The Weekend Catch-Up

Hey!! So since my last blog was suuppper general and stuff, let's play a little game I like to call 'catch-up!'

So I went to El Lago de Atitlán last weekend (15-18) with Valerie, the Chavo (her bf), and the Chavo's friend Ignacio. Two of the days we mostly traveled because it's waaaay up high in the mountains. The lake itself is a volcano crater filled with water. It is absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful. There are 15 villages around the lake (it's huge), and 12 of them are named for the 12 apostles of Christ. That's pretty cool; Guatemala is very, very Catholic, but not in the Vatican kind of way. [Aside: When the Spanish conquistadors came to overtake Guatemala they had this very gruesome policy...convert or die. So all of the natives they came across converted..(wouldn't you?)...but they didn't really convert. They just re-named their pagan gods by calling them by the names of the Catholic saints. So the 'Catholics' not actually Catholic. It's a very scary thing. Most of the Natives (Mayan descendents) are 'Catholic,' and the Natives make up about 80% of this country's population. I learned how to pray more specifically for this country in learning this bit of information.] -Ahem- annyyywaaay. We stayed in the village of San Marcos, but we also visited San Pedro across the lake. Our little hotel was very cute, and very cheap. It was nice minus the stupid boys that worked the docs.

San Pedro was great. We went there one day to do some shopping. I got to see Valerie haggle, and I was very impressed. It was really fun minus the part where I came very close to a nervous breakdown. I couldn't pinpoint the reason until I got back from the lake, but I've figured it out now. I have this tendency to suppress negative feelings, and that's bad for someone with anxiety problems. See the thing is...I was really, really uncomfortable being around the Chavo's friend. The Chavo had absolutely no idea that his friend was going to be so..well awkward and just...creepy. It wasn't his fault, and he apologized a million times. His friend hit on me a lot that weekend, and I was so uncomfortable around him even when he wasn't. Anyway, I successfully avoided him for the rest of the trip after that because Valerie caught on to my discomfort sooner than I did.

After the almost-breakdown we decided to do something easy: kayaking on the very peaceful lake. Lucky for all of us, Ignacio didn't come. We had a great time just paddling and talking and picking pumice stones out of the water. Then we decided to dock because it was obvious that a storm was coming. And then something very...strange happened.

Now it's time for 'Only in Guatemala' -- a game we all have fun playing here. So we're docking our kayaks, and the dock is covered in wet munchkins...in their underwear...all of them being boys. The age range was anywhere from about 8 to 13 years old. So, if any of you have kayaked before...you know that it's pretty awkward getting out of one without getting wet. These wet, nearly-naked munchkins basically attacked us to 'help' us out of our kayaks. It was either accept their help or swim to the shore...and trust me, that was a tough decision to make. So, we allowed them to help us out of the water, and when we were all ashore, they began shouting, "one money!" Yep. I knew they were going to want money. They followed us all the way back to our room. So we gave them like a quetzal each and shooed them away. I didn't feel bad because I didn't want their help in the first place. aawwwkkkwarrrddd.

And then this weekend we went to a theme park and a water park. That was fun...minus the clowns and the staring. I generally don't like being in a swimsuit around a bunch of people, but in a world where I'm already constantly being stared at because of my hair and skin color, I felt especially uncomfortable. I'll blog about being a minority later. Anyway, the stupid payasos were everywhere with their painted faces and balloons. And they laughed at me. They knew I was afraid of them...not that it wasn't obvious when I started covering my face with my hat every time one was within eyesight. I very nearly cried...and I did have nightmares about them Friday night. boo.

But all in all, I am very fortunate to have been able to see these parts of Guatemala. On top of all that, I've seen my first black sand beach and gotten to know the culture here a little better. I love this country. I don't really have anything enlightening to say other than that. Yay leisure blog. ;) So how is everyone else's summer going?