March 19 -22nd, 2008
I departed the Detroit airport with very little sleep, a rapid and mindless packing job, a one-way ticket to Guatemala City, and no clue where I would sleep that evening. If I were capable of thought, I would think that I was too tired for excitement or enthusiasm. Arriving at my destination, I was pleasantly surprised by an incoming entourage of Spanish-looking fashionistas with skintight booty-hugging silver pants and heaving breasts of volcanic proportions. Hola Guatemala!! I immediately boarded a minivan destined for the colonial town of Antigua where I was deposited in the central hub of activity – the central park. I whimsically walked past the purple blooming trees and multi-tiered fountain and found one of the last places to stay in town... it was Santa Semana (Holy Week), the biggest holiday in Guatemala, and Antigua being the largest of the celebrations. Perhaps I should have read my guidebook!
All week long, massive three-ton floats with life-sized icons lumbered through the incense-filled streets on the backs of up to a hundred purple-robed people. The procession wound through the city streets day after day for hours on end, and even beginning at 3am and continuing late into the evenings. As I walked the streets munching my spiced mangos or other street vendor delectables, I watched people meticulously creating ornate flower mats on the cobblestone streets that would be trampled by the oncoming procession minutes after completion. The city markets and food vendors were an oddly comforting chaos, reminiscent of South East Asia.
I spent my evenings in Antigua by hanging out with a surprising array of fantastic people I met in the hostels, going out to bars and restaurants - one of which surprised me with a performance by an enchanting belly dancer. Almost immediately I was rendered helpless, paralyzed by the immediacy of the moment, and utterly incapable of any other fleeting thought. Note – this complete lack of thought is something that yoga and meditation strives for (and I have not come even close to attaining), but it was achieved most easily and unexpectedly by a beautiful woman swaying her hips.
It was logistically impossible for me to leave Antigua on Good Friday, so I waited until Saturday to head to San Marcos on Lake Atitlan. A recent rise in activity of 'rebels' has resulted in about a dozen shootings of bus drivers in the past couple weeks, and there seemed to be significant concern amongst those on our bus. As our bus dropped down the mountainous switchbacks, the beautiful lake finally opened up to us… a large beautiful lake surrounded by 3 tree-covered volcanoes. I safely arrived in San Marcos where I would make it my home for at least the next month while studying yoga, meditation, and other courses. It is a small beautiful town with no traffic that I believe I have already fallen in love with.
