Relaxation and a new country

Whoa, well the last one and a half weeks has been both the shortest and longest of my trip so far! I can hardly believe that it was only about 10 or 11 days ago that I finally left Xela for the last time with all of my possesions on my back. I headed to Lago Atitlan and found myself in a little village called Santa Cruz a la laguna at a hostel called La Iguana Perdida. There really isn´t much to do there except do nothing...I did luck out though, the night I arrived was the second night of the three day feria (sort of like a county fair...) of Santa Cruz so some of us from the hostel went up to the village that evening to watch some of the festivities and one of the coolest firework shows I have ever seen. I wish I had had my camera. There were normal fireworks (being set of mere feet from large crowds of people mind you) but the main show was this large tower decorated with writing (blessing the patron saint of the town) and some artistic renditions of goblets and crosses. The bottom level was lit on fire, lighting up the words that then went through a phase of color changing and different firework tricks and just when we thought it was about done, it lit the next level of fireworks, sort of like a mousetrap contraption. This went on for 20 minutes! Like a mousetrap show of standing fireworks, it was incredible and very hard to explain...I hope I´ve done it a bit of justice...

On Friday I went back over to Pana to go paragliding for the first time in my life. The guide I went with was this totally wacky, energetic German/El Salvadoranean rasied in Guatemala and Germany...he was a blast. The paragliding was amazing, although my stomach didn´t think it was the best thing ever, but it was totally worth a bit of nausea the rest of the day! The only unfortunate thing about the whole experience is that the views weren´t as spectacular as normal because the whole week that I was at the lake it was very hazy (which is very unusual) so the normal, crystal clear view of the volcanos surrounding the lake was non-existent. I guess we can´t always have everything though...

The next day I chose to move to another village on the lake called San Marcos that has this reputation for being a very laid-back, ex-pat, hippy, spiritual, relaxing place. It was gorgeous (and just a little larger than Santa Cruz, which I appreciated). All the hostels and restaurants are along the lake in this little pathway jungle and the whole place just speaks of peace. I mostly just hung out and did nothing there for 5 days. (Although, take it back, 4 days, I went to the market in Chichicastenango-2 1/2 hrs one way on bus- from Pana on Sunday. It is supposedly the largest market in Guatemala...I wasn´t actually too impressed, although I´m glad I went because I would have always wondered if I should have if I hadn´t...). I spent most of the week with a couple of girls from England that I met in Santa Cruz (they then left for a three day trek with the same trekking company I went with) and then they magically showed up in the same dorm room I was staying in in San Marcos. It´s amazing how often that happens, running into people you´ve already seen before somewhere else. They were a lot of fun though and we just took it easy, eating a leasurily breakfast everymoring, did a little yoga, got a massage, went swimming to this beautiful spot along the lake where there were rocks to jump off of (one about 30ft, the other 15ft...I only managed the lower one). The water in the lake was just beautiful to swim in; a very mild temperature, crystal clean, and extremely bouant. It reminded me of swimming in very salty ocean, how you float without needing to tred water, but without the aweful salt flavor! One evening I was lucky enough to meet a few people who had befriended a "local" (he ran/owned a restaurant but is a german/columbian who grew up in Germany, so many fun combinations!) and we all had a fabulous homecooked meal at his house that evening and just enjoyed the company we were with.

I finally dragged myself away from the lake on Thursday (along with the two gals from England) and headed for Antigua. I was there less than 12 hours (am planning to go back sometime in June or July before leaving, because it is supposedly a neat city to visit, although packed with gringos...) Ironically enough, although I had less than 12 hours, I ran into two of my more favorite people from ICA in Xela (that I had already said goodbye to mind you) which was fun, we caught up on travel adventure stories a bit over coffee last night before I went back to the hostel only to get myself up at 3:30 in the morning to take a shuttle bus to Copan, Honduras where I am now currently writing you all from. I´m staying here tonight and then going to San Pedro Sula tomorrow to collect my mom and sister from the airport so we can come back and hang out here for the next week. I´m beyond excited to see them. So, yeah, I guess that´s the "this is where I went and what I´ve done" marathon for the last little bit here. Can you see at all why it´s felt very short and long at the same time? It still feels a bit strange to know I won´t be seeing my regulars in Xela anymore, but it seems right. Like I said last night over dinner to my travel companions, I was starting to feel a little bored with Guatemala, so it will be good to do a little bit of Honduras and then go back to Guatemala where it´s familiar, a little break I guess. The one thing that I wish didn´t seem to be true is that it appears I will be speaking, listening to and overall being surrounded less frequently by spanish as I find myslef in more of a typical travel/backpacker role hoping around the country. Everyone just speaks English, even a lot of the hotel clerks, tour operaters, waiters...the irony of traveling in a Spanish speaking country I guess. The truth is, I´ll still be around it more than at home, but I´ve just gotten so used to getting to practice everyday, I miss it a little!

OK, as scattered as that is, I think that´s it for now. I feel like I´ve been on the computer for 2 hours or something with all the e-mails and blogs and stuff I´d been putting off...guess that´s not too bad though. Oh! one more thing that makes me angry is that I don´t get a stamp for Honduras! I mean, I´m here, but you´d never know it by looking at my passport...the reason is, that my Guatemala stamp includes Honduras and Nicaragua under the same 3 months (why I had to go to Mexico for the passport renewal), so whatever country you enter in is the stamp you get even if you go to all three. Man, what a hit to passport stamp collecting! (and a bit of an annoyance too for the long term traveler I suppose...especially if you are in Honduras because both Costa Rica and Mexico are far away...)