Studied Spanish for a week, climbed a volcano, and kayaked on Lake Atitlan

Yikes, I think I need a day off.

I spent a week studying Spanish in Quetzeltenango(Xela).  It was pretty intense, with 5 hours a day of one-on-one immersion.  I had a really patient teacher, but I'm not sure how much got through my thick skull.  I really need to practice more.  It might help if I spent more time studying rather than climbing volcanoes.

     The volcano hike up Santa Maria was pretty easy, but the 5am start was hard.  There were a couple teenage girls from the US in our group who struggled.  It was 3500 feet elevation gain on a steep, slippery trail, and most of those in our group had no experience.  I had to laugh at a young Aussie, who had never hiked before, but was a good surfer.  To descend the steep muddy trail, he tried surfing down.  It was really hilarious and the wipe-outs spectacular.  Amazingly enough he didn't hurt himself.  The views from the top where stunning, which made the early start worth it.  There were even some tough old Mayan women in sandals climbing to the summit for a Mayan religious ceremony.

     In Xela, I stayed in a Cultural Center that had lots of plays and live music every night.  This was fun and really interesting, but didn't do much for my Spanish study habits.

    I'm now in San Pedro on Lake Atitlan, and last night I experienced a bizarre procession of the Virgin Mary on a Parade Float.  It's like the Semana Santa parade that they have at Easter, but this one is held before Christmas.  This is a small town of only a couple thousand people, but they had live bands playing on 5 street corners, and after the Catholic-Mayan church service on the steps of the Church, they paraded a huge wooden statue of the Virgin Mary along the cobblestone streets.  She was covered in Christmas lights, and flowers.  They have an old Honda Generator that they wheel behind the procession to power all the lights on the Float.  The procession had to stop every block, to clear the evil spirits away.  They did this by throwing tons of firecrackers on the cobblestone street in front of the procession.  I think it worked.  It also cleared the kids away who were running around and having a great time.  There were lots of fireworks too, during the parade.  There are Fireworks almost every night in Guatemala, as we approach Christmas.

Photos

Cheers,

Dave