MAN OH MAN! Where to begin. Since departing from Xela I have been having a love/hate relationship with Guatemala.
First stop: Santa Anita, a small coffee cooperative (not so cooperative since they all more or less hate each other) in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. There I participated in the daily routine of:
7 AM: Breakfast of boiled bananas which if you havent had the chance to enjoy I would recommend it. They have the texture and taste of boiled feet and are complimented quite nicely by instant coffee. Thats right, instant coffee on a coffee plantation.
8AM - 12:30 PM (Yep that´s 4.5 hours): Weeding. Enough said.
Smiling ear to ear? Or fighting back tears? You decide.
1 PM: Lunch. Sometimes delicious, sometimes a variation of bananas.
1:15 PM - 7:00 PM: absolutely nothing. I did have the opportunity to read 3 books and watch 2 movies in my 5 days there.
7 PM: Dinner. Who knows what I ate.
This was repeated almost exactly everyday Mon-Thursday. Friday I left to visit my friends who were studying at a Spanish Language school a few towns over. I was ecstatic to see them and to get a few solid hugs, laughs, and inappropriate conversations out of my system. So many hours on my hands and knees in a coffee field, inside my own head is not healthy for anyone.
A night with good friends was much needed. The next morning we all headed seperate ways.
Second stop: Antigua, Guatemala. A 4 or 5 hour trip via chicken bus (or 3) dropped me off in a bustling market. It wasnt long before I was awed by the beauty of the Spanish architecture and dilapitated ruins scattered around the city. Unfortunately I could only keep my eyes above the heads of all the foreigneres for so long and soon had to face the reality that this town is a bit like the Disneyworld of Guatemala. The streets just a little too clean, the culture forced, and not enough stray dogs for my liking.
Here I met up with Jason, an amigo I met in Xela. We left Antigua yesterday for Monterrico, a small village off the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Our original intention was to head North to the beautiful caves of Shemuc Chimpay but found the explanation of traveling there in our trusty guide books a little too confusing and instead decided to head South. Natural caves and hot springs or a trip to the Pacific Coast for a relaxing week on the beach … How does one handle decisions such as these!? Its been tough to say the least.
