Hello to anyone who is still checking my blog! I have been so bad about updating but time seems to just get away from me here. . .
I took a week off of school to visit beautiful Lake Atitlan with some friends. I feel like I´ve traveled to a lot of amazing places in my life but the lake has to be one of my top five favorites. The spectacular view is of an immense lake surrounded by volcanoes. And around the lake are several small towns, each with their own specific flavor. I stayed in Panachel, and there began my obsession with scarves. Seriously, they are so colorful and I think before I leave the country I will probably have about twenty!
We spent our days taking lanchas (small boats) across the lake to visit the towns of San Pedro and San Marcos. Both are full of hippies, with San Marcos focusing on yoga and meditation and San Pedro cocentrating more on getting high ( for medicinal reasons, of course.) The food was incredible and the weather so warm that returning to Xela was almost a little heart breaking.
My two favorite random stories from the trip:
I was eating breakfast with friends one morning and a street dog wandered over to us. It then proceeded to have a seizure right under our table and eventually died! What?! So, so sad. The weird part was that everyone continued to eat with this dead dog just lying there in the dining room. Es normal?
My other adventure from the trip was the chicken bus ride home. It was Sunday and we spent our last afternoon in Pana leisurely eating lunch and wandering around the market. By the time we got to the bus stop we realized we just barely made the last bus back to Xela. Which means it was PACKED! We spent the next two hours standing in the aisle of the bus, pressed up against one another, with our bags hitting people in the head! And the guy who collects money decided to make his way up the aisle during the windiest part of the mountain road. He basically was climbing over us and at the same time asking for exact change. We all just had to laugh and repeat our key phrase that we use here in Guatemala: "This is happening."
