An ´Orwell-ian´ Beginning

So the adventure finally got underway. Josh Zimmerman dropped us off at SFO and we caught our flight to LAX. After our 3 hour layover, we were informed that the flight to Guatemala City would be delayed an extra hour...sounds bad? Generally I would agree, but because I´ve been flying so much, and because they had enough space, we were upgraded to 1st Class. First Class is legit, but because we were coming to Guatemala and not England ...well, you do the math. However, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I will say that it was a good time, and I actually had to refuse beer from the flight attendant.

Upon our arrival...at 530 in the morning, we actually found our driver and hit the road. At this point we were traveling with two other friends and we stopped to pick up a third. Traffic is crazy. No real lanes to drive in and the streets are clogged with diesel-spewing 'chicken buses' and seem to always be carrying more people than they have room for. At one point, I actually saw three people hanging onto the door of the bus as it traveled downt the highway. Mind you, not in the doorway... onto the outside of the door... literally. Then again, you have to appreciate a country in which you´re responsible for yourself, and if you get hurt...w ell, that´s just your bad. The drive was fine, if you consider riding in the back of a 'autobus' through winding mountain roads, while dodging oncoming traffic, donkeys, people and bikes "fine". Good news is that we made it from Guatemala City to Panajachel in one piece. Panajachel is a tiny little tourist town on Lake Atitlan, set under three vocanic mountains. It´s beautiful and known locally as "gringotenango" ...that in mind, I´ll let you picture it yourself... just make sure to start with a neighborhood that looks like either Rosarito, Mexico or Kuta Beach, Bali...now double the number of ´english-speaking-rasta-hippies' you were picturing.

We immediately met up with the group, and were told, "hey, we´re leaving in 10 minutes to go across the lake to another town for the night." Generally, I´ll elect not to attend when presented with too much decision making upon arrival, but harnessing my "inner Julia", we decided ´screw it´ paid for the hotel we were leaving, threw our bags down, and joined the rest of the group at the 'launcha' across the lake. Best decision ever. We traveled to the town of Santiago and spent about 40 USD to stay in a villa that...well, let´s just say that they don´t normally let people like me into a place like that. We sat by the pool and later that night hiked into town for a great meal made by a group of ladies who were widows from the civil war that had taken place here in the early 90´s. They we´re incredibly open with us, and their talk afterwards was humbling. They´ve been through so much, have so much less than us, but still have a positive outlook on life. In my mind, the best part of traveling is meeting the locals...and the ladies were incredible.

That evening, most of the group took taxis back to the hotel, but a few of us decided to grab some beers and walk back along the footpath...not far, but through the corn fields at night. Generally, you´re not supposed to because people do occasionally get jacked there...still, we were walking five deep, had a headlamp that I brought and had three people with us who were fluent in Spanish. Needless to say, we had no trouble, but it was a little unsettling being the last in line. At the hotel, everyone was settling in for the evening. There are about twenty-five of us from the states traveling together, both family and friends, but mostly friends. Everyone is outgoing and makes an effort to include you, which has been nice. The owners of the hotel have a two German Shepard's whom Kate befriended... reminded us of Aerial and Lilo back home. As we were working on about 4 hours sleep in the last two days, we drank the beers and called it a night.

How is my Spanish you ask? I´ll just tell you that it is rusty at best...but we´re managing to get along. We´re also fortunate to be traveling with folks who are fluent. One of our friends was speaking with some locals who asked him what he does for a living. He tried to tell them (remember, we´re exhausted at this point) that he works with "computadores", as in the internet...but what he said was "con-puta-dores"...the joke is subtle, but if you understand Spanish you´ll get it...which somehow I did. If you don´t speak Spanish, it´s not as funny, but the gist is that he works with a whore named ´Dora´. Good times...more to come.