Visitors!

In late January/early February my uncle Donnie and my Grandma came to see me! (and take a bus tour through Guatemala). They brought be two suitcases from the states full of stuff that my mom and other family members had bought me to make up for all the stuff that was stolen. It was basically Christmas all over again.

The first night they were here, I went over to their hotel to eat dinner with them. It was really wonderful chatting and catching up on all the family gossip. Then I went home to investigate my spoils! The cat was really happy too!

All my stuff!!











They went away for the week to travel about Guatemala. The next weekend when they were back in the City, we took a shuttle to Antigua, the old colonial town. We ate and walked and shopped all day. It was a really fabulous day.

I had to be at school the next day but we got to have one more dinner together before they had to get back on a plane and head back to snowy, cold Virginia.

Puerto San Jose Beach!

My friend Sasha invited me to the beach with her friends Karin and Alejandro over a weekend. We drove for maybe two or three hours to Puerto San Jose and stayed at a little tiny hotel on the beach.

We laid on the beach for a while while drinking, played in the surf, (There were these really ridiculous little snail creatures in the sand.) and then hung out at the pool in the late afternoon, snacking on ceviche (a shrimp cocktail kind of dish that is really popular here) and french fries. It was glorious.

That night we went out to a really nice seafood dinner and then later to a disco-tech for sweaty dancing.

The next day we grabbed breakfast (I loooooove Guatemalan breakfasts: eggs with salsa, refried beans, crumbly white cheese, fried plantains, and coffee) and then hung out on some hammocks before driving back to Guatemala City.


















On our drive home, one of the volcanoes was going off! 

Muggedddddd

Well, it finally happened. I knew my turn was going to come along sooner or later............I got mugged.

It was basically Guatemala's "welcome back!" to me.

My flight was delayed in Richmond, which was fine with me. Mom and I just drove back to the house and I took a nap. So I left Richmond in the afternoon, got through my connections just fine and landed in Guatemala at around 9pm.

I collected my two checked bags. (Both packed to perfection at 49lbs) and headed outside. I grabbed a white taxi outside the airport doors and we headed off. He made it to my street and then slowed down about two buildings before my building. "No, no" I told him. "Keep going"

And that was when he turned around and pointed a gun at me from between the two seats.

Honestly, I don't remember what language he spoke to me in, English or Spanish, but he clearly told me to give him my money. So I pulled the money out of my wallet and gave it to him. He then asked for my phone and told me to get out. I handed him my phone and just sat in the seat saying "por favor" over and over.

At this point he had my checked bags in the trunk but my little carry was next to me in the seat and my purse was in my lap. He had his arm over my carry-on. But then when I didn't get out of the car and began to cry, he took his arm off it and nodded that I could have it. Then told me very sternly to get out.

I grabbed my purse and my carry on and got out but kinda leaned in the open door and questioned about my "dos maletas". I was feeling a bit braver since the gun wasn't pointed directly at me anymore, but he just drove off with my door hanging open.

I then ran to my building and cried to the desk guy, who got me a glass of water and looked uncomfortable.

What that Guatemalan taxi driver is going to do with a crap-ton of skinny 5'10" tall womens clothing and shoes is beyond me. He also got puzzles, yarn, a whole bunch of cat accessories, and unfortunately my scuba gear.

As it turns he he was probably one of the "pirated" taxis that roam around Guatemala. These are taxis that have been stolen from legitimate drivers and are used to steal from innocent taxi customers, like myself.

 Since then, I stopped using white taxis and have been using yellow taxis which are organized by a dispatch service and are logged. Much safer, but you also have to wait longer and sometimes they hang up on you or just don't appear when they should. 

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.