Fri Nov 9, 2008

I could barely concentrate on work in the morning because I was so excited to leave for Guatemala. Finally, at 2ish, Tanya, Bethany and I boarded a bus to Benque. The $1.50BZ bus ride was really short. We passed the Xunantunich stop on the way and rode a taxi for $3BZ each to the border. Immediately, we were bombarded with money exchangers. Since we had some quetzals from Darlene and didn’t trust the money exchangers, we walked on. (It is customary to exchange money with them, but you should know the exchange rate.) In Guatemala, the first thing we did was get our passports stamped. The buses were supposed to be right at the border, but we had to ask a few people in Spanish and walk some distance before finding them. Along the way, we found an ATM and did our first Guatemalan currency conversion to figure out how much money we would need. 1quetzal is 13US cents.

I was excited to be challenged using my Spanish skills. Tanya doesn’t know much Spanish, but can fluently speak French, which helps out a bit. Bethany took Spanish classes in high school, but doesn’t remember much. I took 4 ½ hrs in h.s., so was eager to put myself to the test.

Buses in Guatemala aren’t actually buses. They are minivans with 12-16seats. Also, the local buses don’t run very frequently. The regular mode of public transportation is by a colectivo.

The ride to Flores is about 2 hours. During the time, our conductor crammed as many passengers in as he could. At one point, we had 19 adults and one baby in a van meant for 16 people. The conductor had to awkwardly stand squeezed between the door and a seated passenger. 3 passengers were sitting on makeshift seats in the aisle. Bethany and Tanya were lucky enough to sit up front with the driver, while I was stuck in back next to a foul-smelling fellow.

Most of the passengers departed in Santa Elena. It was already dark when the driver took the last 3 of us to Flores. They dropped us off a block away from Los Amigos Hostel, where we planned to sleep for the next couple nights.

The hostel is like walking into a sanctuary. There is no roof in the main area, so we could view the stars as we walked through. Inside there are gardens, pets (dogs, a cat, and 2 macaws) and hammocks. The woman at the reception counter in the back of the restaurant area also takes food orders. We asked for beds and the only ones available were in a private room. Just what I was hoping for! For 53quetzal ($7US)/night, we had our own private room with 2 full-sized beds, and a personal bathroom complete with a shower! We were in heaven. Our room was twice the size as the one in Belize. The shower was perfectly tiled and had a huge showerhead. We immediately sprawled out on the beds and took advantage of all our space.

After unpacking a bit, we went in search of a restaurant. Bethany and Tanya, seeking inexpensive food, looked over the menu prices and passed up a lot of restaurants. To me, it was all inexpensive. However, a dinner for $10US was more than they wanted to spend. We finally chose a place with specials for 30quetzal ($4US). I ordered the meat with vegetables, which was a delicious and filling meal. Then, we walked up and down the narrow streets until we found our hostel again. As an after dinner drink, I ordered the hibiscus iced tea, which was served in a glass chalice big enough for 2 people. It was incredibly sweet and tangy. As Bethany and Tanya stayed up late talking to the Israelis, Americans, and a Belgium guy, I retreated to our room and read up on Tikal facts.

Sat Nov 10, 2008

Sat morning, Tanya, Bethany and I headed out to find the bus for Tikal. Being from Chicago, I tend to get more confused in small towns, usually passing up my destination, perceiving that it should be farther away. So even though I was armed with a map and knew what the bus stop looked like, I walked us right past it. We had to ask twice more where to go and finally bought tickets at a travel agency. The bus picked us up here instead of San Juan Travel, and we headed toward Tikal.

The three of us joined 3 other American travelers and were guided by Noe. Gratefully, the tour was in English. Noe was very thorough with the tour.  We learned about the 29^th ruler as Noe explained the engraving of him. Interesting fact: turkeys were the only domestic animals the Maya owned. Temple IV was the first temple we climbed. This one had a wooden staircase built for tourists, and at the top we could see two other large temples surrounded by forest. A couple other temples we climbed on the actual limestone. The largest open space is the last one we came across. Temple I and Temple II face each other. We soaked in the view from Temple II. Both the right and left sides had limestone structures built by the Maya.

Also during our visit, we spotted a handful of wild animals. My favorites were the howler monkeys, especially a mom who appeared pregnant and had a baby on her back. She swung through the trees just as quickly as all the other monkeys. The other species of apes living in Tikal are spider monkeys.

After 4 hours of viewing the sites, we made our way back home. I loved passing the rural areas on our bus ride. It’s not everyday you see horses grazing in soccer fields.

In the afternoon, we did a bit of shopping. Then, we ate vegetarian dinners at the hostel. The Ay Caramba burrito plate is sooo huge and delicious. I licked my plate clean. Also, I had one of the specialty drinks, an avocado and banana shake �" a meal in itself. That made up for missing lunch.

There were several backpackers at Los Amigos. Along with the people we met the night before, we also chatted with Australians and Germans. At the end of the night we watched a Mayan documentary directed by Mel Gibson. It was too gory even by my standards. We all agreed it was quite horrible, but at least we had more of a sense of the Mayan culture. It seemed like more than less of the film was made for Hollywood.

Sun Nov 9, 2008

I woke up at 5:45am, planning on going to church in Flores at 7am. It was a bit earlier than my alarm, but I used the extra time walking around the island. The church was deserted, even though a local had told me the mass times.  Since the island is quite small, I walked along the perimeter starting at the east coast. The sun was on the rise above the horizon and the soft colors in the sky were absolutely gorgeous. There was an older, white guy working out and a few locals hanging out on one of the verandas. It was peaceful and quite. The water was completely still.

I continued walking clockwise passing the bridge to Santa Elena and retracing some of the walk from the day before. A few more people were out and about, taxi drivers, travelers eating breakfast, and locals relaxing and talking. The west side of the island was quiet with homes and a few hotels lining the coast. The sun had not fully lit up the western sky, and the clouds were so low, they appeared to almost touch the water. Across the way was another island. To the north of Flores are more towns accessible by taxi boats. The colorful homes rest on the sloping terrain. As I walked back in the eastern direction, I watched the fog slither in and disguise the far off homes.

By 6:45am, I had walked back to the center of the island where the Catholic church is located. The gates were still locked and only a couple maintenance guys were around. I was disappointed, having wanted to see one of the few statues in the world of a Black Jesus, but I would have to wait. I walked past the large Christmas tree adorned with Gallo national beer ornaments (the company that sponsors almost everything in Guatemala). My roommates weren’t expecting me back until 8am, so after biding my time walking around Flores, I decided to spend some time in Santa Elena. This city is on the mainland right across the bridge. Its population consists mostly of locals, unlike Flores. Several times taxi drivers in their 3-wheeled automobiles would glare at me, checking if I needed a ride.

Not long after crossing the bridge, I came across the Santa Elena Catholic Church, whose bells had tolled as I woke up. The service was just beginning, so I popped in right on time, at 7:15. I was excited to listen to a Spanish-spoken mass. Of course, I could only understand bits and pieces, but I always knew what was coming next. The building was octagon shaped, with an extension to seat more people. There were few pews and most people, including me, sat in plastic lawn chairs. When it came time to kneel, only half of the congregation kneeled and the rest kept standing. There was just the tiled floor to kneel and the backs of the chairs to place our hands on. When the time came to give each other the sign of peace, there was the awkward 10 seconds, as I just stood watching everyone hug each other. Then, the people around me shook my hand, simply saying “paz.” The music was not at all what I would have expected. It was light and airy with notes on the lower end of the scale �" very unlike the folksy sounds at the Belizean mass. Since lines were repeated several times, I joined in, not entirely sure what I was singing. I also noticed that they say “Padre” in replace of “Lord,” such as “Las palabras del Padre.” (The Word of the Lord). Also, about a third of the people didn’t go up for communion, and the people in my section went up whenever they felt like it. Since I’m left-handed, I usually place my left hand under my right and pick up the Body of Christ with the left. However, the priest tapped my hands so that I would swap them. Shocked and embarrassed, I used my right hand and walked off. There were several announcements by the priest after communion and afterwards, no one stayed to sing a closing song.

After mass, I met up with Tanya and Bethany. I drank a delicious aloe vera drink from the hostel. It was light and refreshing. Then, we set out to going swimming, but we came across a fisherman who said the swimming was no good. (Even though there is a designated swimming area.) He talked at length (in Spanish, of course) about the oil from the boats passing through and how it was bad for the skin. He also tried to sell us a ride across the way to a better beach, but we refused, saying we had no money. We learned the there was also a good zoo over there as well as a few other touristy things. Finally, we coaxed him to let us continue our walk. We took photographs and shopped for hammocks and skirts. All the tourist shops were similar, and stretched out on one of the main roads.

After our purchases, we decided to spend some time in Santa Elena. We photographed some amazing graffiti art and then went in search of the large market. Along the way we found “la cemeteria central.” It is the most decorative cemeteries I have ever laid eyes on. One would think I have a fascination with cemeteries, but even my roommates were awed by the space. The length of the cemetery consisted of several walls adorned with flowers and wreaths and painted in various colors, with engravings of the deceased. A large majority of the cemetery included individual buildings, (about 8ft high and 8ft across-but all diff sizes) made of concrete, tile, and/or plaster. There is a little prayer room within them with a locked gated entrance. Both outside and inside are adorned with flowers and ornaments. Each one is unique. I was so amazed �" these buildings are better constructed than some Belizean homes! Of course, not all of the deceased were buried in these buildings. Some were buried underground and were marked with small monuments or crosses. Bethany and I could have spent hours in the cemetery, just taking photographs.

The locals we spoke with highly suggested the market 10 more minutes down the road. To our disappointment, we arrived at a mall and large supermarket, instead of the outdoor market we were expecting. We took our first Guatemalen taxi ride (10quetzal) to get back to the hostel. The next taxi driver wanted to charge us 15quetzal to go the shorter distance from Flores to the bus station in Santa Elena. We refused and crossed the bridge on foot. After crossing the bridge, we found out we still had 8 blocks to go and were running late, so we grabbed another taxi. This one wanted to charge us 20quetzal to get to the bus! How come the shorter the distance, the more money it costs! Tanya bartered down to 15, then bartered our bus ticket down to 30quetzal each (what it actually should cost).

On our taxi ride we passed the outdoor markets we had wanted to find. In the bus, we stopped for 10minutes at a locals market where there are small shops with merchandise. A flutter a kids came up to the bus and bombarded us with fruits, candy, hot foods, chips, and refrescos. One of the boys had packages of cashews hanging from paper suspenders. Some guys were even trying to sell some type of medicine. After we declined several times, other child vendors would come up to the window and into the bus (a.k.a. minivan). Another boy who had open sores all over his face was handing out candy nut samples with tongs. Since I hadn’t eaten lunch, I bought a small plate of chicken and rice for 5quetzal. I knew it had been sitting out for a while, but I was hungry from skipping lunch and we had a long ride ahead. Luckily, I didn’t get sick.

Along the ride back, we saw a bunch of baby animals including piglets, chicks, and baby turkeys. They were so cute. As we left Guatemala, I was sad that I wouldn’t have to speak Spanish anymore. It had been such a fun challenge. I also wished I could have spent more time getting to know the local people. It was riveting while it lasted.

Weekend trip cost: $80US

The building is beautiful and the location excelent....that is it. The rooms are filthy and noisy, you can hear the parking attendants scream at all hours of the night and the hotel staff stomping around the corridors at 3AM. I do not mind a dive but I do hate being taken. Listed as 4 stars in some sites, it deserves one or two at the most. You can find much better acomodations close by for a fourth of the price...stay away if you can.

The consecrated image of the Fallen Jesus of Nazareth is the work of Antigua Artist Don Pedro de Mendoza and dates to 1460, it was originally carved for the temple of the school of San Jeronimo, in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, knowed today as Antigua Guatemala. the Brotherhood who is in charge of the beautiful image of Jesus was founded in Antigua Guatemala in the year 1902, the procession was knowed to be since the 17th century around 1680, and it was in charge of a group called, "the Society of the fallen Jesus of Nazareth". Today this procession is one of the biggest in Guatemala, it starts at 7 am and finishes at 1 am the next day, over 18 hours, itinerary has more than 125 streets in Antigua and his town San Bartolo, almost 100,000 people watch the procession all day in Antigua, making the tiny streets of Antigua almost impossible to walk, a group of 80 musicians walk all day behind the procession, playing sacred music melodies from Italy, France, Guatemala and England, among others.

One of the nicest and Biggest Processions of Guatemala City, is from "El Calvario" church, this processions relatively new, and in the past years have been growing in a good way, People from all over the country, specially Guatemala city and Antigua, come the 2nd Sunday of lent to admire one of the perfect  and most beautiful image of Jesus Christ carying his cross. Procession starts at 9 am and Finishes at 11 pm. Having a long itinerary around the mayor streets of Guatemala city, visiting zones 1 and 2

Jesus from "Jocotenango", has the name of it own town, he is in procession for more than 100 years, the image is dated from 1700, without having a history to prove it, although documents of Antigua Guatemala, mention about Jocotenango having a brotherhood in charge of this beautiful image of Jesus Christ. His procession is traditional among Jocotenango locals, Antigua people, and mostly from Guatemala city, it is one of the most important processions in Guatemala and is celebrated on the 3rd sunday of lent. starts at 11:00 am and finishes at 12:00 am the next day, for more than 13 hours, the itinerary has more than 80 streets, most of them are in Antigua Guatemala, where can be admire by locals and tourist, it has a band of over 60 musicians that play sacred music from France, Italy and Guatemalan Authors

We left early in the morning and took a bus to the base of the volcano. It ended up being only me and my friend Hannah with the guide. The other person got sick and is going to go another time. Even though this is the highest I have been in a couple of years I didn't feel like the altitude affected me much. I felt like the hike was kind of easy. Maybe because we only hiked for about 4 hours instead of 9 hours a day like I did on the hike to Lake Atitlan. We arrived at our camp site around 3:30-4pm and walked over to watch the sunset. It was breathtaking.
We made pasta for dinner and were asleep by 9pm. It is amazing how early you go to sleep when you are camping. You make dinner before it gets too dark and then go to bed shortly after dinner. My sleeping bag is great! I love it! I bought it a couple of years ago and spent good $ on it. It is a down bag that goes down to 0 degrees fahrenheit. It was so cold up there, I was warm enough but I could tell that I was at the limits of my sleeping bag. When we awoke to hike the rest of the way I was wearing 7 layers and needed all of them. I didn't bring a beanie because I was just going to use the hoods on the 2 hoodies I had. It was freezing. I tightened the strings so much I could barley see out of them. Since we were hiking up I started to sweat but I could not take off any clothes because it was too cold. By the time we reached to top my shirt was soaked. I needed to remove my bottom 2 layers or i was going to get sick. So I stripped all my layers off and took off my long long sleeve shirt and t shirt. When I took off everything and I was topless and I almost fell over it was so cold. I have never moved so fast. My guide said he thought it was about -12C with the wind chill. Oh ya it was really windy up there too.
Besides the cold it was an amazing view. One side was Mexico and the other was Guatemala. During the sunrise we were able to see anther volcano erupt. You can see the cloud of smoke in a couple of my pictures. We hiked back down and had breakfast.

my friends and I were initially really excited about this hostel, but we only stayed for one night (Nov 4th 2008) because when I woke up in the morning, I was covered in bug bites. I literally had 25-30 on each arm, a few on my shoulders and neck and even face. When checking out, I told the desk lady how when I went to bed, I didn't have a single bug bite, but when I woke up I was covered in them. She feigned concern (and disgust) but still made me pay for my stay because only the owner could authorize a comp. Of course the owner wasn't going to be there until later in the afternoon. We decided to leave and visit Earth Lodge, a hostel outside Antigua instead. Throughout the day, the bug bites all swelled and blistered up to 3-5 times their original size. The next day, I was back in Antigua visiting a doctor. Between the doctor visit and and prescriptions i spent about 500 Q (the equivalent of $75 US), money I didn't have. I went back to the jungle party to talk to the owner, of course she wasn't there again. Staying at the jungle party nearly ruined my trip to Guatemala. I was only to be in Guatemala for 3 weeks, the incident happened on my 4th day there (the 4th of November). Per doctors orders, I was not to swim or be in the sun for 1 week due to the bites. When visiting Lake Atitlan, I could not swim or cliff dive as I had hoped, could not go outside at all without long sleeves. I actually had to buy two new long sleeve shirts because I didn't have any packed for my trip. Plus, I looked like a leper with boils all over my skin for the duration of my trip. Now it is the 25th of november, and I still have marks on my arms where the bites are still healing (3 weeks later!!!!). To make it all worse, through our travels we met some people who had stayed there about a week before we had. They said that someone else staying in that exact same room as we had had woken up covered in bug bites. So obviously the management knew there was a problem with either the room or the mattress. Besides all of this, the Jungle party wasn't that neat anyway. If you are going to Antigua, stay at Kafka. It's right up the street from Jungle party and has the same chill type of atmosphere and is even a little cheaper.

During the week I didn’t do anything that special. We watched Motorcycle Diaries on Tues night. Wednesday we went to a salsa club. I drank and hung out with friends. I am not very good as salsa. Friday night my friend Jason got a job at a local café playing guitar so we went to support him.
Saturday a group of 5 of us went to the hot springs for the day. We decided to hike the mountain up to the springs. It is about 12k all up hill so the springs felt great once we got there. It took a little over 2 hours to get up there. After we hiked back down. We grabbed the first bus back to Xela and accidentally we grabbed the wrong one. It still went to Xela but the other end of town. So we walked about another 6k back to where we live. So we had a full day of walking. For those who cannot do the conversion in their head it was about 18.6 miles we walked.
I was supposed to go on another hike today but woke up and fell back to sleep. I woke up late and missed the trip. Oh well next time. It was nice to get some more sleep and take a day off. Specially because tomorrow I am leaving to hike to the tallest point in Central America. It is a 2 day hike up to about 14,000 ft.

I decided to come back to school this week. Last week was great and everything I wanted… a week of being lazy but I was ready to get back to Spanish classes. I returned to my host family to find they had another student in my room. Before I left on my mini vacation I asked Marisol (my host mom) what would happen if that happened. She assured me that they like having 2 students living with them. More $, and during this time of year it never happens because this is the slow season. So the family of 5 shared 1 room in order to have double the $ coming it.
The bus ride from San Pedro to Xela was very entertaining. We found the place where the busses leave from only to find out the bus did not go directly to Xela. We were told that we would be getting out at mile marker 184 and wait. That sounded interesting, waiting on the side of the road for another bus to pick us up and take us the rest of the way. There is no real schedule for busses down here. You show up at the station and just wait for the next on to leave. We happen to miss an earlier one by about 5 min and so we waited about 1 hour for the next one… they just wait till the bus is full.
We came to the mile marker stop and founds that it was a little more than just waiting in the middle of no where. There was actually a few shops there and it was kind of big intersection. But as soon as got off the bus, there was someone there waiting for our bus, so he could take us the rest of the way. It was almost too easy to transition to our next ride. Our next ride was in what they call a mini bus here. Basically a van that they put as many seats in as possible. It was mostly empty when we got in but we stopped and picked up a couple of more people. Then stopped at another bus stop and a few more got in. We stopped again and this time there was about 10 more people who wanted in. I thought to myself yah right! Not possible, boy was I wrong. In a bus that has 13 seats we had 29 people in. There were 3 people standing the sliding door way holding on to the roof rack as we went 40-50 mph down the road.
When I arrived back in Xela I went to get some dinner and a few friends met me to catch me up on the past week. I missed a full moon hike to the top of a volcano to watch the sunrise. Other than that not much.

I woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the mountains of Totonicapan. We left the house once again for the day’s assignments, and met a Deaf Mayan, Jom, in Xetul, San Cristobal. He welcomed me as if I was an old friend of his. We took to communicating quickly through gesturing, but Marco aided us with the local sign language and ASL. Jom is well known in the area for making the best clothing. He even sells his work to different states in Guatemala and Mexico! He has three machines (tejido e hilado) to help him with the work, and he showed me how to make a sheet of corte (which goes to become a Mayan dress). I couldn’t believe my own eyes as to how he used each thread to make beautiful designs, such as birds, eyes, suns, and other imagery.

He works so hard every day, doing about 12 to 14 hours of work a day, and then brings his material on Fridays and Saturdays to different suppliers and customers. Jom had me put on one of his colorful cortes. It was for women only, but he just wanted me to experience what it’s like wearing a corte. Meeting his wife was an exciting moment because I had my mind opened to other cultures. She had walked to the small market by her home and surprised my crew and me with some bottled waters and crackers that they couldn’t even afford. It was a moment of great hospitality! I purchased some sheets from them, to help recognize their hard work. After leaving their home, I wondered why Jom wasn’t wearing any real Mayan clothes. He said that other people could kill him, even other male Mayans, due to their jealousy about other successful Mayans doing their craft. It left me concerned about their valuable culture, and how it would hold up in the future.

Once again, we drove through Quetzaltenango, seeing many new buildings mixed in with old markets. I saw many Mayans selling their wares along with common vendors, and it was a fascinating sight. We saw a new mall, and decided to stop by for some food, at Taco Bell. It was just for fun because Taco Bell’s menu is definitely not native to Guatemala. It was a fun lunch! The mall had everything that American-style malls have, and it was a good thing to see. I hope that the new generation of Guatemalans and their government will help preserve the Mayan race and their culture because considering the world as it is now, we can’t afford to lose more chapters in the history of our planet.

We then returned to Cantel to meet up with Sam’s family. Sandra asked me to join her in cooking some special Guatemalan cuisine. I couldn’t say no to that offer! We made some Jocon and Caldo de res. Flor, Sandra’s daughter, made the dessert �" tres leches cake. All of us had a good laugh and great conversation during the meal. It was interesting to learn about Flor’s job as interpreter. Deaf Guatemalans always pay their interpreters for job interviews, hospital visits, work meetings, and other events. I asked her about the cost because interpreters tend to be a little pricey, and because many Guatemalans would be unlikely to afford their services. Flor said that the client usually negotiates the rates with the interpreter before the point of satisfaction is reached. The rates usually fall in the range of $3USD to $8USD per hour. She was amazed by the fact that we Americans don’t really pay for those services except for private occasions. Flor was also impressed by the relay services back home in America. We then had a discussion about Sorenson Epansol and its tri-language capabilities. She hoped that the Guatemalan government will help improve the standard of living for Deaf people in the country. It was a great end to the evening with them, having had good food and good discussions!
I definitely will miss them tomorrow when I leave in the morning at around 6 AM, for the next assignment. I greatly appreciated their hospitality and their taking excellent care of me, David, and Alvaro. I also extended my thanks to Marco who was more than willing to join us for the past three days here. Buenos Noches!
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I arrived in San Pedro Monday afternoon and we got settled in a hotel right away that Juan, our guide from the hike, knew of. The first afternoon there I was trying to take a nap and our room was the next to the guy that ran the place and he was blasting his music so loud I could not sleep. It was 4 in the afternoon so I could not tell him to keep silent. I shared the room with the other 2 girls from the hike but they were leaving the next day and I was planning to stay until Saturday. This guy made my decision really easy, I was not going to stay at this hotel. I heard from a friend that was in Xela last week and she was at a hostel here in San Pedro. I went to check it out and it was great so I knew where I was going to move to. We went out to dinner and then found the Buddah Bar which was in the lonely planet. It was open mic night and a lot of fun.
The girls went on a kayak ride in the morning while I slept in. I checked into my new place and took the remainder of the day to read and rest. I was still really sore from the hike. The hostel was fun the first night there was about 10-12 of us who just hung out at on hammocks drank and told stories. About 8 of us went to San Marcos Wednesday, it is another town on the lake that has some great cliff jumping cliffs. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and went to bed early.
The next day I spent the morning reading more and laying around in the hammock more. I went for a short hike at about 2 pm, just so I didn’t think I had done absolutely nothing for the day. It was funny I was feeling really anti social. I think is has something to do with living in a hostel where everyone is traveling alone so in order to have a friend out here you have to put in a lot of effort in talking creating friendships. I was just over it. I wanted time to myself. Last night a bunch of people went to watch a movie at a local restaurant I just wanted to be alone. And then this morning again I got up early and left and had breakfast alone and kayaked alone and had lunch alone. It was great. I wonder if anyone has noticed that I have been avoiding them for the past 24 hours. I don’t care I am leaving this place tomorrow. I will probably go out tonight with everyone.
So to say the least I didn’t do much this week except finish a book and relax. I don’t regret it at all. I was a great place to take a week off.

This week I switched teachers. Not that the one I was with was bad, it is a good thing to switch things up and to receive different types of strategies from different teachers. Carlos was my new teacher and he was great. Last 2 weeks I learned a lot about structure and conjugation. This week we spent a lot of time just talking and trying to implement what I learned from the past 2 weeks.

I decided to go on a trek from Quezaltanengo, where I am going to school to San Pedro, which is a town on Lake Atitlan. The idea behind this was to get into a little better shape and to become better acclimatized to the altitude. I want to also hike the volcano Tajumulco at 4220 meters high in a couple of weeks. But this kicked my ass.

In the group there was myself, 2 girls that I went to school with, 3 other guys, and the guide Juan. Juan is a 23 year old guide that has been guiding this trip since he was 12. We started at the base of mountain at 2300 meters spent the first 3 hour hiking up it to 2950 meters. Good way to start out the trip. We started at 9am and hiked until 5:30pm. We slept in tents in a park and I was eaten alive by mosquitoes. For dinner we ate with a Quiche family in the neighboring pueblo. They served us a great stew that really hit the spot! We were all so exhausted that we were asleep by 8:15pm.

We woke up at 6am had breakfast with the same family. Breakfast wasn’t as good as dinner. Rice, beans, tortillas and Sausage for breakfast, but it had the carbs that we need for the day. The first part of the second day was easy. It was down hill. We dropped down to 2100 meters and then the climbing began again, we spent the rest of the day hiking back to 2750 meters. At the end of the day we spent about an hour crossing the same river exactly 14 times so I had to lose my tennis shoes, I really wish I would have brought my hiking boots, and I went from bad to worse. I had to put on my flip flops and I hiked in them. That was really annoying, I would go through the river and go up a hill then slip right out of my sandals.

We camped in another park but this time we were overlooking the Lake. Our guide woke us up at 4:30 to watch the sun rise. It was beautiful, it would have been better if there was no fog. But it was still a great experience.

We walked down the hill to the lake and went cliff jumping into the lake. We hung out getting sun for about 2 hours and then our guide called a friend with a boat to come pick us up and take us the rest of the way to the center of town.

Was it a pain in the butt carrying a huge bag with a floor length dress in it everywhere I went? Yes. Does having an 8 hour layover at the Los Angeles airport make you a little crazy? Yes.

So, to entertain ourselves, my travel buddy Natalie and I decided to name my bridesmaid dress. After several minutes of trying out different names, we decided that “Mona” was the best choice for my red, satin evening gown.

Mona… who we would later call a bitch and a slut and a lazy ass in the wee hours of the morning in order to keep ourselves amused. Seriously, all she does is lay around. I have to carry her everywhere and wait on her hand and foot.

As we arrived at our hostel in Antigua hours too early for check in time, I pointed to the large garment bag and asked the owner if there was any way I could put it in a closet somewhere while they got our room ready. That’s when Natalie chimed in, “In case you are wondering, that’s Mona the dress. She’s a whore.”  

Heather fell in love with Ricardo here in Chico, California. Ricardo was born and raised in Antigua, which was surprisingly a place she had already visited during her traveling nurse days. She already loved everything about Guatemala and now there was even more to love about it... the man of her dreams.

When the love birds decided to tie the knot it was an easy decision to have the wedding in Ricardo's home town of Antigua. For one thing, it would have been very difficult to get Ricardo's whole family to the United States for the ceremony. Plus, Antigua is a beautiful place to have a wedding!

Heather and I have been close friends since high school. When she asked me to be a bridesmaid in her destination wedding I jumped at the opportunity. I would not miss it for the world. Getting to travel to Guatemala was an added bonus.
The wedding took place on Sunday, January 13 2008. It was a magical evening at Hotel Santo Domingo, one of the more upscale hotels in Antigua. Over one thousand candles were used to set the mood between the outdoor ceremony and the indoor reception. Everything was gorgeous, from the grand centerpieces on the tables, to the upscale food, to the 20 piece live band, to the chocolate fountains… there are too many things to list. And let me tell you, Guatemalans know how to party! The fancy event turned into a crazy party on the dance floor with light shows, smoke machines, balloons and props. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought I was at a New Years Eve event.

I am at the age when several of my friends are getting married. I have been to many weddings in the past few years. But I can tell you this, the wedding in Guatemala was by far the best I have been to!