Dia de Diablo

On December 7th, or Dia de Diablo, in Guatemala hundreds of paper devils are burnt in the streets. In the week leading up to the 7th street vendors come out all over the streets and sell little devils (like the one we bought) and big devils up to 6 or 7 feet tall.

You are supposed to write things down that you want to let go of, put them inside the devil and then burn it to a crisp at dusk. This is also accompanies with A LOT of fireworks.

We didn't have fireworks and we had to burn out devil a little later in the night as we were at a wine/Christmas party that night. It was a bit windy and hard to get the devil to stay lit, but after a lot of lighter encouragement we got the little bugger down to ashes.

Thanksgiving by the Lake!

For Thanksgiving I joined Shannon and Dexter's family and headed to Posada de Santiago for the long weekend. They brought along their two children Emma and Noah and we were joined by my roommate Jen and the high school math teacher David.

We were later joined by another (fantastic) teacher, Michelle and her son Liam.

Jen being obnoxious

 
 
Posada de Santiago is a beautiful bead and breakfast type place in the tiny town of Santiago on the coast of Lake Atitlan. It's about a 3 hour drive from Guate City but the drive is really beautiful.

The hotel is made up of a bunch of stone cottages surrounded by all kinds of jungle-y plants. It includes a big restaurant, a bar, a pool, jacuzzi, sauna, dock with canoes, and a massage room.

 

 The first day we relaxed in the jacuzzi, sauna and pool and filled up on a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey, cranberries, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. We ate until we were absolutely stuffed.

 


The next morning me, Jen and Dexter woke up super early to climb Volcan San Pedro, a massive volcano that was right across the lake from the hotel. We had to take a boat across the lake to the town at the foot of the volcano. Our boat guy was a speed demon and there were times I was quite afraid that the rough waves were actually going to the flip the boat. At the dock there were some buildings half underwater. Apparently these have been like this for a while although no one seems to know if the lake water is rising or if the ground is sinking. We then took a tuk tuk to the main gate of the volcano park.

It was an incredibly hard and steep climb. We spent about 3 1/2 hours going up the volcano and 2 hours coming back down. (Our legs still ache!) I, thank goodness, didnt have any issues with my asthma up this volcano.








The view at the top was completely worth the pain! It was crystal clear and you could see the whole lake and the hills all around. We climbed over 10,000 feet!!

Later that afternoon we just relaxed in the jacuzzi and sauna, and did a bit of swimming in the freezing cold lake.

The next day, we headed into town to finish up some Christmas shopping and have a bit of a wander. Later in the afternoon I got a massage and did some more relaxing by the bar and pool.

Each cabin had a fabulous stone fireplace built in and they replenished the firewood everyday. I lit a fire everynight. It made the cabin so cozy!

 

Next morning was our final day and we had just enough time for a fantastic breakfast of french toast and then hit the road back to the city. 

Symphony Down the Street!

So one of our friends was driving me and Jen home from our Tribes training (Tribes is a professional development thing we were doing for the school.) and as we're driving to our apartment we see this whole street blocked off with people milling around drinking beers and a whole symphony set up under a tent.


So Jen and I wandered down there and enjoyed the music and a beer. It was really pleasant.

Panajachel and Lake Atitlan

Me and my friends Aubry and Sasha did a little weekend trip to a town called Panajachel on the edge of Lake Atitlan. We mainly hung out, did some shopping, and wandered around. It was a wonderful break from Guatemala City and the drive was absolutely gorgeous!!