Lagooooo

So I'm currently kinda stuck in Panajachel.  By the time I decided to leave, there were no more buses, so I'm chillin for a bit.  Which means I'm gunna blog a bit.  Also, I'm watching this interesting documentary about the Mexican Mormon War (Drug Cartels vs. Mormons).

Let's see... I left Xela with some friends Saturday morning.  We took a bus directly to San Pedro La Laguna, where we met up with more friends, had a picnic, and generally chilled.  I bought a pretty necklace from a Costa Rican artist named Roberto, and then hung out with him and his friends a bit.  Then I had to wander around San Pedro looking for my friends, who I'd lost.  But I found them.  We ate food and napped and then got ready for the costume party.

The party was cool.  We had to take a boat to get there.  There were not very many people in costumes, because not many people are as cool as we are.  I dressed up as a kitty cat/jaguar/cheetah.  My posse included an impressive rooster, the Quetzalteca chick, a yin yang, a niña, a mushroom, Papa Smurf, and Smurfette.

The party got broken up by the police though, and we had to go home.  But it was fun.  Papa Smurf explained to me that if you throw a party next to a road, the police will come even if there are no problems.  If you throw a party away from the road, the police won't come because they're lazy.  The party was right next to the road.  Oops. 

When we got back to San Pedro, we took a walk and watched the sunrise on the lake.  Super pretty.  Then we slept a bit.  Then I got up and ditched my friends.  I'm used to travelling solo.  What can I say?

So San Pedro is beautiful and affordable, and I was wrong.  It does have night life and stuff to do. I'm definitely happy with my choice to stay in Xela though.  San Pedro, like Antigua, is FULL OF GRINGOS.  All the signs are in English.  Everyone speaks English.  The gringos are just a little crunchier.  The San Pedro party scene is less cerveza and salsa and more mota and acidos.  Which, in my opinion, is not such a great scene for everyday living.  I guess I'm just square like that.  :-p  Unlike Antigua, San Pedro is full of Israelis.  Weird.  One local guy explained to me that "those people look for a cheap place to live."  I think it was racist, but maybe his political correctness just got lost in translation. Plus is it racist if it's true?

But yeah... I'm pretty sure most normal people live in cities like Xela, and travel to San Pedro occasionally to party.  Only the hardcore hippies want to live there.  Which reminds me, I met some girl who knows Travis.  :-p

So Sunday morning, I ate some delicious falafel for brunch, and then headed out in a kayak for 2 hours of loveliness.  Then I had to bring all my clothes and my backpack to a laundromat because they were wet.  While I waited for my laundry, I met up with Roberto and his Costa Rican rasta crew, and we cooked up some lunch.  I found Sriracha! That is one nice/weird thing about the more gringo-heavy parts of Guatemala. You can find all sorts of foodstuffs that don't exist in Xela.  (I later took advantage of the concentration of gringo hippies and found some echinacea tincture for 40Q.  Just ran out.)

After lunch and chillin, I headed to an internet cafe and wandered around a bit. There's this amazing chocolate all over the lake area.  I got one with spicy chili, and one "mixed" which contains cacao, sugar, orange juice, milk, cinnamon, coconut, peanut, mint, raisins, and coffee.  YUM!  Then I considered heading to Panajachel, but it was getting all late and dark and stuff.  Then I ran back into my Costa Rican friends, who said I could crash with them (as in for free).  So we cooked up some rice and sardines (surprisingly delicious) and watched Men in Black and Up in Spanish, and went to sleep.

This morning I got up early and headed to Panajachel.  I don't have any Pana pictures yet cuz my USB cord is in my hotel room.  :-p  But yeah.  Panajachel is also quite touristy.  It has less dirty hippies, but it's more expensive.  I dunno, man.  It's beautiful I guess.  The boat ride over from San Pedro was pretty breathtaking.  But yeah.  I'm not digging the touristy-ness.  People here charge DOLLARS!  And the peddlers are aggressive!  Little children will follow you with their stupid pens and bracelets for a half mile.  But yeah.  The artisan market has lots of pretty stuff.  Not really looking to buy anything, but it's fun to admire if you're good at telling people "no, gracias" and "ando sin pisto."  I made friends with some little kids and was telling them about my adventures. People here keep asking me if I'm Argentinian or Spanish.  I'm digging it.  Also means I probably have the same habit of picking up other people's accents in Spanish that I have in English.  Because I've been hanging out with Argentinians and Spanish people lately.  :-p

I tried jocotes for the first time today.  Those are pretty tasty.  I also went to the "public beach," which was pretty nasty, but a lovely place to sit and journal for a bit.  Honestly, Lago Atitlan--one of my favorite places in the world--is looking pretty dirty and polluted.  It's still magical, but...

Panajachel has lots of men in traditional Mayan traje, though, which is pretty cool.  You never see that in Xela.

I think that's about all I gots to say right now.  I really want to meet up with my friend who moved from Xela to Pana, but he's not answering his phone.