We arrived on Lake Atitlan on Thursday night, after a 12
hour travel day by multiple shuttle vans from San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico,
south to Guatemala, where we boarded another van that took us to kilometro 148
where we were met by another van to take us to San Marcos, Lake Atitlan,
Guatemala. Here is what our surroundings
look like:
We are getting settled into our paradise spot here! Surrounded by volcanoes, a beautiful lake
with several Mayan villages around the shores, villagers speaking various
indigenous languages (Kaqchikel, Tzotzil are two we have heard here). People are generally extremely friendly and
welcoming, and we are already having adventures, visiting Panajachel and San
Pedro. Yoga in the morning, excursions
in the afternoons, making nice meals in our kitchen here, and generally feeling
healthy and full.
We have a couple of volunteer projects we are involved
with. Next Friday we will travel to
Guatemala City to stay with families of Casa Hillel, a Jewish community in the
city. I am not really excited about
being in the city – I think it’s a bit of a hellhole – but we will “hide out”
with the community we are staying with and I am sure it will be just fine! This is a new Jewish community, native
Guatemalans who sought out a religion for themselves, discovered Judaism, and
were converted by a Reform Rabbi from the US.
They are just starting to learn Hebrew, customs, rituals, and prayer,
and we are going to visit them for several Shabbatot to share whatever we know,
as well as music for Chanukah and Shabbat and anything else. I am excited to be with them, even if it is
in Guatemala City. It’s about a four
hour trip from here, first a boat to Panajachel, then a shuttle van to the
city, where our host family will pick us up.
Until then we will be around here, in this most awesome
environment, chilling, exploring, doing a little work (Amy has a little remote
work going on), taking Spanish lessons at a hostel in San Marcos, about a 20
minute walk from here, and experiencing life on Lake Atitlan. We are so blessed!
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