Santiago de Atitlan to Antigua: Sunday, December 14

Dear Readers, Thank you so much for all of your well wishes on our pregnancy! I can't wait to blog all about it.

But I feel like there is some unfinished business to take care of before I move on to this exciting new stage: I have to finish the story of our December trip to Guatemala. I still haven't shown you some of the most beautiful scenes I saw during our travels. And there still are some stories to tell. So let me begin wrapping this up...

The following morning, we had breakfast in the lodge and, sadly, got ready to leave. This was such a relaxing place, and the physical beauty of the area was just astounding. I made sure to take some last pictures.

From our table in the lodge, we looked out onto the road to see people passing on foot, tuk-tuk, and in the backs of pickups.

I was glad I finally got a shot of the pickup means of transport that is so common around here.

I took a walk down to the Posada's lakefront property.

The scenes were just so majestically beautiful, the clouds just hovering over the mountains.

I wished we had time to stay for another dip in the pool.

Or to take a canoe around the lake...we hadn't had time for that.

The fishermen looked so peaceful and meditative in their solo boats.

Ahh, we will have to come back.

I took a last look at the lounge chairs and the little sauna hut.

And then one more time back to the lodge.

I decided to try shooting a video on my way up the path to our room, as I tried to catch my breath, due to the elevation.


We packed up, and our taxi was waiting to take us to Antigua.

We drove around Lake Atitlan, and we caught a glimpse of CFCA's Guatemala facility. When we were just about to leave the lake behind, we got this panoramic vista. It was too good to pass up -- we asked the driver to stop, so we could take some more pictures.





After that, we drove through unbelievably beautiful and little inhabited country to get to the main road. We traveled up and down steep inclines and saw meadows and streams. There was no real place to pull over and stop, and it was just a two-lane road, so I have no pictures of this part of our journey.

But I will never forget the beauty on that gloriously sunny day.

Slowly, we made our way to more and more populated areas and then to a small city, where a busy market was taking place. We started seeing signs for Antigua. And then we were back in the city that had marked the conclusion of our trip last April, as well.

Last time, we had had dinner at Casa Santo Domingo, an amazing hotel and museum that is a former convent. This time, in honor of our anniversary, we decided to splurge and get a room at the hotel. It still was a relative bargain, especially compared with the States.

Here's a tour of our room:

The Postcards from Antigua Guatemala I posted in January include pictures from that Sunday, as we walked around.

Here are two other photos from that afternoon:

The gate, ready to go from 2008 to 2009.

A beautiful courtyard from a small hotel where we stopped to check email.

That night, we thoroughly enjoyed the hot tubs and big pool in one of the hotel's courtyards and then had a gourmet meal by candlelight in the restaurant. Heaven!

Horseback Riding Above Lake Atitlan, Saturday, December 13

It's been a few months since I left off with the tale of our trip to Guatemala in December. Work and life have gotten in the way, but looking at some of my favorite bloggers' posts about Guatemala, I am inspired to finish up our travelogue.

If you have not already, make sure you check out Rudy Girón's La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo, James and Beth's Teco/Teca, and now Dave and Danaya's Hand Up Tierra Linda for nostalgia and/or inspiration to travel to this amazing place.

Back to my tale...it was our second day in Santiago Atitlan at Posada de Santiago.

Saturday morning, we rose early for a hearty breakfast at the lodge. Particularly of note were the blue corn pancakes with macadamia syrup. Not your traditional pancake, but the taste grew on you.

Then Nancy Mattison came to pick us up. I had gotten in touch with Nancy through the Posada. She and her husband, Jim, offer all kinds of horseback riding and walking tours that are combined with gourmet dining.

As it turns out, we were joined by a young guy from New York, who was also going to be part of the ride.

Nancy drove us around the lake, past the memorial to the people who had been killed during the civil war, and by a private air strip, to their house and horse ranch.

We went in through the gate to their home and past their large pack of trained dogs. Inside their house, Nancy gave us coffee, hot chocolate, and homemade coffee cake, and we met her husband, Jim.

I knew this was not going to be your run of the mill horseback riding tour from the moment Jim introduced himself as a "libertarian anarchist." Born in the Baltics (Latvia, I believe), his life in Guatemala since the early 90s is just one of many extraordinary lives he has led. He had been a professor, run various successful businesses, been an adviser to US presidents, had made tons of money and then lost it all.

The Mattisons came to Guatemala when the civil war was still on, and Jim quickly developed a reputation as someone not to be messed with. He assured us he was the only one in the area who had never been robbed and warned, "Don't think I'm not armed in three places right now."

In parts of the country, Guatemala is still a lawless place where crime, from petty robberies to contract killing can take place. Jim likes living in his fortress he designed and built himself from polished stone. It's a good place for an anarchist.

There were no papers or waivers to sign. Liability law doesn't exist like it does in the US, and he told us cooly we were all responsible for our own selves. Alrighty then.

Off we went to get our horses.

Michael hadn't been on a horse since childhood, and only once then. I had been an avid rider in my young teens, but I had only been on a horse a few times in the last 10 years. And I had never ridden Western before.

The New Yorker who came with us had never ridden before, and he was quite unnerved by the whole thing.

After getting on our respective steeds, we set off down the road for about a quarter of a mile, which had me tense to start out. I know from experience how spooked horses can get from cars, and I was without the protective equipment I was accustomed to. But there was nothing to worry about. These horses were very used to the trek.

After the road, we went down into a coffee plantation, where we had to take a path that ran right along a stretch of low trees. We had to duck down and feel the branches scraping over our heads as we passed along. The New Yorker was quite tall, so this was difficult for him to do, and he started crying out in distress.

Immediately, that got me tense again, as I flashed back to various incidents from my earlier riding career when kids had gotten scared, started yelling, and spooked the horses, thus making the situation all the worse. But again, my fears were unfounded. These horses were unflappable.

Finally, we got out of the tree lined area and started ascending the mountain. The paths were very narrow, and you really had to just trust your horse; otherwise, you might tumble into a ditch. So I slowly started to let go and relax. I had to. I couldn't hold the reins closely, like in English riding. I had to trust.

All the while, Jim was leading us in conversations about literature and politics, quoting Aristotle and John F. Kennedy, Friedrich Nietzsche and Franz Kafka, Madison and de Tocqueville, all verbatim (and not infrequently citing page numbers in specific editions!). It was unlike anything I had expected. This man was so well read, and he could remember it all!

After about an hour and a quarter of riding, we finally found ourselves at the top of the mountain. We dismounted and stopped to rest.





Below is the view west to the Pacific Ocean. There was some haze in the sky, so we couldn't actually see the water. But on a clear day, Jim assured us, it was possible to gaze that far.



A closer look, though, yielded the piles of trash by the lookout point. Trash was an issue we had talked about on the ride. We saw it so often in the otherwise beautiful fields and greenery.

Jim told us that it's part of the local culture. They don't see trash the way we do. For them, trash is a sign of affluence. You must be doing well if you can buy things that produce trash. People from the north, "do-gooders," he said, come and try to beautify and take away the trash, but it doesn't work. The trash may get collected, but then it gets dumped somewhere, like here.


To the east was Lake Atitlan, looking gorgeous, as always.




But looking at our feet yielded a different story.

Here are burnt remnants of medical waste, likely from a humanitarian mission. Jim's problem with the "do-gooders" is that they don't think about all the possible impacts of their activities: everything from what happens to the garbage to what happens if one family suddenly has a lot more than most of their community (the answer, according to him: the family becomes a target).

He said, some people here are better off than you think. Just because they live simply does not mean they don't have money. Most Guatemalan families will make money in a number of different ways: through a job, having an animal whose products they can sell, side endeavors.

It was interesting to hear Jim's perspective. While I don't think any of this is a reason not to help, it is an important reminder of the impact we may have, intentionally and unintentionally. Not everything is as it seems, and we can't always take the rules and values and life views we have in our own country and apply them elsewhere.

We rode back down the mountain, along the hair-raising paths, and through the brush. This ride had been completely unlike what I had imagined, and I was so happy for that. I felt an unearthed burning in me to start reading again, to discuss literature and politics. It was as if I had gone back to university in this three-hour jaunt.



But I was saddle sore, so I was glad to hop off my mount and head in for some lunch.

We got a tour of the house as Linda finished up the preparations for our absolutely delicious lunch.


The sun was starting to get lower in the sky, and we had finished our meal. We said goodbye to Jim, and Linda drove us back to the Posada.

On our way, we saw coffee-weighing stations along the side of the road, and Linda told us how people wait there with their coffee to sell it to wholesalers. However, these are also spots where the lawless know they can rob people, or worse. It is a difficult life.

Michael and I went back to our cottage and tried to process all that we had experienced that day. We wanted to make some changes to our lives. At the very least, we were inspired to make reading a priority and set up a library in our living room, rather than having the computer as the centerpiece. We were reminded, more than anything, of how reading opens the doors to knowledge and understanding and lends a richness to life unlike anything else.

While we were still quite full from lunch, we stuffed ourselves with more gourmet delights for dinner at the lodge. Michael had his Ron Zacapa, and I had a huge margarita. And then we settled back in our cabin.

Michael built a fire in the fireplace, and we snuggled together on that cool night, our minds still awash in thoughts from the day.





Next up: Sunday, December 14 -- we take an incredible journey from Santiago Atitlan to Antigua and stay at the inimitable Casa Santo Domingo.

December 2008 Guatemala Trip Roundup

I still have three more days to write about in our Guatemala trip recap. Here's a taste of what's coming up: horseback riding above Lake Atitlan, the gorgeous drive to Antigua, staying at the legendary Casa Santo Domingo (!), and a coffee plantation tour with As Green As It Gets. Plus, Michael, still needs to do his guest post on the veterinary clinic in Solola.

For now, here's a summary of the posts I have already written:

• Arrival in Guatemala -- Saturday, December 6


• First Day of Volunteering -- Sunday, December 7 -- morning


• Orphanage Christmas Party -- Sunday, December 7


• Back to Sharon's -- Sunday, December 7


• Distributing Donations and Meeting the Cumpar Family -- Monday, December 8


• The Rest of Monday -- December 8


• More Distributing and Sorting...and a Sunset -- Tuesday, December 9


• San Jorge Christmas Party -- Wednesday, December 10


• Chichicastenango and Mayan Families Party -- Thursday, December 11


• Goodbye Panajachel, Hello Santiago Atitlan -- Friday, December 12


• Horseback Riding Above Lake Atitlan -- Saturday, December 13


• Santiago de Atitlan to Antigua -- Sunday, December 14


• Antigua and San Miguel Escobar -- Monday, December 15

External Media:

• Article in the Christian Science Monitor about our trip
• Helping Mayan Families blog -- this includes a post I wrote about seeing our sponsor kids
• Tricia's tribute video to Feed the Dream

December trip participants, I would love to link to your roundups on this page! Please send me your link, and I will post it here!

Goodbye Panajachel, Hello Santiago Atitlan, Friday, December 12

Friday morning, we awoke early for a last breakfast in Panajachel. We went to Deli Jasmin, a tranquil little place towards the end of Calle Santander, just before the waterfront.


Holly C., Morgan, Sarah, Tricia, Maureen, and Mary all came.


We had a scrumptious breakfast, and then it was time to say goodbye. It was hard to believe that the volunteering part of the week was over, and that we wouldn't see everyone for a while. They were such a fabulous group of ladies!


We left the Deli, and Michael and I walked down Calle Santander to get out some money before we departed for our next stop: Santiago Atitlan, which is across the lake from Panajachel.


I took a picture of one of my favorite murals. I love anything with the national bird, the quetzal.


We packed up our stuff at Dos Mundos. BTW, Michael proved once again what a gentleman he was by bringing me flowers from the market one day! You can see them on the nightstand.

Then it was time to head down to the waterfront. We made arrangements through the hotel for a private boat. Yes, it was far more expensive than taking a ferry or collectivo, but we figured our safety was worth the extra money, especially since a ferry had sunk recently in Lake Atitlan. In the end, it was less than $40.

So, someone from the hotel drove us down to the docks, and we got on our very sturdy little boat. There was a little confusion, since the teenage boy who was carrying our luggage stuck around the boat. I was trying to think of how to ask how to ask my question, and all of the sudden, I thought of "La Bamba." "Estas marinero?" I asked. Yes, it turned out he was the one who was in charge of the boat.

And we set off.














The boat was fast! We quickly approached the volcano that had seemed far away.






And then we arrived at the private dock of Posada de Santiago.


We quickly got checked in to our accommodations: a stone cottage by the name of Casita La Palma. You can see the palm tree carving on the front door.


The cottage was small, but very inviting. We had a working fireplace with wood all ready to go. There was also some interesting art on the walls.


Outside our casita, we had a little lawn.


We spied a gecko on the wall of the neighboring cottage. Thankfully, he didn't try to sell us car insurance.

We also had our very own hammock!


This was the path down to the lodge, which was the site of the restaurant, bar, and information desk.

We decided to jump right in and take the short walk down the road into the city of Santiago Atitlan. Friday is market day, so we didn't want to miss it.

We followed the pickup trucks into town and down the streets we believed would lead us to the market. And we were right. We suddenly found the sprawling warren of tented stalls selling clothing, shoes, and kitchen needs. There was only one gringa in the vicinity, and we had seen her coming out of building that seemed to house an NGO.

No one hassled us or tried to sell us anything. There were no children or women carrying tourist textiles. It was very different than Panajachel.

We found our way to the indoor food market. It was quite incredible to see all the different kinds of tomatoes and squash and tropical fruits, not to mention all the women in colorful traditional dress buying and selling. I would have loved to have taken pictures, but I knew that would have been a big faux pas in this setting. We were guests in their domain.

Michael bought some fresh cut fruit. I was wary of trying any, since the old traveler's wisdom cautions against that. So I missed out. But at least I knew I didn't have to worry about digestive problems.

We exited the building by the meat stands, with their cuts hanging from hooks or sitting on the counter. I thought about how people probably do not wash their hands after touching raw meat here. Then I promptly put it out of my mind.

We wanted to find the famous church in town, so we started walking in a direction we guessed it might be.


On the way, we saw the gorgeous carved doors of a missionary church, I believe.


Finally, we found the main church in Santiago. A missionary priest from Oklahoma had been killed here back during the war in the 1990s. The church was very simple, but it had a few nice tablets at the back telling the story of the church and the war.

Outside the church, a little boy found us and asked if we'd like to see Maximón. This is a Mayan deity who is worshipped in parts of the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Maximón has a special shrine in Santiago Atitlan that I had read about in a great article in National Geographic Traveler.

The shrine changes location every year and is watched over by members of a local Cofradia, or brotherhood. I was eager to see what this was all about. After agreeing on a price, the little boy took us down a street to an unassuming house. I peered in the window and saw a scene I had imagined. There was the statue of Maximón wrapped in ties and scarves with a man sitting watch on either side of him. Maximón had a cigar in his mouth, and there were offerings of alcohol, flowers, cigarettes, and money. Two people were knelt in prayer before the figure, and they chanted and burned incense.

It was all very bizarre. Taking a picture cost money, and we only had big bills left, so I have no photos from this experience. But pictures I have found online are very accurate.

We paid the little boy. I was considering going back to the market and buying him a shirt. His was badly torn. But when he demanded another quetzal more than our agreed price, I decided that would be his bonus. Plus, as Michael said, if we had done that, within a matter of minutes every little kid in town who gives Maximón "tours" would have been on top of us.

Michael and I found our way out of town. We saw a woman throw a rock at a street dog along the way, and it sadly reminded me of the way many people here treat dogs. The dog seemed ok, though.

Again, we were not hit up by any vendors. I think all the vendors must be down by the Santiago public dock. We didn't see that part of town at all. So we missed art galleries and shops there, which are supposed to be good. But, then again, we didn't get harrassed at all.


The walk out of town back to the Posada was beautiful.


A last glimpse of town.


People were washing clothing on the banks of the lake.


We got back to the Posada famished! Luckily, they have amazing food. We started our lunch at the Posada mirador with fresh guacamole and blue corn tortilla chips. These tortilla chips were the real deal: handmade blue corn tortillas folded in half and fried. The one thing I would have added was some jalapeno and cilantro to the guacamole. The Guatemalan variety is blander than the Mexican. And, yes, that bottle of Gallo was icy cold and dee-licious!


After lunch, we rested in the hammock and then went for a schwitz in their little sauna cabin. It was just big enough for the two of us, and it was very effective! After a while I got up the courage to jump in their big, but cold, swimming pool. It was oh so refreshing after the sauna! Then we enjoyed their mini hot tub.

After a nap, we went for dinner in the Posada lodge. Again, it was unbelievably tasty. We were still rather full from lunch, but we did our best to eat as much as we could! I know Michael had some of the best ribs of his life there. I had an exquisite Szechuan eggplant dish. This was accompanied by a gigantic margarita for me and some aged Guatemalan (and Cuban) rum for Michael.

Completely stuffed, we rolled back to our casita and caught the full moon above on our way. Michael made a fire, and we lit the candles that were provided in the room. It was very rustic and romantic! You'll see more pictures tomorrow!