i know i am bad at thisi deserve to get a slap for the way i have neglected this blog. its been over 2 weeks since the last entry and not only have i moved on from xela, i am not even in guatemala anymore. i am now in the south of nicaragua, near the border of costa rica. i arrived here this morning after 3 gruelling days worth of travel on busses both luxurious and not so regal.
after xela, i flew (on dad's dime) to flores, in the peten region. checked into a hotel a stone's throw away from tikal ruins and had a tour with a knowledgeable guide who gave our small group the L.D. on tikal, the largest (excavated)and one of the oldest known mayan cities. the next morning i went back to the park at 7 am and was at the top of temple 4 by 7:30. the mist was rising from the jungle, howler monkeys were calling to each other, and i was alone. for fear of sounding unoriginal, i am going to go ahead and say it was magical.
after tikal i took the bus from flores to coban, in central guatemala (alta verapaz). on the way i met two lovely med students and we shared a hostel room once we got into town. they regaled me with anecdotes about their volunteer work in a clinic right outside of ciudad guatemala. there were some not so savory details, which of course, being a morbid person, i found quite fascinating. like the story of the little boy who macheted himself between the toes.
we found a rather derelict and semi abandoned swimming hole (fed by raging rapids) in san pedro carcha. it was pouring outside, the current looked strong, the water brown, and two of us jumped in while the third was content to photograph us horsing around on a dilapidated water slide. turns out we put on quite the free show and after the swimming, a pair of guatemalan lovebirds who had been necking nearby asked to pose for a photograph of us in our bathing suits.
this incident was repeated later when i visited semuc champey, the famous swimmin' holes outside of coban. my friend and i teetered from pool to pool in our bare feet and bathing suits, and we were being filmed and photographed the entire time by some intrepid locals. apparently foreigners in their bathing suits are BIG in guatemala.
i had dinner with an interesting american lawyer who is working on a land reform project in the alta verapaz. considering this land is overrun by gangs (pandillas) and narcotraficantes, it is dangerous work.
i met another cool guy in coban. his name is keith, he is from the states, and until very recently worked as an engineer. but then he sold everything he owned and went traveling. we ended up backpacking together for a week. we ended up on lago atitlan. first we went to santa cruz, then to san marcos (which was my favourite village, of the 4 that i have seen on the lake). i did yoga for 3 hours in san marcos with a brazilian instructor who played a wooden flute at the end of the session while i meditated. i wish i could go back there, right now.
keith went back to the usa, and i caught a very cushy bus to nicaragua. arrived in managua last evening, sampled the local beer, and was back in the hotel by sundown. chatted with a few boys from the barrio. one of them, oscar, is only 22 years old but already has three children. i met his 5 year old daughter, who came round at about 9 pm to ask for ice cream.
i am in san juan del sur now, a beach town. i feel relaxed but exhausted. i feel lonely once more, i was surrounded by people in guate and now i am on my own again.
