Nebaj to Todos Santos

Wow! So I just returned this afternoon from by 6 day trek with a tour group here in Xela. It was absolutely amazing! We only hiked 4 days (the other two were traveling/bus days) but went about 35 miles in all and were up in the highlands of Guatemala walking through some of the most remote villages. It was so worth it! I am/was definitely not in tip-top hiking shape, partly just because it´s been a couple of years without backpacking due to knee injuries and stuff like that, so parts of the trip definitely hurt my legs (but, like always, was totally doable) and I am quite exhausted right now, but the good kind of exhausted. I was also really glad not to be sick because I was sick again just a few days before leaving for the trek, but other than a car sick episode on the first day, had no problems (and felt really sorry for the couple other members of our group who got sick, I can´t even imagine!) We visited this highland cheese factory, took a traditional tamskal (basically like a sauna but with a fire in a little brick building outside...it´s the way that the locals bathe) ate beans and rice, hiked through villages where spanish is not even spoken, stayed at a house of a local man who told us his story about the civil war (the campesinos in this part of the country basically found themselves stuck between the guerrilas and the military, siding with either meant the other side would kill you, but one had to choose sides...the reality is that most of them knew or cared less about the politics...), made some new friends, aquired some sore muscles, summited the highest non-volcanic point in Guatemala, took a dip in a freezing highland stream (almost on par with snow melt streams in Driggs), and saw a lot of pigs. Probably more than that too, but it´s hard to recap everything quickly!!

So, I´m taking off again tomorrow morning (henceforth the need for efficiency and speed) for San Cristobal over the Mexican border with an ICA friend and another gal from the trek. I think I´ll be there 4 or 5 days and then will be heading back to Xela for the last time (I believe). I had an unfortunate realization last Tuesday as I packed up my things for the trek, discovering that someone in my house had, likely over the last 2 weeks, stolen the equivalent of $190 U.S. dollars from me. It was, partly my fault because I had stopped leaving my door locked at all times, but am also nearly 100% sure that the guy who took it is one of the pensionistas in my house who has a sketchy reputation around town and has had problems consistently with my host mom (she actually kicked him out earlier this month, telling him he had to be out by May). I confronted him, but of course he is going to deny it...Anway, live and learn. It makes me sad that even in a place where I felt safe and trusting, I was taken advantage of, and although I really can´t imagine that anyone else in the house would have taken it from me, there will always be that tiny tickling of a doubt...plus I´m $200 shorter, which isn´t a ton of money, but down here, it´s worth a lot more. I decided not to tell the Spanish school though because I don´t want my host mom to stop recieving students (it´s basically how she feeds her family...) and since there have never been any problems with her house before hand and the person I believe is guilty is leaving the house...still, what a crumy thing to have happen (although, it made me glad most of my $ was in traveler´s checks, that way only the cash could be lifted, along with a few of the quetzales I had already converted from the checks...).

Life is good! I´m really glad to be feeling better and it seems like it is working out well the way I am weaning myself off of my Guatemalan home and it also feels like time to be moving on. In just three weeks I´ll be seeing my mother and my sister in Honduras! Yay! Until later...