Paradise Found

Greetings from San Pedro,

We are on the shores of Lago Atitlan, once called by Aldous Huxley the most beautiful lake in the world. The past few days have been very busy but I wouldnt have it any other way, because I can-t figure out this keyboard dont expect gramatical excellence! This morning Claire and I woke up to quite the amazing sight, the sunrise from hundreds of feet above the valley that Antigua lies in. Last night we stayed in a treehouse that overlooked a small grove of avocadoes. We had a delicious full vegan meal for dinner, that I actually ENJOYED, and sat amongst others who were enjoying the Earth Lodge. The place is owned by a Canadian and American couple but to Claire and my surprise there was a girl volunteering there from Cottage Grove, Oregon! The place was amazing, and some of the children of the caretaker came down and we played with a deflated volleyball as I tried to explain the theory of spiking. This morning on our way back to Antigua, to catch the shuttle here, two more children came up and we played with a bicycle tire for 30 minutes waiting for our late shuttle. OUR shuttle, just so happened to be a pick up truck with a bar across the top that we held on to with dear life as our driver manuevered over a dirt/mud road. At many points you could see where the last storm had washed another couple feet off the road into the embankement below and Im pretty positive I watched Claires grip tighten on the overhead bar with each close embakement we passed.

We hung around Antigua for an hour or two and then caught a real shuttle, full of other tourists, to the town of Panajachel, the gateway city to Lago Atitlan. The drive from Antigua to Panajachel was almost surreal watching the famous Guatemalan Chicken Bus swerving in and out of lanes of traffic and passing on double yellows heading up hills. They are essentially the old yellow school bus I rode to 3rd grade, converted to look badass with multiple flames and possibly the national bird, the Quetzal. At one point during the ride I watched a younger boy jump from the moving bus and then do a bow to his friends, showing off how brave/stupid, that he was. Anyways, if I thought the grip Claire had on the bar in the truck earlier this morning was white knuckled the fingers she dug into my thighs on a few of the turns this afternoon proved she had anything but a wet noodled grip.

We arrived at Panajachel and were quickly stormed by locals asking whether or not we needed a hotel, a boat ride, or one gentleman in particular was very foward in annoucing that he knew where I could smoke some weed. I attempted to kindly disregard all of them but one gentleman was especially pushy and after much discussion we lowered the price of a lancha, boat, from 300 quetzals down to 175 quetzals for 3 of us. The ride across the lake was MISERABLE, it was pouring rain and at least once I feel like Claire gave me the much missed during our 10 weeks apart look...did you really take me on this boat into the middle of a hurricane? Anyways, we made it safely and now she is facebooking while I type this message. I hope to swim tomorrow in the lake and then if all pans out we will catch an 8 hour shuttle to Semuc Champey in the waining days of our trip. Hope all is well back home, I have been especially jonesing from some home cooked pasta lately and cant wait to italian sausage and meatballs back home. I would post pictures, but unfortunately I did not bring my cord....they will have to wait until the trip is over, but they are most definitely worth the wait.

Off to Guatemala

I haven't updated in awhile, sorry! Tomorrow I leave for Guatemala for 11 days of rain in paradise! Check the link in the earlier post for newer pictures, including last night where I drank entirely too much but had a great time hanging out with some amazing Mexicans I met while taking classes here.

I'll try to update at least once or twice from Guatemala, more later foks. Now I must try to go to sleep so I can catch my bus to Mexico City at 6am tomorrow.