Back in Xela

Hey it´s been a while since I wrote anything here. The rest of my time at the lake was really nice. There are quite a few towns along the shore of the lake and they all have their own unique character. After San Pedro I went to San Marcos which is a lot smaller and has more of a spiritual vibe. A lot of people go there for the meditation centres, yoga, and all that stuff. It was a bit more slow paced so it was nice to sit in the hammock, read, and do some swimming. The lake was a perfect temperature for swimming and it was very clear off the rocks in San Marcos. I was there with David and Martha as we had to say goodbye to Harold. We then left David behind and headed to even smaller Santa Cruz. We stayed at a really cool place called La Iguana Perdida. Aside from no hot water it was a really relaxing place to spend a couple days. We even got a soccer game going with some of the people at the hostel and the locals who just seemed to appear from the hills. They were speaking the local Mayan language so of course I couldn´t figure out what they were saying. Around Santa Cruz we went on a nice hike for a couple hours to see the beautiful views of the lake, and also could see a lot of evidence of damage from Hurricane Stan. Next Martha and I headed to Panajachel the most touristy town on the lake. At least there were some good restaurants there although the street vendors would always try to sell us stuff when we were eating which got annoying sometimes.

After saying goodbye to Martha I headed back to Xela and then southwest to the Pacific Coast town of Champerico with a friend from Xela. It was about a 3 hour bus ride from Xela and gradually got warmer and warmer as the bus descended to sea level. Again there was more evidence of Stan´s damage with a few road washouts that still haven´t been fixed. I suspect it could take years to fix some of the roads and bridges. The beach town was a bit dusty and grungy and I didn´t see many foreign tourists, but the water was nice and it was good to have some hot weather for a change. Had some good seafood and did a bit of swimming in the big surf.

Back in Xela, the living is easy and I´m taking it easy this week. I am looking forward to starting a volunteer position with Habitat for Humanity on Tuesday morning. Also I´m going to be taking some dance classes next week. I will be learning salsa and merengue.
Adios!