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| The Lake |
What a magical place to be for New Year’s! Josh Amy and I are here in our beautiful
place at Pasaj-Cap, a fifteen minute to San Marcos. Here is what my New Year’s Eve day shaped up
to be:
I woke up around 7 or 7:30.
It’s hard to sleep when the sun comes up and illuminates Volcano San
Pedro which faces are big window. It’s
better to get up! We drank coffee,
checked email, hung out for a little bit enjoying our surroundings. Then I went up to our roof where there is a
little palapa with hammock and some lounge chairs. There is a shady spot up there, and I lay out
my yoga mat and started a short yoga routine.
I heard a little explosion, and saw a puff of smoke in the distance,
emerging from Volcano Fuego which is towards Antigua. Okay, carry on with sun (and volcano) salutations.
I am struck by the power and magic of my
surroundings on a regular basis. The
lake is always changing, it seems like it is different every moment. The light and shadow changes, the wind rises
and falls, sometimes it is calm, sometimes the lake is filled with
whitecaps. There are many villages
visible around the circumference of the lake.
I was starting to wrap up my little practice and prepare to
sit for 10 minutes, when Amy came up and was clearly upset. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “I must have left my iPhone at Del Lago last
night. It’s gone!”
So instead of sitting, we walked to town, about 20 minutes
away. There was upsetness happening, and
I reminded Amy to just look around, or, as is my mantra when we travel: “Look
where we are!” The rough dirt road to
town, is absolutely stunning, with tons of trees of all kinds, flowers, birds,
and of course, the lake.
Del Lago is the name of the Hostalito/Restaurant we
discovered immediately upon our arrival in San Marcos. We tend to be drawn there for many
reasons. One reason is our Spanish
teacher, Andres (Andrew). Andrew is
originally from Brooklyn, and was teaching Spanish to middle school students
there for a few years. He decided to
step away from the “system” and come to Guatemala to see how he could apply his
skills and knowledge to make a difference here.
He is 27 years old, and we have become good friends. He also happens to be a wonderful Spanish
teacher, and both Amy and I are working hard and making progress.
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| Amy and Amir in the communal kitchen at Del Lago |
Anyhow, we started asking around, and when we asked Steve,
who is kind of the manager of the place, he pulled Amy’s iPhone out of his
pocket and said someone found it and handed it to him. What a relief!
So in a much happier space, we grabbed Andres and took him
out for breakfast at his favourite little Libreria/Restaurant called “Iris” near
Del Lago. Breakfast costs around $3 for
a full meal with coffee and juice, and we spent some valuable time with Andres
helping him process a difficult situation he was going through. An hour or more later (Guatemalan time!) we
strolled back home to join Josh.
Our “landlord” Pierre hosted a party here down by the lakeshore
on the property in the afternoon for guests and friends from around San Marcos. It was well underway when we arrived (around
2 pm). There was a pile of fire roasted
chicken, salads, including a broccoli salad we brought, mojitos and wine and
beer. There was a “weed” circle nearby
as well. Recorded dance music was
playing, and around 30 people were there.
Josh and I played a few tunes on guitar and charrango, then the dance
music came on again. It was a nice
party, and I met around 10 new people, some who were staying on the property,
and some who live nearby. It is a really
interesting group of people from all over the world: France, Belgium, Germany,
Canada, U.S., Sri Lanka, and more. One
intense thing that happened was the Sri Lankan man collapsed and needed some
urgent medical care, with concerns about his heart rate. One guest from Canada (also named Paul) is a
psychiatrist, and he was able to help stabilize the man. Finally Josh helped translate from English to
Spanish, and the man was carried to a waiting truck for transport home. It definitely affected the mood of the party,
and was a reminder of the fragility of our lives, especially in a remote
environment like this one.
We left the party around 5 pm, and rested in our apartment
for a couple of hours. Ahhh – quiet time!
Then the three of us walked into town to
Restaurant Fé
(which means faith in Spanish). Again,
the road is always magical and changing.
Last night there was a big circle around the almost half moon, guiding
our way along the road. Our Israeli
friend Uria was performing on guitar and vocals for the evening, and Josh and a
violin player named Jorge joined him. I
also joined on guitar for a couple of long songs. We had a nice dinner (vegetarian Kashmir
curry and Palak Paneer, Josh had chicken Biryani). We spent some time hanging out with Uria’s
partner Titeli (butterfly in Sanskrit, and when she danced to the music we
could understand why that was her name), sleeping baby Ariel, who will turn two
on January 9. Ariel is a very special
child, born exactly 30 years to the day after Josh. They have a connection! The family is traveling with Uria’s mother
Tziona, and will spend a couple of months together in Hawaii, there next
destination. Lucky Mom! So after more music, conversation, food and
beverages, things wrapped up around 10 pm. How nice and early! We grabbed a tuk-tuk (rickshaw) ride home,
and actually went to bed around 11 pm.
We were awoken by the sounds of fireworks. We got up and went to the window. I wish we could capture what we saw in a
photo - it would have to be a panoramic shot.
We can see almost all the way around the lake, and we could see bright
colours flashing in around 8 different places, 8 different villages. It lasted for more than half and hour, and we
just observed from our little apartment fiery colours miles away. It was quite amazing!
And so we had a very rich and full day to welcome in 2012. Of course 2012 is a most significant year in
the Mayan calendar, and it seems so fitting that we bring in 2012 here on Lake
Atitlan! I have a feeling that this year
will be another adventurous one for us!
Hang on to our hats!
Hoping anyone reading this post also enjoyed a great New Year’s
Eve, and wishing a good year to all!
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