Panajachel

I arrived in Panajachel by Chicken Bus two days ago. It is a beautiful small town on Lake Atitlan with a large crowd of extranjeros and tourists. It is always a little difficult arriving in a new place by myself, that is what I am coming to realize. Serindipitously I asked a woman if she spoke english, and if she new what I could do in the town, turns out she owns a small place and her husband plays bass in a band that would be playing there that night. I ended up dancing the night away with a small, roudy group of 50+ year olds. . . ok, well for the most part I watched as they danced the night away, but they were a fun, welcoming group I was happy to meet them!

Checked out the Reserva Natural Yesterday, it was beautiful! Hiked around, checked out the butterfly farm, and took all kinds of photos. There were a series of very unnerving suspension bridges that led up to a waterfall that brought out my fear of heights! Saw a monkey, some orchids, beautiful flowers, it was great!

Heading to San Pedro by boat ASAP, so more to come.

Thanksgiving and such

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I went back to San Juan Comalapa to celebrate thanksgiving with friends, and we had a slamming party. There were about 12 people at Long Way Home volunteering and working, from South Africa, Colorado, Massachusettes and Oregon. On top of that they had invited all the men who are working on the school construction, their neighbor, Fidelia (seen dancing in the photo with Rebecca), and a beautiful family of about 8 who work closly with Long Way Home. We had quite delishious spread of grub (all vegetarian), which none of the locals really cared for (very possibly because it was vegetarian), we listened to great music and danced after. All in all it was a great way to celbrate the day and share a little bit of our tradition with the wonderful people in Comalapa.

The day after Fidelia prepared a Tamascal for a few of us. Women in Comalapa sometimes give birht in these hot houses, and they bathe in them regularly. I guess you could say it is a very small sauna, and a very relaxing way to get clean. Long before we arrived Fidelia made a fire on which she heated a large bucket of water in the tamascal which heated up the small space nicely. We were provided with a few buckets of cold water that we mixed with the hot to make it bearable on our skin and then scooped it onto our bodies. We weren´t sure exactly what it was going to be like, or what we were supposed to do--at one point Fidelia chided us, saying we were extrajeros and of course didn´t know anything. We sat in the tamascal for two hours and half way through Fidelia came in and scrubbed our backs for us. It was a wonderful experience, definately very memorable!

I hope veryone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! I miss you all!

Volcan de Pacaya

Yesterday I went on a guided hike up the active Pacaya Volcano. It was extremely foggy, especially at the top, so there were not many views, but the lava was awesome! As the sun went down the fog refelcted the brilliant red of the lava.
The hike was steep and fairly difficult, there were little boys offereing taxi rides at every steep corner--horse back rides, that is. As we got closer to the volcanic activity the rocks below our feet grew hotter and hotter--my chakos survived, but with all the scree, I don´t reccommend wearing sandals at all! I ended up walking barefoot and exfoliating my feet a little too much!
I was such a beautiful expereince!

Antigua

Yesterday Rebecca and I took a journey to Antigua, about an hour and a half trip from Comalapa, by way of two chicken buses. We found a nice little place to stay for cheap, with kitchen and a pretty view of el volcan, and

then we explored the city and all the shops.

Rebecca left this morning, and so begins my solo journey. I found a nice hostel where I will hopefully meet more people--so far the only girl in the dorm is sick and getting tested for malaria and dengue today. I took a bed in the next room over. . .

I went in search for a cafe that claims to serve mate, but instead found a nice little coffee shop and sat and talked to the guys working there for a good hour or two. I now have a list about two pages long of musica latina that I will have to look into at some point!

Anyway, I miss you all. Hopefully I will find so great adventure to go on from Antigua, maybe hike a volcano or check out a macadamia nut or coffee farm . . .

last few days

Saturday there was a group of teenage volunteers who came from a school in Guatemala City to work on the construction of the school. THe prject for the day was to fill in the cracks of the tire wall with cobb to make the surface even. They brought pine needles that they added to a mixture of mud and water to create cobb. They had to mix it all together by stomping on the big pile of mud, and once it was ready we were able to throw the mud on the wall (literally). It was a great service project--muddy, dirty, and fun!

I was requested to paint Che on one of the Pilas (wash station) in the park (the guy who started Long Way Home has a little obsesson with him). Hopefully he likes it, my version is a little skinny and looks a little too much like Ross from Friends-- so we´ll see!

Otherwise, these are photos of the other volunteers-Rafael throwing mud, McKenzie and Whitney after the work day, and Rebecca and Andy in a little yard outside their room.

Work Day

Yesterday was a ¨pour day.¨ We poured cement for 3 or 4 hours. Hard Work!

Flickr Pics

Here´s a link to my flickr account. There are more pictures there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anneagain/

Some Photos para ustedes

This is a street in the town of Comalapa . . . somewhere. The city grid (if you could say there is one) is so confusing. I am hoping I will figure it out eventually.

Next is the view outside of the kitchen/my room.

Last but not least, a photo of the conrete roofing of school complex that has been erected in the last year or two. they are all made out of tires, cement, and dirt. Pretty sweet construction meathods!

arrived

Hey all,

I have made it to sunny Comalapa, it is a beautiful town in the highlands (around 7,000 ft) surrounded by beautiful lush green hills.

It is so great to see Rebecca and Andy, as well as see all the unique construction projects that have gone up at Long Way Home. There are three other volunteers at the Parque, so I look forward to getting to know them as well.

Sorry I bailed out without calling a few of you (Claire, Deacon, Jenny...) things got a little crazy in the last week before I left!

I miss you all!

Photos to come latter...