It has been a couple of weeks since I've blogged, so sorry about that. We haven't really doing any exciting travel so I though that I'd just combine the last 2 weeks in one blog. The lab work has finally come to an end and we are now at the feast in Panajachel on Lake Atitlan. The feast goes for 1 week and people come from all over the world to certain places to celebrate, this year in Guatemala it is held here in Pana. But before I get into that I should probably tell you a little of what has been going on in Guatemala City. We've been working in the lab every day and getting a lot done....more than we thought we would. Everyone has been really helpful by finding stuff that we might want to look at or pointing us in the right direction for boxes of artefacts. There are mountains of boxes here at the lab, so you can imagine the task that we have. But its not all work for us...everyone seems really keen on taking us out to explore the city. So one Sunday we went to the movies and saw the new Adam Sandler movie, grown ups. Its strange, most of the movies here are in English and have Spanish subtitles. I guess the people here are probably used to it, but I really wasn't expecting that. The cinema was in a mall, which I have to say was exactly like home! It's funny how some things never change wherever you are in the world.
Another time we went to the Botanical Gardens in the city because we just wanted to see some green grass. It was really nice, manicured lawns, beautiful flowers, and we had a beautiful day, so we just sat in the sunshine and relaxed for the afternoon. We've had several fun trips to the shops, but i have to say that the traffic here is absolutely crazy!!! I don't even know if there are any road rules, because people seem to do whatever they please. There are lines on the road, but nobody adheres to them, and there are some really weird turns that go backwards to go forwards depending on which way you want to go. I'm just thankful that I don't have to drive in the city, because I don't think I would make it!
Last Friday we got to visit another site about 2 hours out of the city called Imixche. It was only a small site, but quite significant as it was still inhabited when the Spanish arrived and they actually made it their first capital city. The ruins were cool and once again we had really nice weather for wandering around and enjoying the site. We had lunch at this restaurant near the site and after we sat down a whole parade of "Miss so-and so" (Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Belize, Mexico.....) came in. It was really funny because in Australia we don't really have a big pageant following, only what we see on tv, but they were exactly like their stereotype...when they sat down they all passed around some make up and were fixing their hair and the shoes!!! Wow there were some big shoes! A very interesting lunch and very unexpected.
We even got to go to a birthday party for one of the archaeologists friends. It was also fun, and some of the people spoke some English which was nice. For lunch they made this dish with tepasquintli, which is like a big rat thing...so of course we didn't eat it, but it just goes to show that people eat all sorts of things here. Another funny things, or things i should say, are the midnight visits from Dr. Richard Hansen. We were really looking froward to seeing him again after so long, but it was quite unexpected the first time he showed up at the lab...it was 11pm and we were both asleep and heard this knock at the door. We were both ambushed in our pj's and sleepy eyes, but it was nice to catch up and have a chat. The funny thing was it happened again the next weekend and again on the last night before we left. It seems he is so busy with meetings and what-not that he only had time to visit late at night. It is so exciting to talk to him..there seems to be so many possibilities and future endeavors when it comes to El Mirador and the project!
The last day before we left for Panajachel we went to a mall for April to buy some nice clothes for the feast. We knew where we wanted to go, a place called Miraflores which is next to another mall called Tikal Futura...but it just so happened that a few days earlier there was a shooting at Tikal Futura...something to do with drugs. Well that wasn't going to stop us so off we went. Luckily for us there was no danger at all and instead of working we spent the day shopping. Now I couldn't let April have all the fun, so I bought some stuff too...the now problem is fitting it all in our backpacks!!
As for the feast....well I'm not surprised to say that I don't really think it is my scene. I tried, but to me it feels like I'm back at Catholic school where i was forced to sit through mass. It's hard to know for sure because the sermons are in Spanish and it's a little difficult to understand, but I'm not like everyone there. Everyone is really nice though and its kinda fun meeting new people from all over the world...and one thing i do like is the singing in Spanish. Panajachel is a nice little town also. Its actually bigger than San Pedro, but it seems quieter for some reason. I guess because its not tourist season many people have probably left. But also because of this the ladies selling local crafts are desperate for you to buy their stuff and its hard for someone like me, who feels sorry for them, to say no thankyou. We were sitting at a restaurant right on the street yesterday and a lady came by asking if we wanted to buy a scarf or shawl and we said that we didn't have room in our bags so no thankyou...but she didn't leave and threw the scarf on our table and kept lowering the price even though we said we didn't want it. She started at 500 quetzales, which is about $70 and we kept saying no. She was still there 5 minutes later and the price had dropped to 60 quetzales (about $9). I had no idea how good at bargaining I was!!! No just kidding, I felt so sorry for her that she was that desperate that I bought it and April gave her some money as well. The we proceeded to move tables away from the street so it would never happen again...I cant handle that kind of desperateness. The one dangerous thing here in Pana is the bookshop! We went in just to have a look around and its amazing! I bought a Spanish book to help me learn and will definitely return tomorrow for a novel. April was so excited when she saw the book that inspired our title for this blog...Incidents of Travel in the Yucatan by John L Stephens, so she bought that. I have no idea where we are going to put these books, as our bags are already overflowing!!!
Just one more thing...the hotel that we are staying at is so nice. We decided that we should splash out a little and stay somewhere nice for the feast and we found this place, its called Utz-Jay. There are little bungalows nestled amongst trees and little cobbled pathways. We have a second story room with a clean bathroom and fresh towels, which we were both so excited about and there are birds and its just peaceful...love love love it!
