Monday, December 24, 2007

feliz navidad!

Atìtlan sunset

Iglesia en Chichicastenango


Los Gringos estan esperando en Chichi.



The mama y yo have been doing it up Guate styles. Avoiding incineration, taking wild shuttle rides, meeting Mayan dieties, buying way too many textiles, and generally just enjoying the Guate life. Mom says I have been doing a crap job relating exciting stories so I will work on that on my next entry, but the current fireworks display is disturbing my focus.
Feliz whatever you feel like celebrating. For me it will be a day without shopping, finally.

Monday, December 17, 2007

esperando

I got my first solid dose of christmas music last night, provided by the two british girls staying in my dorm. It got me all mushy and sentimental missing all the amazing people I am blessed to have in my life and wondering why I am purposely putting so much space between us. Traveling makes you ask that question a lot, more than I would really like. The flip side is that it makes you appreciate everything. Patricia inspired me to start a list of ¨why I love my home,¨it includes good beer, mt. Tam, the civic center farmers market, the marin boathouse, super easy super casual dinners, marin trails, and of course friends and family.
I am doubly blessed right now, because one of the best parts of home is coming to visit me in the form of my mom. It will be nice to share amazing Guatemala with someone so special. Great as friends that you meet traveling are, it is nice to have someone from home to ground you, and be bowled over by the beauty of a Lake Atìtlan sunrise while standing right next to you.
Its been an interesting last couple of weeks for me. I think that meditating twice a day, talking about astral traveling, and reading buddhist texts does that to a person. Traveling brings up all the same issues too, impermenance, uncertainty, lonliness. Issues that are easier to ignore in the rhythm of a more structured life. The thing that I am seeing is that there is a lot of truth in the statement that ¨fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.¨ And if Pema is right, and enlightenment is ¨total fearlessness,¨I am glad I am out on the road, because a lot of it scares the shit out of me. Predictability is lost out here. Comfort and familiarity take on a new meaning because they are infrequent guests in my life. But the challenge and difficulties are worth it because each sunrise, each new friend, and each good cup of coffee represents a lot of adventure.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

doh!

Well I have escaped the lake. I went out in style, a big ol´goodbye dinner at Paco Real where we literally took over the whole restaurant and cleaned the place out of pesto. A couple litros of gallo warmed us up enough to spend an hour down on the dock, where we were haunted by a silent launcha, and stared at those looming volcàns. This morning Patty P woke me up for sunrise and yoga, and after some packing and a bit of hanging at the docks I was off on the launcha to ¡pana pana pana!
There I got honkied into a shuttle to Antigua, which ended up being worth it just for the reduction of hassle that it provided. The hawkers tactic of telling me a bus was no good because I would have to ride it with strangers was unconvincing but quite entertaing. What got me was that the shuttle was leaving right then, sometimes I´ll pay for convenience. Along the way I zoned out ipod styles, got asked to go dancing with a friendly gas station attendant and discovered that Guatemalans know about the joys of Homer Simpson.
Along the road to Antigua was a stand selling carnitas y chicharrone. Their advertising tactic was a large picture of Homer Simpson carrying a pig under his arm. Brought back all sorts of apples to apples memories of one new years past. Needless to say it got me chuckling.
So there you are. I´m rolling sola, waiting for my laundry and my mom while recovering from a pupusa induced coma.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

guate-styles

So I am still living life in Guatemala, rolling along comfortably on central american time. My mom arrives Monday, so today is my last official day as a Moonie, tomorrow I depart for Antigua to take up again the life of a wanderer. The with-Mom travels will be a bit different, I am sure, flights to Tikal, actual reservations, plans, big stuff. But I am looking forward to a different pace, change has a way of ridding one of complacency and keeps things interesting.

In tribute to my departure, some priceless moments on the lake...
Last saturday, prior to the shenanigans of the new moon party I embarked on my first Guatemalan trail run from San Marcos to San Pedro. I would highly recommend this type of endeavor for stamina, and endurance. Yelling ¨Buenas!¨and ¨hola!¨to all the Guatemalans you encounter takes a certain level of aerobic fitness. That combined with vacas charging, climbing over rocks, getting mowed down by our canine tour guide ¨Astro¨as well as avoiding stepping in human fecal matter, keeps things interesting. Needless to say I was happy to take the launcha back.
¿Qué mas?
Oooooh... many a meal at our new favorite restaurants Paco Real, the mexican joint that serves pasta, mole, and a mean lentil soup.
Two botched attempts at skpe interview, which ended in me yelling loudly into my cell phone at a San Pedro internet cafe.
Stepping in dog shit on a dark walk home from blind lemon.
Breathing nueve tres nueve, once tres once, and trece tres trece!
Swimming and practicing Shiatsu at Russel´s dock.
Watching the Gemini meteor shower over the volcanoes and lake. esuper cool.
Just generally keeping it real, mixed in with a couple guided meditations, some siestas, and many a hot chocolate. So there you all go.
Wishing you all well with the last frenzied days of pre-christmas chaos, deep breathing and abstaining from credit card use will get you through!
BESOS!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

siete, tres, siete

So I´ve gotten all wrapped up in a very active social life with my fellow, ¨moonies,¨as it were. Not that that should be an excuse, but between meditation, shiatsu class, and trying to astral travel my calendar has been packed. Luckily one of the few guys that are taking the course is a talented story teller as well as photo journalist, which saves me some time in the internet cafe. You can check out his perspective at:
www.30casa30.com
Who says spirituality and boxed wine can´t mix?
Well, back to some deep breathing after a quick San Pedro pizza fix.

oh and this is the link to me laughing after beating Sasha in an arm wrestling match at the new moon party.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

the om continues...

pilar y diego
chilling out with the bamboo in San Marcos
las estudiantes en Candelaria


I´m still chilling out in San Marcos keeping up the spiritual path, setting people straight that humans are in fact omnivores regardless of our enviro-spiritual-political opinions on eating flesh, and just generally being myself. Anyways thought I´d throw some photos your way so that you can keep up visually with my adventures.