Panajachel is for Lovers

We got into the town of Panajachel (Guatemala) and I've managed to empty my wallet once again. I sit here with 40 Quetzales in my pocket...at most. This is equivelant to $5USD...at most. FML


I'm pretty much credit card from here on out until Belize now. This limited budget should help in my attempts to getting back to a regular diet. Yes, I'm on vacation but there is such a thing as over-indulging. I have achieved this. It's been difficult not to as I've been wanting to try everything brand new. Now I've got consequences to face; it's time to say goodbye to street food.


After giving much of my money away to the shop owners, I met up with the rest of the group on the hotel rooftop terrace for happy hour. The sun decided to set as bottles were tipped up and emptied of it's contents (rum). I decided not to have a drink. I'm not quite sure what it is but I just don't feel like drinking these days. It doesn't matter if it's free - I've been refusing them. This may sound awful, but I drink to get drunk. If I don't plan on getting drunk and dancing around, there's no point in tipping over glasses. Maybe it's my subconscious liver telling my mind that it wants a vacation too. Come to think of it...back home in Vancouver, I'm not too sure when the last time was that I've gone a week without drinking or some sort of partying. Midweek adventures were my favorite. Minimal crowd, drink specials, good music, good people...no wonder why it's hard to resist. Perhaps, it's time my liver goes on a vacation too. She wins this one.


A thing I've noticed about Panajachel is it's a town of Lovers. I don't know what it is. I don't necessarily see a whole lot of PDA around from locals or tourists, but there's definitely something in the air. This town is set along the lake which helps in setting this feeling, for sure. Also, the two towering volcanoes across this lake plays a part in this emotion. Cobblestone streets and people shooting each other glances from one side of the sidewalk to the other...Love was amidst us and there was no denying it. (image to the left is my donation to the bar table at Pana Rock).



I sit here on the hotel rooftop with the others as I stare at the bedsheets that are hung to dry next to us. It flutters in the amber rays of the sun making sure I knew that romance lurks in the most unexpected places.

Hey there 2010...I've been dying to meet you

Even after late nights, I usually manage to make it out early the next day to get things accomplished - being on vacation is no exception. I rolled out of bed and forced myself to get into town. I loaded myself up with two cups of coffee and a map...off to see the city. The first stop was at the local market. Some locals were still setting up their stands while the other vendors who were already ready were offering us early-bird deals. I can't lie, we were succumbing to them and their alluring colors. I easily ran out of money within the first 45min and we haven't even hit the Artisan's market next door yet. We quickly headed back to the hotel and i grabbed the last of my USD cash (which is supposed to last me until the end of the trip) knowing that I would be stupid to spend it all. I also knew that I would be stupid to deny myself something I would continue to think about or regret if I didn't get it. So I put my last $50 in my bag. Round two at the local and artisan's market was a little more successful. I managed to restrain myself and not give anymore money away.

Deborah and I went for brunch because we knew we had a big trek in a few hours. All I knew about this hike up Volcano Pacaya is that it will be 2+ hours up, see the flowing lava up close, 3 hours down. There's nothing else i needed to know. We got back to the hotel to change into the proper attire. Not everybody on tour wanted to take this trek so it was only three of us (Deborah, Otto, and myself). Our van came to pick us up and there were already people inside - other tourists who were going to do the hike. The ride was long and crazy; the driver seemed careless and was speeding, weaving in and around the streets. In my tired state, I still managed to fall asleep in the van.

We got to the base of the volcano and were greeted by a tour leader. She was in charge of keeping us together on the way up, and on the way down. The hike got the heart pumping for sure. It wasn't anything too crazy...if anything, it's like the grouse grind except on a volcano and much longer. Once we got closer and closer to the top, i peeled away from the rest of the group because I was extremely excited to get up there already. And there it was, flowing horizontally; the lava was absolutely glowing as the sun has already disappeared behind the clouds and decided to set. I had gotten to the top at perfect timing. Crowds of tourists were stumbling around like little ants trying to get the best view. It was extremely windy and my hair was flying everywhere. I was taking photos when I saw Otto. He says to me, "if you think it looks cool from down here, you should see it from up there" as he points to a little volcano formed ridge that was above the lava. Excited, i headed over almost immediately. The magmatic rock we were walking on was light weight and shaky but i managed to find stable steps and get to the top of the ridge. It was crowded with tourists. Guatemala doesn't have the best safety standards so nothing was done about this. There were no railings, no taped off sections, it was a free for all. One of the local tour guide shows off to everyone as he lights a cigarette from the lava. Everyone oohs and aahs.

There was a girl who was sitting at the top of the ridge just looking around the crowd so I decided to ask her to take my photo. I got to the ledge of the ridge and was ready. "Shift a bit to your right so I can get a better shot of the red lava behind you", she advises me. I listened. I slowly shifted. I slowly began to fall. Everything happened in slow motion and it felt like I actually had time to think. I tried to get myself back into position by grabbing onto a rock i was near but it was just a loose volcano rock that came falling down with me. I heard screams around me but I didn't close my eyes. I remember thinking, "should I close me eyes?...Is this how I'm really going to die? I'm going to die in Guatemala on vacation??". My back slammed onto a protruding rock and I fell on my side...maybe two feet from the red flowing lava. I was saved; I landed on the black rock - the black lava that is still hot right next to burning red one. Screams continued and I heard a man's voice clearly, "get out of there before that lava sticks on you! It'll stick on your clothes and burn!". I tried to get up quickly but i was beat to the punch. An arm had grabbed me by the hoodie and pulled me out.

I carefully patted myself down to make sure there was nothing stuck on me and could potentially burn me. I took inventory. My left pant leg was a bit torn. My right shoe was ripped a bit. There were a couple minor holes on my hoodie's left arm. And my bag (which I had landed on) was now sporting a new rip. Inside my bag was a dented journal that caught and saved my ass, and my sunglasses that now only has one lens. "Aww, i broke my sunglasses!", I said. A guy who had seen it all happen replied, "you're lucky that's all you broke! you're really lucky!!!". His mouth was still pretty much wide open as he says this...his eyes still hasn't shut in pure shock. I managed to grab my camera from the girl who was supposed to take my photo. She says sorry to me, but she has nothing to be sorry about. Slowly, things start to sink in. I could have died, and this man who had pulled me out potentially saved me from being badly burned.

"Can I take a photo with you?", I asked him. We posed in front of the lava together for my camera and his. His name is Justin and he's from Colorado (an American saved my life - who would have thought). He was actually in the same van I was in going to the volcano, we're with the same tour guide. According to him, everything happened slow motion for him as well.

On the trek down, people would recognize me. One girl asks, "you were the girl that fell in the lava weren't you?...are you OK???". I was making headlines and there was no booze-show, panty-flashings, public fights, or car crashes involved. I was starting to feel soar almost instantly as we started the 3 hour walk down. I had minor scratches and bruises on my left leg. I may not have seen it all right away (because it was dark) but i sure felt it. My mind was in a haze trying to summarize what the hell just happened up there. I knew I was lucky and I needed to thank Justin in part of that.

(the view from the where i was standing when i fell in)

We got to the van and I quickly pulled out a piece of paper from the journal that broke my fall. I wrote my contact info on there and included a note welcoming a stay in Vancouver for whenever. When the van dropped us back off in Antigua, I passed that piece of paper to Justin. "I'm serious", I said to him..."whenever you're in Vancouver, you have a place to stay". Mi casa es su casa.

We all parted ways and everyone was on the hunt for food. I didn't know what I wanted to eat...I couldn't really think too much about eating. I looked in my bag to see the little money I had left and opted for chips. After almost dying, my meal for the night was a bag of local jalapeno chips. I wasn't complaining.

Deborah, Otto, and I got into the hotel just as Sid (the new tour leader) was on his way out. We told him and Mereki what just happened. They didn't believe me until I showed them my leg and my ripped bag.

Tonight is Mereki's last night with the group and because we got into the hotel late and were tired, we unfortunately couldn't do anything special to bid her farewell. I went to my room and put my things away and Mereki came up soon after for a chat. We talked for a while about our schedules from here on out. I was sad because I was going to miss her; she was my buddy on the tour. Nobody else seemed to like partying or adventuring around but us.

It was inevitable, but it was time to say goodnight and I knew it was the last time I would see her.
I stayed up a bit longer thinking...eating.
In the past, my New Years Day/Eve somehow manages to depict how the rest of my year would go. Maybe it is all in my head, but I find this to be true. Usually, it's the first 2-4 weeks that form the rest of the year. If this stays fact, I don't know what to expect for 2010...I don't know what to expect for the new decade!
What kind of headlines will I be making? What kind of trouble lurks around the corner? Who are the people I'm going to be saying hello and goodbye to? Who's going to save me?
Questions which all have no answers to at the moment - but I'm dying to find out (pun intended).

Adios 2009...you and i didn't get along anyways.

The trek started at 7am today for a 5hour drive to Antigua - Today's New Years Eve!

Antigua has more than just a "gringo street"... it's a full on "gringo town"! Unlike Granada (Nicaragua) it's harder to find where the locals hang out here. Everywhere i turned was a white face. Everywhere i turned was a store or a restaurant to satisfy these white faces. Crepes didn't originate in Central America did they? hmmmyyyeah, i didn't think so.

All of the locals seemed to be bustling around town in preparation for the big NYE celebration later tonight, as I wandered around. I booked a hike for Jan 1st at the nearby tour company - I plan on doing Volcano Pacaya. It would be cool to start the year off hiking up 2 hours to see flowing lava up close. On top of that, I haven't done much activities as of late so my ass is kind of begging for this.
















I headed back to the hotel to rest and possibly have a nap. Instead, I ended up drinking more coffee and watching music channels on TV. When it came time, i started to get ready in attempt to look like a girl. I threw on my $8 dress that i had bought in Juayua and belted it with a $3 sash/scarf i had got in Suchitoto. I joined the others downstairs for a couple drinks. If this trip had a mascot, it would be a giant bottle of Flor de Cana. Thank-you for this, Nicaragua! A new group of tourists joined us and we all walked over to a restaurant called Fusion near the La Merced plaza. We had dinner and more drinks. Our new tour leader came by to join us for drinks. By this time, we are already buzz-happy and were insisting on keeping it going.
After dinner, we all headed back to the hotel to grab more booze. As the others filled their water bottles with rum and coke...I filled mine with rum and a splash of water. Just the way I like it. We strolled over to the main plaza where the stages were set up and it was bumping! It was almost as shoulder-to-shoulder, as it was in Nicaragua's public transit system during Christmas. We weaved in and around the crowds until we found a spot to call ours. Mereki and I decided to do some crowd wandering. We managed to meet Stef, her brother Pancho, her boyfriend, and her guy friend. They live in Guatemala City and were in Antigua to bring in 2010. Their English was impeccable! They thank their American-type school system for this. They told us to join them for the after party which was being hosted by XL and we all decided we would meet up at the same spot right after 12am. Excited, we headed back to where the rest of the group was to do the countdown. The 'inebriated girls' in us went around hugging and greeting everyone a happy new years prematurely, but that didn't matter. Soon it was official, and soon the fireworks would go insane for the next 4 days. The illuminated 2009 sign was shut off which left 2010 shining brightly for everyone in the plaza to see. People were dancing/performing, drinking, hugging, setting off firecrackers...this city was no where near ready to go to bed.

In true drunk-girl fashion, Mereki accidentally spilled Sid's (the new tour leader) beer. In a panic, she grabbed me by the arm and ran away - done like a pro.
She was embarrassed, so she took me with her to hide in the crowd. We found solace sitting on a curb with a Guatemalan family who's children were setting off firecrackers. Mereki and I picked some off the ground to try and set them off. In my current state, I wasn't able to work matches on my first try so i had a young boy light my firecracker for me. However, he failed to light the end of the wick...he lit the middle. This gave me very little time to throw the little red dynamite stick far from me and soon...it exploded in my hand, right near my ear. It didn't hurt by any means. It was just a shock. I laughed because what else is a drunk girl to do? Immediately, there was a ringing in my right ear. This semi-sobered me up - I knew this ringing in my ear wasn't right. We walked through the crowd to see what else there was to do. A young local guy and his friends invited us to an after-party. It's house music, he tells us. Mereki asked him if it was far and he tells us that we would all need to drive over there. *this is when i have to applaud Mereki in her drunk state* Mereki refused to go to the party and wouldn't let me go. I wouldn't go alone anyhow, but the fact that she was refusing to go (because we're not familiar with the town and we don't know these people) automatically defaults me to staying in Antigua as well.

We decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel, where everyone else had already been off to dream sweet 2010 dreams.

Juayua bought a dress para mi?

We got into the town of Juayua (pronounced hu-why-you-a) today. I took the opportunity to relax and updated the blog on the hotel's computer while everyone else wandered town in the heat. This hotel is probably one of the cutest ones we have been in so far. Everyone ran around the place checking each other's room out. Oohs-and-aahs were all you heard within minutes of putting our bags down.


I decided to do some solo wandering afterwards so i headed towards the plaza. While aimlessly loitering, I realized that New Years Eve was coming up and I had no dress to wear. I personally don't consider myself a girly-girl...but i do enjoy getting dressed up for occasions. For the A-gamers back home in Vancouver, the only question we ever really asked before a party was, "is it a dress night?". NYE definitely calls for a dress, regardless of the fact that I'm not back at home with the other A-gamers. With no particular style, color, or cut in mind, i walked through the market lightly. That's when a yellow dress caught my eye. The top part was black, and the bottom was yellow. It wasn't anything fancy, but it fit right, it was $8usd, and i decided it would be the dress to ring in 2010.


I walked back to the hotel with my new dress in hand. I showed the other girls and did a fashion show. They gave me the thumbs up - they liked it too.


We headed to the nearby waterhole in El Churro via tuk-tuk with the rest of the group. I went but decided to just chill and take photos as opposed to getting in the cold water. There were only local children swimming around when we got there and military men armed with guns protecting the area. Were the guns really necessary? Probably not. But did it add drama to our photographs? You better believe it.



After the waterhole, we went back into town to learn how to make pupusas. A cute little old lady opened her doors to us and set up a little station where she would teach us how to make this El Salvadoran dish. We all decided that this would be our last affair with pupusas...what better place to be pupusa'd out, than El Salvador?


Deborah, Mereki, and I walked around town afterwards in search of snacks. We were planning nachos and guacamole night.

Once we got back to the hotel, we made guacamole (knowing that it was probably cheaper to just go to a restaurant and eat there) and stuffed our faces. It turned to be somewhat of a girls night as I ended up coloring Mereki's hair. We had cheese and crackers, guacamole and chips, and rum/soda's as the smell of chemical dye filled the air. We stayed up and chatted amongst the group knowing that tomorrow would be a big celebration, and a big farewell.

I've been looking forward to this farewell as I was needing a change of pace. For some reason, I was feeling apprehensive yet excited about it all. Goodbye's are sad, yes...but with every goodbye is a hello.

1up

Even though there's 20 days left on this tour, it feels like it's coming to an end. 2009 is going to be a thing of the past soon, and so is this trip shortly after.
Today is another early start, I made it a goal to wander the town and absorb what El Salvador is about. I managed to do some productive aimless loitering in and around the plaza. I can people-watch here all day.


During breakfast, Deborah and I had an interesting conversation. We spoke about our lifestyles back home. Trying to control ourselves and our surroundings is a lot of work, it's enough to stress about for days. With so many external factors coming in to play in our life, who can actually successfully control things as planned? It's a map with several road blocks and closures. Sometimes, you just have to look at that map and say, "fuck it! i'ma just have to be me and be where i'm at". In my aimless wandering, i ended up buying an old super nintendo controller from a cute old man in a cowboy hat. He initially tells me it's for a dollar...then he lowers the price to 50 cents. I pull out lose change and show him i've only got 35 cents. He sells it to me for 35 cents as he says sweet nothings. As I sit in front of the water fountain by the church listening to a CD vendor blast different genres of music, i reflect. I just bought a controller that I no longer have the machine for. The buttons are stuck and it's actually pretty much useless. It's either I have a shopping problem.......or I just bought a metaphor.
God will do with us as he wishes to do with us. I bought a controller that I can't control. With this, I give up trying to have everything go as "planned". This yearning to control certain aspects of my life has somewhat made me emotionless for the past couple of years. By having this control, I've been protected from what could potentially hurt me. But where's the excitement in that? Being vulnerable is not always a weakness and I realize that now. In the movie, 'Monsoon Wedding' a girl says an inspiring quote. "How can a kneeling coward ever know what it's like to fall if they never get on their horse?", she says.
As I reflected, sitting on that plaza bench, the 'Minuto' man came up to make conversation. Today was hot and he joined me in the shade. We talk for a while until he realizes the others in the plaza would probably enjoy a nice cold 'minuto' from him in the hot sun. I said goodbye and headed to where I was supposed to meet the others from the group. We're off to roll cigars.
We used Honduran tobacco leaves. As a non-smoker, i wouldn't have been able to tell a Cuban cohiba from a Honduran so it was all the same to me. I was the first one up and a little old woman teaches me how to do it. She's impressed with how quickly I learned and how well I rolled. I bought a roll of 20 cigars which she has rolled up earlier and we head over to Don Alejandro's house. Don Alejandro is a diplomat who runs his house like a museum. An old movie producer/director and a collector of art, his house sits on a cliff that overlooks the lake. I was more impressed with his panoramic view and home than his collections but i stay awake.


After the tour and dinner, i head back to the hotel and pack my cigars and controller into my backpack. It's over to the next level tomorrow.

Do you like kung fu movies?

I woke up almost suffocating. The air was thick and humid and the smell inside the room was strong and uncomfortable. It was unbearable to the point where i picked up my sleeping-bag liner and decided sleeping outside would be cleaner. I lasted by the beach for about 45 min until my pansy ass got scared by the rustling noises from critters. Not knowing anything about my surroundings, i realized that it wasn't smart for me to just pull out of my shelter and sleep in the open. Thoughts of the movie 'Touristas' just kept popping in my mind. I'd like to come back home with all my organs, so it was back to the gross room for me. I put on the air conditioner and tried to sleep again.

I woke up early to catch the sunrise, though my main reason for waking up early was to get out of the room. I soaked in the sun and swam in the ocean. After getting darker, i found shelter back in the room (with my door wide open) and watched HTV. This was like the Hispanic version of MTV...except they actually played music.

By the early afternoon, we headed out of El Cuco and were on the road to Suchitoto. Our van stopped in the town of San Jose to go to the bank which was inside the mall. We were given 45 minutes to wander around the mall and do what we needed to do. On my way to the van, I was distracted by a jewellery kiosk. The young guy working behind the counter struck up a conversation with my very fast. He asked what other languages i spoke which, i assume, is his way of asking where I'm from. We talked about everything from kung fu movies, views on heaven, reincarnation, relationships, and homosexuality. I wish I could have stayed and continued to see what else we would talk about but i eventually did have to go back to the van and continue the drive.

We get into Suchitoto and it's very cute! It's like Granada but not nearly as much tourists or people. The people here are extremely nice and i already know that my free day tomorrow will be filled wandering the plaza doing a whole lot of nothing.

Don't eat my friend, we still have some karaoke to do. Thanks!

It's time to say good-bye to Nicaragua today. We drive 8 hours through Honduras and over to El Cuco, El Salvador.


Nicaragua really surprised me, I really like this place. In the beginning, i was told that it's the 2nd poorest country in all of Central America and that I would be seeing a lot of things i may be uncomfortable with. The history in the towns, the warmth of the people...I didn't see an unfortunate country at all.


We get into our beach side hotel at El Cuco and it sure is "rustic". I'm not the type to complain about hotel rooms but the stench in our little cement hut was pungent. The bed had little ants crawling on them. It just didn't feel clean. I dropped my bags and immediately headed for the beach. At least I could try and stay fresh out there by the sea. Soon, the others had followed behind me in their swim gear. I was easily tempted and rushed back to my room to change into swimmers. When i got back to the shore, it looked like Deborah, Otto, and Roger were playing some kind of water game. Mereki was heading towards me and so i figured she wasn't into the reindeer games. As she gets closer, i notice there's a look of panic and worry in her face. That's when i realized that Deborah, Otto, and Roger weren't playing any kind of game - someone was being saved from the ocean. As it turns out, Deborah had got caught in a riptide which pulled her farther and farther from the shore. She was getting tired in her attempts to get to the sand and was starting to drown. Mereki tried to help get her out but wasn't able to and that's when Roger had gone in to pull her out.

Mereki admits to me that she's never been so close to dying. Once Deborah hit the shore, i notice how opaque she was. She swallowed a lot of the sea. The two girls sat on the shore and shared some tears at their near-death experience. I didn't know how to handle it...i was still in shock. The sea is so much larger than us and it almost ate one of our travel friends. It's a scary yet realistic thought. For the remainder of sunset, i chose to sit along the shore and watch the power of the waves crashing knowing that I am but a spec on this earth. Something as simple as water can destroy me; that could've been me in that riptide.

We went into town for dinner. El Cuco is a very small place, and I'm afraid that by the afternoon the next day, we will be on our way to Suchitoto. With the poor hotel conditions, the group made an executive decision to go to the next town a day early. Aside from the powerful beach, I will not be getting a chance to understand this town or the people who inhabit it. For dinner, we went to a place that also had a karaoke machine which was begging to be used...or so the travel leader thought so. He was very much into it and he tried to lighten the mood using song. I tried as well. For those who know me, you know that i refuse a microphone at all costs. I picked it up in spirit of challenging myself and getting out of my comfort zone. I sang Bob Marley - Could you be Love. The tour leader and I seemed to be the only ones not too worn out from the day to give our go on the microphone. Shortly after paying for dinner, the spontaneous dancing started. It was entertaining to say the least.
In all honesty, i think i found the energy to stay up and keep going because i was dreading having to go back to our little cement cage cells (otherwise known as, 'our hotel'). I would have rather past out from exhaustion on the dance floor than sleep in that room. However, nobody else seemed to have shared this enthusiasm and we headed back to the hotel to face an uncomfortable night's sleep.