A place i could write alot of poems....

This is the view from San Marcos la laguna on lago de Atitlan. A friend told me to go to San Marcos for peace and tranquility: amazing.

I took a shuttle water taxi from panachel on the lake to san marcos and found total paradise. A small hostel on the lakeshore, a great room, $10 a night including breakfast. No a roads in the village around the town just pathways through the jungle and then you come upon a sign pizza this way, you follow a path and find in the midst of banana plants and bougenbilla a small pàtio with a wood oven and two women making pizza....or the sign leads to a place for massage or a small store etc. i swam in the lake and walked for about 5 hours exploring everything. It´s fun to meet fellow travellers, people are open and warm, sharing stories and tables and tips along the way.

Just took the boat back to panachel and today i head back to antigua for 2 more nights, then home early on monday. sad to leave. feels like i have been gone a long time.

this travel has changed me well, as i hope most travel does.

love from the lake ringed with volcanoes.

the boat to san marcos la laguna

6 more days....

Well, i decided to extend my ticket and am here for another short week. I just didn't want to come home! So i'm departing officially on Feb. 2 for the cold north. Today is gorgeous! I finished off my 7 days of language school and although i speak a horrible halting searching for words kind of spanish i know about 100 percent more than i did when i started. I can understand most conversation or at least the general idea of it and can write fairly well, it's the talking that is muy deficil (very difficult). I had a great last class with my teacher, we really connected well, she was excellent. I gave her a card i'd written in spanish and a beautiful scarf from the market, i could tell she really liked it. They don't make alot of money, big surprise so i think she appreciated the gesture. If you need to learn spanish, go see Maria at Centro Linguistica Maya in Antigua.
So i decided that with class over there wasnt' really a reason to stay in antigua. Antigua is like the disney land of guatemala, lots of tourists, services, people, police and cleanliness. Not the real guatemala at all. So i took a shuttle to Panachel, which is the second most touristy place in guatemala but beautiful on the shores of lake atitlan. I felt like a backpacker again, walking through the town checking out a few of the hotels. I found a great one at the end of the road, right on the lake with view of volcano, lovely gardens and the best (HOT) shower i have ever had in guatemala. All this for 200Q, about $28. I wandered and had a yummy dinner and went to bed early, oh the room also has american television! crazy.
This am i've been walking in the hills behind the town seeing small communities and taking it all in. Tired now. Will head back to the hotel for siesta. :) Hopefully will take in the market in solola tomorrow and then perhaps head back to Antigua for a final few days. Life is good here.
I hear North America has been hit with a major cold snap. Good Morning America was on this am. Where am I?
It has been interesting to reflect on how much guatemala has changed in the 12 years i have been coming here. Our first trip here: no email, no phone calls home. It was a huge deal to make that happen. The food was basic and the experience much more difficult. Now there are at least 15 internet places in this town alone, every kind of service in the tourist centres that you can imagine including Reiki treatments, yoga classes and shuttle services to any part of guatemala you'd like to go to. I think i prefer the first way of being here. You wouldn't be getting this blog page from me anyhow.
Be well all of you and drop me a line. It's nice to hear from people while i'm away.
dor

the market in chichicastenango

Some photos from my adventure in chichicastenango in the chiche of guatemala. Front stairs of the church where mayan rituals are taking place. children as vendors selling vegetables from the countryside.

the cemetary in chichi, unusal coloured tombs.

the view from the roof terrace of my language school in antigua.

a few pictures

I managed to borrow a woman's computer at the school for a few minutes and downloaded a few photos for the blog. This was my view from the car we rented to drive to Chinique. A typical view of a rural town, this is Quetzaltenango, a major crossroad for travellers. All these people would be waiting for the chicken bus to travel to various places in Guatemala.Mi Familia en Guatemala. These are the people i stayed with while in the capital. Rinna, our friend from Canada who invited me in the first place, her mother, her sister Milka (who lives in Columbia) and Ivan her nephew who was our most excellent driver. This picture is outside Betty's house in Chinique, the day after the fiesta. Mama was so happy to be travelling! La Merced Catedral in Antigua Gautemala. Old colonial church, fully restored, muy bonita.

A market stall along the Pan American Highway selling the most amazing carrots i have ever seen.

Rinna and I at the entrance to the Village of Chinique in the Chiche.

Boy lighting a candle during the fiesta to Jesus de Esquipulas (the black christ of esquipulas). The church was full of candles until late at night.

The Church in Chinique on a beautiful fiesta morning.

The spanish is going well, i am amazed at what i am learning. Seriously considering extending the ticket to stay longer. We'll see. I'll keep you posted. Keep warm in the cold north my friends!

Buenas Tardes

Life is good here. I've already learned alot and can have basic conversations! The verb structures and rules in Spanish are crazy and hard to learn but i'm going slowly. My teacher Maria is amazing, it's fun to watch her be excited for my progress. She's taught english for 25 years at the school. Me gusta mi maestro en espanol.
I've been meeting interesting people and spending time with some of them out of class, staying up too late, etc. Angitua is gorgeous, lots to explore. The town is today overrun with a cruise ship full of people, crazy to see them walking around town with their badges taking pictures of all the mayans, it actually makes me ill to watch. They have no idea of where they are and the stories of this place. I feel such priviledge to know as much as i do and to be connected in a very different way.
Still trying to borrow or find a downloading cord for the camera, we'll see.
A week to go....

doris

Total Devotion to Learning Spanish

Tomorrow I start Spanish classes! I have been wanting to do this for the past 4 years and it's happening!! I'm a little stressed but so willing to just learn as much as i can in the time i am here. Spanish is hard but my ear has been tuned to it now for a week in being with the family that i'm catching on. I know so many words and can recognize easily what people are taking about but it's the conversation itself that's tough. I'll keep you posted on how the one on one instruction goes. I'll be at it from 8 am till 1 pm.
Rinna and Ivan drove me here to Antigua today, we toured around some of the ruins from the many earthquakes that have happened here, saw some of the Churches and had lunch at an amazing typical Guatemalan Restaurant, food so so so good. I showed them my hotel, it's the San Vincente where we always stay with the groups and Carmen the owner remembered me well which was nice. We also went to the school to check it out and met the principal who refused to speak English to me. Yikes.
It was really sad to have them leave me. After being with them for the past week in close quarters, i've come to really admire and feel connected to them, it's amazing how that can happen with strangers isn't it....they are truly fine people, warm, caring, open hearted, full of life. I am blessed to know them.
So i'm alone tonight in Antigua, it's good but there's also a little empty part in this, wish some of you were here experiencing this with me.
I'll keep you posted on how it goes with the classes...hope you are all well.

Pacific Coast of Guatemala

Its early morning, everyone else is awake, and im up so ill give you an update.
Spent last evening here at the house hooking everyone up to MSN messenger so they can talk to each other without spending a fortune on phone cards, they were all happy to get the lesson.

Yesterday went to the Pacific coast where ive never been and it was pretty amazing, totally laid back. We went to Monterrico, very small coastal town, black sand beaches but water fairly rough so we couldnt go in all the way because of the undertow but Rinna and I played in the waves. Black sand everywhere! We found a hotel on the beach were we hung out for the afternoon, lots of backpackers and tourists, had amazing fish and shrimp tacos and mojitos, laid in a hammock relaxing. so so great. Its much hotter on the coast, tropical humidity, palm trees, banana plants, plantations of sugar cane, reminds me of cuba alot. The beach we went to is also the place where 3 different species of turtles come to lay their eggs each winter, its supposed to be spectacular!

Today we will hang in Guatemala City, maybe go to Zone 1 and see the cathedral and palace, go for lunch somewhere and perhaps the museum of anthropology. Only been there once and it was about 10 years ago.
I didnt bring the cable for my camera assuming i wouldnt have much computer access, i was wrong. Guatemala has changed so much, computers and technology are everywhere, its very common to see a mayan in full traditional dress talking on a cell phone. Ah the world and its ways...
More to come, antigua tomorrow....
love from guatemala city.

Day Three in Guatemala...

tu casa es mi casa...over and over the last three days i have heard these words. Im staying with a family of our friend Rinna who is a Guatemalan now Canadian who is here visiting her family. When she heard i was planning to be in Guatemala at the same time she insisted i come and visit. She said, the house is simple but my home is your home, you are so welcome. I arrived late on Jan 13 and was picked up by Ivan, rinnas nephew, Milka, like the german chocolate, her sister, and Rinna and driving in a beat up old car, literally falling apart through a guatemala city night to a small house in zona 12, greeted by family and shown my small room. The smell of the exhaust nearly knocked me out! Culture shock for sure.
Five adults and two children are living in this house now, its about 1000 sq. feet but could be smaller. Rinnas family are lower middle class guatemalans and their welcome was wonderful. Even if i manage to come here as often as i do, i forget it seems in between times when im back in canada how different this country is, how loud this city is, how dirty, how poor the indigineous are and how overwhelming all this beauty and trouble can be. Its good to be reminded.
My bed is by our standards hard to deal with, but i fell into a deep sleep the first night and have slept so well all three nights. Food consists of tortillas, beans, fried eggs for breakfast, usually chicken, rice and salad for the main meal, and more beans for dinner.
Vendors come by the house all the time throughout the day and on the first morning a fruit truck pulled up and we went out and bought a ton of fruit, when they saw me emerge from the house a couple of eyebrows at least went up. I guess gringos arent a common site in this neighbourhood. I went shopping with them to stores that looked similar to home. They dont have a car so take a taxi wherever they need to go, its much safer than the buses, which are a nightmare inside and on the road. We spent a quiet day that first day, making plans for the trip to chinique, organizing a car, walking around the neighbourhood and welcoming about 10 people who dropped by throughout the day.
After many options, one of which included hiring the neighbour to drive up to the Quiche in this beat up old pickup, we opted for the safest and most comfortable option, we rented a car and Ivan came as our driver. We left the next morning early, picking up the car, making friends with the manager of the car rental place, all of this is research for future tours.... He was very happy to meet us, im sure dreaming of future business. We got on the road, Rinna, Ivan, myself, and Milka and Rinnas mom....everyone comes along on an adventure like this. Picture a brand new Mazda 3 driving through the guatemalan countryside. The road was fairly good, except for a few massive potholes that we had to avoid and about 10 speedbumps through one town that our mazda just couldnt handle so at every bump a few of us jumped out so the car could make it over! The mayans sitting along the side of the road im sure just shook their heads in disbelief.
We stopped in Chichicastenango for a quick market adventure, Thursday and Sunday are market days, so amazing and then continued on to the Quiche Province and the village of Chinique to visit Betty the principal of the school, stay overnight and partake of the yearly fiesta that was going on that day. We finally made it to Chinique to be greeted by lunch of chicken, rice and beans and another warm welcome, your house is my house. Betty was so grateful for the donations, school starts there on monday and she loved all the books and will use the donation, partially to buy more books and some to fund some of the students tuition for the year who would otherwise not be able to attend school. Many families have to choose which child of theirs will be the one to go to school, since many can barely afford to send one. She wept of course at the size of the donation and was delighted to have us.
The fiesta was HUGE. Everyone was in the town, Betty lives right beside the main square so there were dances, loud marimba music everywhere, fireworks going off all night long, and a special pilgimage into the church for people to pay homage at the statue of the black jesus of esquipulpas, many candles, beautiful. Its so hard to put all this into words that you can fathom, ill try and post some picture when im in antigua. Betty has a big house with alot of rooms so we all had a place to stay that was more than adequate. The people are always so worried that what they have isnt good enough for us. It is so simple but so more than adequate, their welcome far outweighs any material possesion they could give me, the welcome is a deep gift. I slept so well!
The next morning, more dances, more beans and eggs and tortillas and more gratitude. I dragged Ivan and Rinna for a walk around town and then we got into the car to drive back to GC after a tearful goodbye to Betty. We faced the speedbumps again, stopping for lunch at a very good buffet for travellers, 39 Quetzales, which is about $5. We stopped in Antigua on the way home, wandering through the cobblestone streets, sitting in the main square drinking coffee, listening to a marimba band play, savouring the day and time spent away. We got back into the luxury vehicle which is slightly surreal for me, and made out way back with much laughter accompaning us. I decided to keep the car for the weekend and Ivan and I are going to the beach tomorrow, im sure half the family will join us. Ive never been to the beach in guatemala so that will be a new adventure. Sunday no plans yet but ill keep you posted.
The Spanish is going well, im listening well which is tiring and im having little lessons along the way, im probibly learning more than i realize.
Life is truly a deep adventure of possibility, promise, story and people if you are open to it. I feel so blessed by the welcome above all welcomes, tu casa es mi casa.
to be continued....

Guatemala Bound for Sabbatical Part 2

After a few lovely weeks celebrating the season and how a week of hermiting at the house in Naramata i'm heading off to Guatemala on Jan 13 for two weeks. Right before Christmas I was pondering and praying about what i should do next and asking that the right thing come across my path. On Christmas Day I went to visit dad at his home and one of the nurses is guatemalan and we've talked over time about the place and how it would be neat to be there at the same time once. Turns out she was going on Jan 6 for three weeks and invited me to come down, stay with her family, and do some touring with her. Bingo! What a great opportunity, to see a place like guatemala through the eyes of people who live and have lived through the history will be so very great. So i pondered and prayed some more and knew it was what i had to do. I leave on Jan 13, Rena and family will pick me up from the airport and i'll stay with them for a week in Gautemala City. She will be able to arrange a nephew of her's to drive us to Chinique so that the books and money from the Library Project I've been working on can be delivered and I can visit the students and see the place again. Then on the 20th I'll head to Antigua, about an hour outside of Gautemala City to go to language school for a little over a week. I have other contacts i want to connect with, Safe Passage Offices in Antigua, Rosa and the Clinic in Guatemala City (all doing research for future tours).
I'm accutely aware of how blessed I am. In a world where so many cannot travel and will never ever take a ride in a plane, I simply decide, asking no one's permission, and travel wherever it is i wish. My priviledge as a Canadian is huge in a world of so many limitations for so many. I am aware of it. To whom much is given, much is expected. I'm hoping the library project will make some kind of difference. I'll post pictures if i can but i'm not taking my computer, i will write however, from one of the many new internet cafes in guatemala. Stay tuned.
Send prayers my way as I travel. Sending you all love for a blessed and aware new year.

market pic of Chichicastenango, Guatemala

The School in Chinique, Quiche, Guatemala