Blue Lagoon

Blue Lagoon was just as spiritually breathtaking as the volcano. Simple nature with the lake shining into th4e sun. Tourists were chilling out on hammocks, which came from hotels/hostels that lined the front of the lake. A couple families were swimming and had a BBQ towards the end of the beach. The kids were splashing around and the father was throwing them around in the water. These people know how to do it. They know how to providing a loving environment for their children and that is priceless.  It makes me feel so alive to see these beautiful family moments between people. These positive moments are exactly what kids need to look back on and feel loved.

                         

While I was standing there next to a local man just about to go into the water. He says, "Hey look."
I look up and there is a beautiful rainbow sitting right over the lake.


We both look at one another and smile.  It made me think that these rainbows show up when goodness is present-just a thought.  A rainbow could also indicate that it's about the pour. My driver, Mr.Benny, was signaling me over the car. I ran up the hill and jumped over a rock(almost falling) and landed in the car just in time. It literally started raining right after we sat inside.


Normally, I would like to get wet and dance in the rain, but not when I'm in transit and on my way to another city. 

Off to the city of Granada and bye bye to a wonderful, magical city-Masaya........ 

San Pedro-Lake Atitlan

San Pedro is on the opposite side of the island and I decided to take a day excursion over there to visit my see what all the hype was about.  While there are many small cities on the island, Santiago is actually suppose to be the most beautiful, but I only had time for one. After 30 minutes we arrived and hopped over the boat and things immediately felt different.  Where were the smiles and friendly people? Men were giving weird stares, which have not been occurring much thus far.  There was a higher number of homeless people on the streets drinking and smoking.  It was not my cup of tea at all and I came over looking for a nice hike. I asked directions to a local and they guided me in the wrong direction.  I went to the market and that was not appealing either. 

It was time for me to just do what I do best. Go to a nice spot on the water, eat some good food, and write.  I did just that and met some nice tourists in the process.  My Greek salad was huge and taste amazing. It was raining, but the sun came out on different occasions.  It was clear to me the more I spent time there that I was meant to be in Panjachel.  I originally had an opportunity in San Pedro, but I went with my instinct and canceled it deciding on Pana-what a great decision on my part.

                                         

  

Some people just love San Pedro and those are the hippy kinds who I don't have much in common with other than being a traveler.  It's just different strokes for different folks I guess, which is completely fine.  The hotel informed me the last boat was at 4 so I ran down there to catch the last boat. I met a nice tourist from Mexico who was traveling through Central America alone at 18-brave girl.  She lead me to the dock and I ran over saying, "Pana, Pana." I looked like a hysterical mess as I hopped on the boat and securely sat down next to the 5 female tourists. A very unclean tourist wearing dirty socks, shoes, and a shirt with a hole in it.  She commented on Pana when a girl asked about it saying, "Don't bother it's a waste of time." I took such offense to this comment about my beautiful Pana and I so badly wanted to say, "You're a waste of time." But I kept my mouth closed, which is a good idea for many situations I encounter with annoying tourists saying stupid things.   Panajachel is so much better than San Pedro, but whatever floats her boat.  I just hope her boat has soap on it ha!  

Something about this city created some PTSD with my bad Moroccan experiences where I started experiencing flash backs of the negativity.  People were hollering and looked like they were getting into trouble.  It just looked suspicious and made me feel uncomfortable. I knew that I just had to get out of there and away from this atmosphere. Unfortunately, I'm just not in the place to experience all kinds of problems with people in the community-I don't have the strength or patience for it after Morocco.  

           

                                 Writing Destination 

 

It Found Me

When I arrived at Lake Atitlan, I had to find my new home for the next 2 weeks. I had an idea of what I was looking for including something quiet, spacious, and with a great lake view.  My price range was anywhere from $15 to $20 per night.  First, I stopped at a coffee shop and asked around about what they recommend.  
Little Amigo said:  "If you want to party, stay on Calle Santander."

I said, "Which way is Calle Santander?"

Little Amigo said: "This whole street is Calle Santander so just walk up." 

I said, " I will be walking the opposite way to the Lake where the quiet people sleep." 

Little Amigo: "The lake is more quiet, buen idea."

My new line of questioning is asking where all the parties are and completely avoiding that area.  Off  I went to the Lake from place to place to see if they pass the "Pris Investigation and Line of 100 questions." 

The guy from the restaurants was helping direct me to a couple places I had showed him on my phone.  

It was hard to find places that included breakfast so I let that go and decided to utilize my cliff bars. 

Due to the amount of water I drink, the place had to have filtered water with the brand name Agua de Salavidas.  It also had to have a Lake view because I wanted something with a view to write and do yoga. I also wanted nice staff who I could spend some time getting to know. 

After exploring many that were nice, clean with a great rooftop- something was missing. My last stop just happened to find me with an angel on my shoulder.   I walked into a lovely little garden and was greeted by a little black hot dog looking dog.  I was kindly greeted by Juan Francisco who showed me the first room- in my price range and Lake view, but something was missing.  He could tell that I was not fully satisfied. I asked about the other rooms with Lake view. 



With some hesitation, he showed me the bigger room in the middle, which had 3 beds and was for 3 people.  My arrival day was probably one of the most beautiful days. The sky was clear with a few clouds and and the lake was fully visible with a panaramic view.  The beds were all hot pink with the cutest rug and the shiny wood floors. The room furniture was all Guatemalan wooden antique with a cute fireplace. The bathroom was very  

Clean with a fresh scent and fresh towels. I was ready to negotiate for this room bc I knew this was exactly what I wanted for 2 weeks. 

I had saw the price of $40USD per night, but he told me we could just keep it at a single room rate of $17USD per night. If the room was needed then I would move to the back for the night. And that was it- SOLD. This was my new home for 2 weeks with my Lake and sunset views.  

   

      

DIVINE

                                                               

Happy Exploring

When it comes to my extracurricular activities and traveling, I am pretty easy to entertain.  The number one favorite activity I have, besides all the interactions with people, is hiking.  Hiking is a complete spiritual and physical experience that takes the body to new found places.  With the love for challenge, hiking to the top of the mountains at 10,000 plus elevation is motivating for me. Sometimes one can go up to the top and see a view with a car, bike, or bus.  It's just never the same as taking step by step breathing, observing, listening, and smelling nature straight to the top.  It doesn't matter if it's raining or it's muddy, I have to hike up to the final point.  My mind and body will not be content just going half way or taking a car up and viewing.  It's a craving of that experience, which you never forget and makes you continue to hike.

  

With this said, Priscilla was quite happy at the Nature Reserve of Atitlan where there was a hike up to the waterfall.  Since this was a zip lining sight, there were about 10 or so suspension bridges that you crossed through your hike. They recommended to sit at the suspension bridges and wait for the monkeys.

Instead of silently waiting, I was calling out for them, "Donde esta monkeys?" " Ven aqui por favor." My experience with monkeys had been questionable-one ate my bracelet, one took my sunglasses, and some were just violent and scary.  I was calling and they weren't coming, which was fine. I ended up getting to the waterfall and felt that it was not enough of a hike so I took another trail to the top. 

That was not enough either so I took another trail that took me on a detour into a huge mud puddle.  It's times like that where I think to myself, "Priscilla can you ever just follow instructions and stay on the route?" Getting lost can be amazing or it can a bit of pain when you are in a rain forest and it starts pouring! When it rains in Guatemala, it usually only rains for 15 minutes and then the sun reappears.  The sun did thankfully reappear and I was ready to head back on course.  

Finally, the monkeys came out to say "hello" and they were friendly and not aggressive-thank God.  The zip lines were going through so I watched all the tourist come sliding down the lines and shouting.  I had debated doing the zip lines, but was so happy I decided against it with my peaceful hike. 

After I came down the hill to see the butterflies, the blind raccoon, and the birds.  Behind the front area, I found a Zip-lining swing, which you went up on a platform and pushed yourself to the other side.  Like a child, I sat and pushed myself back and forth about 5 or 6 times.  It was my Free Zip lining experience except not nearly the same as I was not up 4000 feet swinging through trees and staring at the Lake.  You have to lose some to win some=) 

After the Nature Reserve, it was off to the luxurious Hotel Atitlan gardens where it started raining again.  Something about skipping around in the rain in the gardens with no one there felt good and kind of forbidden. There was the cutest bunny farm with a big, overweight bunny with patches and floppy ears-she was the Mom. 

There was a Toucan, a parrot, and all different types of fish and birds. It was truly a beautiful garden with nice landscape and architecture of the ponds and fountains.  There was also a Rose garden with many different types of Roses.  Guatemala has beautiful roses of all different colors with my favorite one being Pink with white accents. It's one I have never even seen before.  

At the picturesque Hotel Atitlan patio with a pool and view of the Lake, I ate a Vegetable wrap with beans and plantains.  Everything was outstanding and the Speciality Guatemalan Hot chocolate was perfect to finish it off.  

After exploring the hotel, I went into the gift shop to meet Shirley who is from Texas.  She lives in Guatemala and loves the food, people, and culture.  She can't stand Obama and what he did to America and I 100 percent agree with her as I was never a fan of him.  She says that Texas is trying to be turned into a Republican state and she is a Republican for life who can't stand these changes. She speaks highly of Guatemalan families, children going to school being mandatory, and the proper nutrition in their daily meals.  She is just a pleasure to chat with as she makes the funniest jokes and is full of life.  We both are very fond of each other and she is proud of the work I am doing in her community.  It's a blessing meeting such wonderful people, it just seemed to work out that way in Guatemala.  

Lake Atitlan

“At the water” is the meaning of Lake Atitlan.  Lake Atitlan is one of the deepest lakes in Central America with a depth of 1,120 feet. Amongst it’s beautiful waters lies various Lakeside communities including: Santa Marcos, Santiago, Panajachel, San Pedro, and Santa Cruz. When one first catches glance of the lake on a clear, sunny day-it stuns the eyes with it’s beauty.  The mountains surround it and literally lay on the top one another creating a picturesque wonderland.

It’s a Lake with a lot of spirituality that surrounds it’s waters. There are villages include the two main ones: Tz’utujil and Kaqchikel.  

The area of the villages is surrounded by beans, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, chile verde, strawberries, and pitahaya fruit (red with yellow spikes). There are avocado trees, mango trees, and coffee farms as well.  They are especially present in San Pedro. 

Unfortunately, this beautiful region suffered from Hurricane Stan in 2005.  Hurricane rains from Hurricane Stan caused extensive rain damage in 2005. A village Panabaj of 1,400 residents were killed by this massive landslide (Wikipedia). One can see trees in the water and some docks still floating. They definitely represent a resilient group of people. 

Some facts come from Wikipedia in this post. 

7 Polish Lawyers and a Pris

It was time to head off to my volunteer headquarters in Panajachel Lake Atitlan-what some say is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. I was standing in front of my hostel and my name, "Prisciyaa"(Latin America pronunciation) was called.  I jump inside to see all men and just one Pris.  I sat in the backseat next to a friendly looking guy with glasses and a friendly face. 

We got to talking and it turns out they are 7 lawyers from Warsaw, Poland all on a trip together. He told me that Chicago has the second highest Polish population. We got to talking about our lives and traveling.  He seemed to be interested by my work and I was interested by his.  It would be fun to exchange careers for a day, a week, or a month.  I think its another fascinating job and my best friend always told me what a good lawyer I would make.

Anyways, it sounded like him and his friends were leading quite the bachelor lifestyle and I joked he could be the next Polish bachelor for ABC.  Some of his friends were a bit "stiff" and kind of nerdy.  They were not really into speaking English, but it was fun joking with my a couple of them and my new buddy Eric.
Unfortunately, we got separated mid-way and by a Guatemalan baby and her mother, but we exchanged contact information and parted ways:)  Another new travel friend(starting to see how this amazing process works?)