Last night I dreamt of San Pedro

I got you mahbub. I got coffee to last me years son.

Working with the bees was probably the coolest thing I did there, excitement-wise. The kids are hella fun to play with too. The day I took my camera to take pictures with them, they went nuts! And one of them, this kid Brian, likes to take pictures and did a pretty good job working with the camera. It was cool.

They love me more because im so cool, foreigner or not!

This is how the rest of the song goes:

Hay un lugar que se llama La Florida,
y me gusta comer mucho la comida,
donde aprendi hacer una tortilla,
con Sandra, Pascual y la familia.

and the kids added...

y muestra el hecho de la tortilla a una amiga,
de repente ella va a ser tu novia!

the kids be knowin whats up ;)

You dont even know about these bites. Its been almost a week and they are still here. I went to the beach yesterday and I assumed that everyone was staring at me because I was a foreigner, but it was more than usual...then I remembered that I look diseased too.

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This week began with a little disappointment because our plans to go straight from La Florida to Lago Atitlan were delayed yet again by sickness. Luckily on tuesday we were able to get out of Xela to start our trek to the lake.

So this secret map that we had as our guide was literally a blank piece of paper with scribbles on it that somewhat resembled a not-so-straight line with little barnhouse drawings for landmarks and stick figures and chicken-scratch for writing. The map was accompanied by 2-pages of written directions that went something like this:

...at the corn fields turn left on the dirt path, cross the stream and come to a Y in the path and take a right...

...Theres a fork in the path where there are two old trees (one is hollow), go to the left...

Mind you we're hiking through a FOREST and through ACRES of CORN! Nonetheless, we started our trek without two of the guys because one was still not feeling up to it and so he took a buddy back with him. They ended up taking a bus from Xela all the way to the lake.

Brandon (samwise), Peter (snake boy), and I headed out. At first the trail was intensely steep as we were hiking up and over the first mountain pass. Since we started walking around 4pm there was only about 2.5 hours of hiking that could be done before we would run out of daylight. Fortunately, we made it up the hill and at the top I expected to see the other side of the mountain heading down. Instead, the top of the mountain opened up into a huge expanse of land like a plateau, with meadows and corn fields throughout. It was getting cold so we continued a bit further (past the tree with the cave) into a pine forest to set up camp.

...It was my first night out in the wilderness, ever. We had some hot dogs to roast over an open flame of pine needles and branches with fresh buns and pepperjack cheese (from wisconsin!). It was a fantastic meal and the fire kept us warm as the temperature dropped down. By 8:30pm I was ready to hit the hay (sleeping bag in the tent) for some much needed rest. The next morning we got back out on the trail by about 8:00am after a breakfast of some cornflakes and bananas. Thats when things got interesting.

The landscape and trail stayed true to the map for the most part of the morning, until we reached what we thought was the next landmark on the map, a waterbox. Lord knows it was a waterbox that we stopped at, where two paths diverged. Not being mapkeeper during that time, it was up to Brandon to make the decision on which way to go. From what he gathered on the map we were supposed to make a left and head down the mountain ridge instead of staying on top of it. To seemingly validate his conclusion there was even an arrow painted on a tree above the waterbox pointing to go left. Confident in our decision we started our descent. Little did we know that it was not only the wrong direction (according to the map) it was also going to be the ruin of us all!

At first the landscape matched the map still; bamboo forests flanking the path, crossing the small stream that was scribbled on the map perpedicular to our route, and even in the distance a town we assumed to be the one named on the map. Eventually, the trail got steeper and steeper. More often than we would have liked, one of us would take a gnarly fall or stumble over some loose gravel or branches. But we continue because the map says so, and a water pipe begins to run congruent with out path. We get a false sense of confidence with the water pipe, knowing that eventually it has to lead to civilization. But pipes scale mountains much easier than awkward human bodies with packs weighing us down. The path became pretty treacherous and at certain points I just hit the deck and slid down the mountain instead of trying to downclimb.

After a long 4.5 hours we made it down the mountain and reached the town that we saw in the distance earlier. Sure that we were in the middle of nowhere and totally off the map now we decided to eat lunch to avoid having to decide our next move on an empty stomach. After lunch, we talked to some of the locals and were shocked. We had actually skipped one of the villages on the map and reached the next one already! Coming down the mountain turned out to be a more direct route, albeit quite frankly insane. With a new pep in our step we figured we could make up some time and distance by catching a ride on a pickup to the next town and continue hiking from there. So we hop on with some guys (one of whom is rockin some bling in the form of a flatinum chain with an LA pendant!) who say they are going to take us half way (which is better than no way) so we get on. Half and hour later the three of us gringos are standing on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere with our packs on our back and no path to a town in sight. They took us for a ride! Not only that, they took us for a ride in the wrong direction! (Later, as we took a bus back the other way, we saw that their truck was stalled on the side of the road...instant karma suckas!) So a bit dejected and pissed off we take the chicken bus to the lake. Or so we thought...

The bus was actually on its way back from the lake and headed to Guatemala City! A passenger advised us to get off at some town on the way, from where we could catch another bus to the lake. But before that, Lady Luck smiled upon us. There was a roadblock and the bus was stopped for a few minutes. I noticed that there was another bus actually headed to the lake that was also stopped because of the roadblock. Not wanting to miss this opportunity we jumped off one and onto the other bus headed directly to the lake, no more changing buses! At last, after a crazy day of climbing, hitchhiking, and bus hopping, we reached the lake in one piece with our packs just in time to check into a hotel before the rain started to come down. Turns out that of all the hotels in San Pedro La Laguna, we happened to check into the same one that our two friends were also staying at!

Madness! All in all, it was alot of fun and work. Now that im here in San Pedro im not sure I want to leave so soon. The scenery around the lake is crazy beautiful, and the atmosphere is laid back. The coffee here is by far the best Ive had in Guatemala and im definitely taking advantage of it. Also, everything is way cheaper here than in Xela or any of the other lake towns, which makes for fun-filled feasts! So, after some thermal baths I might take a dip in the lake to cool off before an afternoon cup of joe. Ill put up some pictures next time.

Keep it fresh...fresher than Winterfresh

- Neil