San Marcos walk

Despite previous declarations that we were going to finally rest, we ended up spending the entire day walking/hiking around Lake Atitlan. We met Antonio, the leader of Juevenes Maya, a young man who leads nature and cultural tours around the area to benefit the local community. We also recruited three other tourists to go on the hike with us: Josh, who we met in the courtyard of our hotel as he emerged from a shower and assured us that he could get ready in 5 minutes, and Leora and Gabriel, a newly married couple from San Fransisco who we met the night before while eating pizza and watching Spanish Home Alone. It was a happy coincidence that we saw all of them right as we were setting out on our hike, as it was much livelier with 5 of us, plus we now had the benefit of Leora's fluent Spanish. Plus we are all Jews, and Jews like other Jews.

LEORA AND GABRIEL ARE GREAT!!!

Our hike took us on a road around the lake, passing through several Mayan pueblos and producing stunning views of the surrounding volcanoes. We passed wild coffee plants and go to taste the bean – it's sweet like a fruit before drying and roasting! We also ate some guava fruit and avocado off of the trees next to the road. Yum! We also saw a mountain shaped like a person's profile and a cave that Antonio said was used by Mayan priests for animal sacrifice. There was a lot of bougainvillea and many houses made from adobe bricks. It was a peaceful walk save for the little, red tuk-tuks that zoomed by every few minutes.

We stopped at a park/beach where there were dozens of Mayan families picnicking and swimming together. Here we learned that Lake Atitlan has risen five meters in the past two years, due to heavy rains and flooding. We could see houses and trees along the coast that were submerged up to the roof. This maybe explains why there was no place to sit next to the lake and hang out – all the previous docks and patios were underwater. We got some ice cream which was gross and headed to the next town for lunch...

...And had an intense conversation about health care reform and the constitutionality of mandating health insurance and how the government sets up challenges in the private sector to reward innovation. Someone remarked that the Republican presidential candidate field seems full of exaggerated versions of real people. Josh told us about how he just finished consulting on a project in which a company was rewarded for creating a light bulb that is 15 times more efficient than the ones we use today. You will see it at Home Depot next year.

Finally, we reached San Pedro. The first stop was at a coffee production yard, where we saw piles of coffee bean in various stages of production: husks, raw beans drying, and roasted beans. All of these were spread out in someone's yard. Second, we walked through the town and watched a bizarre costume dance performance which I can only presume was in honor of Christmas. Mayan families were gathered around a town square watching dancers while pop music blared loudly. Each dancer was wearing a costume that seemed completely unrelated to the next. There was a Smurf, a cowgirl, a football player (American football), a duende (magical elf gnome of Latino folklore), Shrek, an old man, a pirate, Zorro, a clown, and old lady, a soldier, the Hamburglar, a police officer, and more. As if they bought every single costume that was available in the past five years and wore them all together. They were all wearing masks that matched their outfit, which made it all the more creepy. As we walked out of the town square, I saw a vendor selling firecrackers with pictures of Osama bin Laden on them.

Eventually, it was time to leave, so we boarded the boat back to San Marcos and arrived just as the sun was going down. Even though I did not lay out and be lazy at all, I got plenty of sunshine all day long and got to see Mayan culture as well. For dinner, we ventured out to the famous Aculuux, but it was closed, and we could only admire its recycled glass windows and trimmings by flashlight. Instead, we went to El Fe where our crooked hostel owner Paul was also an owner and my mom has Sag Aloo and I had a pasta dish with papaya and spinach sauce. It was freaking delicious.