Back to Lake Atitlan...San Marcos style

The ride back to Lake Atitlan was the worst ride of my life...I was doubled over in the back seat of a twelve person van, meditating to get through the two and a half hours of bouncing up and down from potholes while at the same time, holding on for dear life as we swerved around juts of rock in the side of the mountains, the driver honking around turns to avoid an accident, yet speeding dangerously fast... This is typical of all driving in Guatemala, I´ve learned.

The five of us did somehow arrive all in one piece in Panajachel, a touristy little town right on Lake Atitlan. We took a boat across to San Marcos, the lake´s ¨hippie town¨where yoga and meditation classes are abundant, along with vegetarian food, handmade jewelry, used books and dreadlocks. We stayed in a thatched roof bungalow with a loft and private bathroom at the hostel La Paz (Peace). After wandering through the vine covered paths of this strange little town, we settled on having lunch at a tiny place called Happy Tacos... but should have been warned by the name. Now, I´m a pretty patient person in restaurants, but after waiting an hour and 45 minutes for some beans, rice and guacamole, and after watching the two girls there run out the front door countless times to a store to buy the ingredients for our food, we were all pretty upset. Especially since we ended up missing the only sunshine of the day!

Later, we celebrated a girls´only Valentines´night dinner at a cute little restaurant, sitting next to a fireplace, with fantastic pasta and bottles of wine. But Happy Tacos striked again when Avery left dinner to throw up violently for literally the rest of the night and into the morning. I got sick later, too. Maybe it was the Happy Tacos, or it could have been overindulgence in the pasta, chocolate mousse and wine...

Sunday was delightful though... coffee, fruit smoothies and french toast in the hostel´s garden hangout room, and a walk to a cliff of rocks to lay in the sun with other travelers and some locals...swimming and some cliff jumping...