretty. It had a statue that looked like Socrates with a favorite pet rooster, later we found it to be Saint Peter (San Pedro) Can someone explain the rooster? Buses to Guatemala City arrived and left. About five mins later we discovered there are no direct buses to Antigua, but all Guatemala City buses go through Antigua. Great. We ran to a travel agent because it was getting late. She booked us on the next shuttle out of Pana 2 hours later! Yay! We thought we had lost a day! On to Antigua!

Dinner our first night at La Paz, in the jungle

Flash is a little bright, but you can definitly see jungle around me

San Marcos doesn't have roads, they have paths like this running through the town. Its only wide enough for one person to walk.

The view from San Marcos of the volcanoes

Inside a traditional Mayan sauna. The design on the back is Mayan numerals counting 1 to 13 left to right.

Jay eating a vegan meal!

The outside of the temescal

Paths in La Paz

The "dorm"

Jason in a thermal pool in San Pedro

Jay relaxing

Oscar chilling while we swim!

Socrates and his favorite rooster? NO its supposed to be Saint Peter

The cute square where we missed the bus in San Pedro

Turtles in the square

Vegan meal at La Paz,so yummy!

Pana-rama

Xela’s chicken bus station is crowded, unorganized, and busy. There were four or five rows of buses, no order that we could see. We walked down each row searching for the right bus, in between tons of people carrying sacks of produce, children selling gum, fruit, and sodas, and men hawking bus rides. We were told twice by different hawkers that there is no direct bus to Panajachel, and we should take the route through their city, but we had read about one so we ignored their lies and kept searching! At last, we found it!

We took a half-full (YAY!) chicken bus to Panajachel (Pan-ah-ha-shell), a short and easy two hour ride.  Pana is on the northern shore of Lago de Atitlan or Lake Atitlan. The lake is surrounded by three volcanoes. It is absolutely stunning. The elevation here is about a mile high, but it was still relatively warm.  In Pana, we grabbed a tuk-tuk to the hostel we had chosen. Tuk-tuk’s are tiny taxi’s that can fit three people (barely) and has a structure similar to a golf cart. The hostel we had chosen was called El Sol (The Sun), it was run by a Japanese family and claimed to have traditional Japanese baths. The owner wasn’t too excited about us having Oscar, but showed us around anyway. When we made it back to the desk three Japanese travelers walked in. The owner made it clear he would rather rent to them instead. Fine, we grabbed a passing pick-up back to the center of town. We spotted Mario’s Rooms on the way, which was a recommendation from the book. It included breakfast, but after we checked in and were settled into the room, they told us there would be another charge added because of Oscar. Geez, we were bummed! Q300 ($38) per night was way out of our budget. As soon we were up and fed, we hightailed it out of that place!

 Someone on the street said they knew of a place that was quiet and clean for Q35 ($4) per person per night, we decided it was worth checking out. WOW! What a find! This place was awesome. A small place with about 10 clean, well furnished rooms with TV’s. The courtyard was closed from the street, perfect for Oscar. Orange and lime trees grew down the middle; hammocks were hung in front of the doors. We asked our guide the name of this cool place we had found, we were informed it didn’t have one.  Posada Sin Nombre (Inn Without Name) we decided.

 The lake has a huge indigenous Mayan population, mostly Q’eqchi (Kek-chee), Kaqchiquel(Kack-chee-kell), and Tz’utuhil. We visited a huge artisan market here, and bought presents to send home for Christmas. The Mayan women are expert weavers. The designs on their clothing, tapestries, and accessories are intricate and colorful.  Guatemala is a rainbow. The women wear such brightly colored clothes. Stitched flowers, people, animals, and Mayan symbols appear on skirts, blouses, belts, headbands, jewelry. We had heard of some hot springs in the area, in a teeny tiny town called Santa Catarina. Jason woke up feeling terrible that day, but hot springs are usually therapeutic for ailments like his. We took a tuk-tuk the short drive and sadly found out that the hot springs no longer exist! The lake has no natural drainage. There are no rivers or streams to empty the lake. This past rainy season was the worst they have seen. Torrential rains have filled the lake to the point of flooding homes, businesses, Mayan ruins, and the hot springs. We met a European woman who had bought a fancy house on the lake with 28 meters of beach and yard, she now has one meter because of the rain. Lago de Atitlan is proof of global warming!  Jason grabbed the first tuk-tuk back since he was feeling so terrible.  Jay and I wondered around the small town, I got to take a picture of a woman weaving, though I did have to pay her.  I guess when money is involved, the soul stays put! There was a dark storm rolling down the mountain, so we hopped in the back of a pick-up for Pana.

We soon departed Panajachel and took a boat to San Marcos La Laguna, one of our favorite spots of the trip! The lanchas(boats) were long and narrow; four rows of benches made up the hull. Probably not US Coast Guard approved, but efficient! Next  blog on San Marcos!

A volcano on the edge of Lake Atitlan

The lake from the "mirador" - lookout

Traditional Mayan weaver. I had to pay for this picture!

So colorful and intricate

The church in Santa Catarina, and a storm rolling down the mountain

Posada Sin Nombre

Views from the boat

The boat was a bit crowded.

Beautiful lake

It was cool and clear, we went swimming the next day!

Terribly Sick!

After calling home Saturday afternoon, I went home to cook dinner. During dinner and all that evening I kept feeling funny little electric pulses in my skin. Over the next few hours the pulses turned into chills, and by midnight I had a fever. It was terrible. My back and legs ached so much.  By Sunday morning I was vomiting and other such yuck symptoms.  Sunday was miserable; I hadn’t slept the night before from pain and running to the bathroom every five mins. I took multiple showers to try to bring my fever down. One such ended in tears and me shivering so much Jay was starting to freak out. After twenty-four hours of fever, 3500 mg of something like Tylenol, and the realization I was going to have to deal with this for another night, Jay and I decided it would be best to seek professional help! He went next door to the tienda,that is, literally, the house across from ours. They explained that a doctor could come to the house for 100 pesos or so. Thank you Jesus!! Call him immediately I begged!  After the longest 30 mins of my life, he finally arrived. It was about 10 pm. He immediately took my temp: over 102 degrees. He pushed around my stomach a min, and decided I have some sort of gastric infection, possibly a parasite from not washing fruit well enough, or from brushing my teeth with sink water. I got a shot for the vomiting, a pain reliever/ fever reducer, and an antiobiotic. Jay then realized he misunderstood what it would cost. For me to go to the doctor’s house it would have been 100 pesos or so, for him to come to the house, it is 200 plus the cost of meds, 600 pesos altogether.  Though it was more than what we expected, its pretty good deal for $45! I immediately swallowed the fever medicine. Sunday night was spent painless, but tossing and turning with bouts of sweating and chills and more vomiting. UGH!! Will this never stop!? Monday I was hoping to go to market in Pochutla, it’s the last market day until Christmas and we need groceries, but Sunday night didn’t allow sleep either! Monday I was feeling better, had no fever and only threw up once during the day, but I still could not sleep.  I ate crackers and a little soup, and hoped for rest all day! Yet to no avail, still no sleep. Monday night, I finally read the warnings on the fever reducer/pain reliever box, it does cause insomnia. Great. I have been taking this stuff every six hours to keep my fever at bay, yet the whole time it was keeping me from resting. Why would they make medicine that doesn’t let you sleep? Which is what  a sick person really needs, right?? Ok, so I’m done with that medicine. Monday afternoon I got a weird headache, and it is still here as I am typing at 6am Tuesday morning, awake all night again, no sleep in 3 days now!! All the prayers out there, I have some requests: that the fever doesn’t return because I can’t take that medicine again and I need some sleep; that it really is just a parasite, and not malaria (all the symptoms are the same, down to the body aches, nervous system electric “pulses”, headaches, and high spiking fevers); and that I am just well!!!! Being sick in paradise is even worse than at home. I miss my bed! I miss my momma! Thank goodness for Jay, he has been taking such good care of me, but he needs rest as well! 

Update: I feel almost 100% better, but I have had a headache since monday that hasnt gone away yet

On an unrelated note, I have these on my camera so I’ll post them now. These are pics of some of the wildlife that has visited the inside of our home here in the past two weeks!  Watch out!!

Xela, Xela, Xela

    The ride to Quetzaltenango (ket-zall-ten-ang-oh) was long and uncomfortable. Most Guatemalan cities have incredibly long, difficult names, so locals usually have nicknames for all the major cities. Quetzaltenango’s nickname is Xela, pronounced “shell-ah”. To broadcast the bus’s arrival to common intersections, the ticketeer would hang out the door and yell rapidly, “Shell-ah, Shell-ah , Shell-ah” over and over again. It at first was amusing, then grew very annoying after 9 hours!

 Our bus was routed through a major thoroughfare city, Huehuetenango( way-way-ten-ang-oh/ way-way). There were only about 15 of us on the bus at this point. The driver said we would be stopping at the bus station for 15-20 mins for a break. Jason and I got off to grab some food, Jay stayed on with Oscar and the luggage. As Jason and I were busy collecting chicken, drinks, napkins etc, the bus pulled away unbeknownst to us. Jay, who speaks the least Spanish of all of us, was left trying to explain to the driver to stop. A woman motioned to Jay when the bus started as in “Aren’t there supposed to be 3 of you?”, but then laughed hysterically and did not try to help when Jay pleaded for them to stop. Jason and I quickly figured out what happened, and ran as fast as we could carrying our precious food to catch the bus. After about three blocks, Jason got the bus to stop, and we climbed on to find a flustered Jay and a chorus of indigenous laughter. The rest of the ride was uneventful. When the woman, who had laughed hysterically at Jay earlier, got off the bus, she slipped down the steps. We secretly giggled, thanks karma!

We finally made it to Xela, and got a cab to The Black Cat Hostel. It seemed cool and had free breakfast, but dogs weren’t allowed. They sent us on to a place called The Friendly Pug, sounded like our kind of place. It was a mellow hostel, that seemed as if the set of parents left, and put their 20 year old son and his band mates in charge. Everyone was friendly, and they had a cool courtyard for Oscar to chill in...Best of all, it was cheap!! We paid Q40 each (About 5$) per night! There was a big McDonalds on the main square, so Jay and I decided to indulge. We hadn’t had fast food for 6 weeks!

If you could only spend one day in Xela, you absolutely MUST visit Fuentes Georginas, a natural hot spring way, way, WAY, in the middle of nowhere, but definitely worth the trip!! We caught a chicken bus from Xela to a tiny market town about 30 mins away named Zunil. I saw no modernly dressed people in this town. Everyone had on traditional dress, carrying baskets of vegetables on their head. We saw the largest zanahoria(carrots) I have ever seen, about the size of a bowling pin. From there we snagged a ride in the back of a pick-up truck (acamioneta, shared ride). Jason was sneaky and grabbed a seat in the cab, Jay and I climbed in the back, hoping we wouldn’t freeze solid on the way. Xela is in the Guatemalan highlands, about 7000ft elevation, a mile and a half high. It can be cold! The drive to the hotsprings was stunning in beauty! The cloud forests, tropical plants, waterfalls, it was incredible! Jason definitely missed out being confined to seeing out of a small window!!

The beauty of the drive did not compare to the actual hotsprings. There were three main pools, all in varying temperatures. One was so hot no one could even get in it, a few folks tried, no one got past their toes. The others were quite steamy, but bearable! I thought I had heard of more pools, so Jay and I saw a random trail and followed it for a while until we were in the thick of the jungle and decided to turn around! The hotsprings were amazing. On the way out we happened to spot a small sign saying “Mayan alter and piscinas (pools) this way”. Excited, we almost ran down the mountain, or the first 300 steps!! We finally made it to the other pools! I knew there were more! These were so magical! We all wished we could have spent our time at these two instead of the busy top three pools. A small creek spilled over the rocks beside the pool. We were the only people there. It was surrounded by steam and verdant jungle. It was incredible!!! We reluctantly left in order to catch the truck back down the mountain. We walked around the central park that night remarking on our outlook for Guatemala, so far so good!!

The next morning we boarded a chicken bus enroute to Lago de Atitlan, a beautiful highland lake surrounded by volcanoes and hippies!

On the way to the springs, riding in the back of a pick up

I love this pic! on the way to the hot springs

The indigenous girl was not happy about me snappin the pic, but I was shooting the landscape. I hope she doesn't think my camera snatched her soul!

A chicken bus

American food!

The view from the bus station, a beautiful volcano

On teh way to Fuentes Georginas, in the back of a truck

Mountains on the way to the hot springs; it was beautiful, and cold!

Women were bathing and doing laundry in this creek. You can see them in the back of the stream, kinda.

The hottest pool at the springs, too hot for anyone to swim!

The hottest pool. It used to be swimable, but a recent earth quake released hotter thermal temps!

Exploring the jungle

In the jungle looking for pools

The main pools at Fuentes Georginas

Jason hiking to the hidden pools

The hidden pool, halfway down the mountain

Jay testing the water

Aaahhhhhhhh!

Felt so perfect

The spring next to the pools

Enjoying the water!

Such a magical place

Xela's square