Pan de Bananna, Pan de Coconut....

Trip Start Aug 23, 2009

Trip End Jan 19, 2010

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Where I stayed

Pinochio�s

(San Pedro La Laguna hotels)

Flag of Guatemala San Pedro La Laguna, Western Highlands, Guatemala
Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Another plagerized blog from Jaime, who somehow stays so much further ahead of me with this stuff!!!

Goodbye Antigua, hello Lake Atitlan! San Pedro looked a
lot different in the daylight, that�s for sure. We got our bearings
down pretty fast seeing how small the town is, the main touristy part
is closer to the shore of the lake and consists of narrow walkways and
alleys that are lined with restaurants and little tiendas. The main
part of town where all the locals live and conduct business is up a
HUGE steep hill away from the lake�s shore. We meandered up that way
but there wasn�t much to see so we wandered back down to find our
friends, Aviv and Oron, who were staying a hostel around the corner
from ours. San Pedro is like a mini-Israel for some reason, and we�re
not sure why, but there is no lack of falafel in the town! You know the
saying, �when in Rome...�so we found our friends (who happen to be
Israeli) and treated ourselves to some Falafel for lunch..it was
de-lish! That night our other friends from Antigua, Kiel and Dasi,
arrived- a mini-reunion! Everyone came over to our hostel to hang out.
We didn�t do much of anything but somehow sat around the table talking
for 4 hours! San Pedro is pretty slow-paced town, and it was nice to
just relax with friends and not feel pressured to go out and
party...besides I was still sick at this point. Well..we were both sick...I was coming up hill and Jaime was rolling down.

me and Jake at the hostel

The
next morning Jake made us some scrambled eggs to compliment our freshly
bought pan de banana and pan de coconut, which turned out not to be so
great. There are 3 or 4 different bread ladies who get up in the
morning to bake all different types of bread: banana, chocolate and
banana, coconut, carrot, cinnamon- you name it, she�s got it. And they
walk from hostel to hostel with their breads all packed in a basket
which is carried on their heads all the while shouting �pan de banana,
pan de coconut, pan de chocolate...�over and over again. If they ask
you once they ask you a million times, and after one day of it it
became a huge joke amongst all of us! One day she even let Farrah and I
try balancing her bread basket on our heads! I don�t know how they do
it...they must start practicing at a young age because it is
difficult!. Seriously hard. They must have super posture or really flat spots on their heads!

Anyways, after breakfast we hopped in a tuktuk and headed
to San Juan, the neighboring town to San Pedro. It�s even smaller and
there is even less going on there, but we did get to walk through the
town cemetery which was very neat. They had just recently celebrated
the Day of the Dead (the day after Halloween) so there were remnants of
decorations and bouquets of flowers strewn over the headstones and
tombs. It was a little eerie, I must say, but it was neat to see a
different type of cemetery. We were planning to hike the Indian Nose
for sunrise the next morning so we called it an early night seeing that
we had to set the alarm for 230am to catch the bus!

The Indian Nose is a popular hike in the area due it�s viewpoint of the lake, especially at sunrise.
It�s called the Indian Nose because from down below, the mountains are
shaped like a sleeping Indian if looking at him from the side, his nose
being the highest point. Agencies will try to see you a tour to the
Indian Nose but we had heard from other travelers that you can do it
without, so that�s what we opted for. Our group consisted of me,
Farrah, Jake, Sophie, Gustav & Anna (a couple from Sweden). We took
the first chicken bus out of town towards Santa Clara, which left at
approximately 3:30am. It took us about an hour to reach Santa
Clara where we were dropped off on the side of the road with no sense
of direction and no clue as to where to hike. We walked a few yards and
found a trail that led to a nice lookout over the lake but we knew that
wasn�t the Indian Nose, so we searched for about 45 minutes and
eventually decided to perch on the lookout and wait patiently for the
sun to wake up. The sunrise was gorgeous- we had perfect weather and an
even better view. It turns out that we were somewhere on the Indian�s
neck, which was slightly disappointing but it was still worth the early
wakeup call. We caught a pickup back into a town, which is quite a
common form of transportation in Guatemala. The only way I know how to
describe it, is it�s like a dangerous amusement park ride but REALLY
fun! This would NEVER fly in the States!! We got back to town around 830 and grabbed some breakfast which
was shortly followed by a much needed nap. Later that afternoon we
walked down to check out the public swimming pool.

more..

It turned out to be a really chill and relaxed place to hang out with a
bar and a great music selection.

After a few hours lounging by the
pool, made our way to the Thermales, which are essentially a bunch of
hot tubs on the lake�s shore that you pay to sit in for as much time as
you want. Farrah and I somehow managed to organize a hot tub session
with our group and it turned out to be a lot of fun! We crammed 8 or 9
people into a pool for 6! Jaime and I get shit done! It was a great way to spend the evening, but
once the water started to cool off after a few hours, we packed up and
headed to dinner. Lucky for us the place where we decided to eat was
showing a movie..but not just any movie, the Michael Jackson
documentary �This Is It�!! I know, it�s lame, but we were SO excited to
see it! Did anyone go see it at home? I thought it was cool to get a
glimpse of what his tour would have been like and to see him kind of
�normal�(I use that term loosely) in a an everyday setting. I ordered
Pho but it was nothing like Mekong, let me tell you! Man I�m craving
that right now.... I had the Tom Kha and Spring Rolls...where is Madam Mam when you need her??? I�m missing me some Madam Mams.

The next day we planned a day trip to
Panajachel, which is a town just across the lake via an hour boat ride.
It�s a bit bigger and thus more touristy, but we were in the mood to
shop so we went for it. After walking throught the souvenir vendors, we
found the local market and bought some ingredients for dinner- nothing
better than a breakfast taco for dinner! We bought our tortillas from a
little stand on the side of the road and actually got to learn about
the tortilla-making process.

and more

All they consist of is corn and water (they can be bland), but they
were so nice and let Farrah and I make some of our own! It was
exciting. And then we got to eat the ones we made. Mmmmm. And the ladies who worked there actually laughed at my tortilla making skills! Talk about feeling two feet tall?! Side
note/mini-history lesson: a majority of people who live in Guatemala,
especially in the highlands around the lake are Mayans. They speak a
dialect of Mayan first and Spanish second and the women wear
traditional dress always. In their religion they believe that man was
made from corn, hence the multiple corn fields and corn-based products
sold in the area. Interesting, huh? After dinner we didn�t do much..I
think we were still fairly tired from the Indian Nose hike.

Friday
was our last day on the lake so we decided to treat ourselves to
massages. San Marcus, another small town across the lake, is known for
it�s holistic culture and numerous massage spas. We decided on a
massage that included 4 different types of therapies including energy
work, Swedish, reflexology and chiropractic. Our masseuse was Helmut, a
second-generation German- Guatemalan. We agreed on the price for one
hour which worked out to be about 20 US dollars. Even though I went
into wanted a relaxing Swedish massage like my mom gives (the best), I
must say I felt so much better after he was done. He actually cracked
my back and neck and re-aligned me! When he started my right leg was a
1/2 inch shorter than my left and after they were even! Wowzers. Double Wowzers! I wasnt entirely sure about a spinal adjustment in Guatemala but it turned out to be good and easy! As Aviv later quoted, the guy says, �Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out. Leave your mouth open. BAMBAMBAMBAM!!!! DON�T MOVE!� Terrifying and relaxing at the same time. And
cheap.

Overall, I enjoyed our time at the Lake Atitlan, despite the fact that I was still sick (but getting better).
It�s really fascinating to be in a culture that is still so alive with
tradition, not to mention tradition that is so different from what I�m
used to at home. Another side note: they call the people that live in
this area �green bellies�because they eat and grow so many avocados,
but they export the rest because you can�t buy one to save your life!
And if you do find one to buy, they�re expensive! It do�sn�t make
sense No sense at all...but apparently they do the same thing with their coffee, they
grow excellent coffee in this region but they export it all so the
coffee they serve in restaurants is rather shitty, in my opinion.
Especially compared to Costa Rica and Panama.

Alright folks,
that�s all I have for you today...sorry the updates are coming less
frequently (ahem Ma, but I promise I�m doing my best! I�m still a
little behind, but the good news is that I�m well! We�re going to Tikal
tomorrow, but I�ll get to that more in a later post...hopefully soon.

One week til� Turkey Day!

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