I don´t know why, but everytime in the past 3 weeks that I attempted to write a post, I got too lazy and couldnt do it! Alas, since Livingston I haven´t updated, and now I am in Mexico City Airport waiting for my flight back to Vancouver....
So a quick recap, yeah? After Livingston I took the boat back to Rio Dulce and I caught a first class bus to Flores, which was lovely, and still cheap. I wasn´t too excited about Flores, considering it`s sort of an isolated tourist island, apart from the city of Santa Elena which is just across the bridge. I got stuck in Flores longer than I should have...after I visited Tikal, I spent most of my time meandering around and lazing in Los Amigos hostel, playing Jenga and Rummy tournaments to 5000! And documentary watching, while eating some awesome vegetarian food. Also, it was just so ridiculously hot in Peten, worse than Livingston (it was 85% humidity when I visited Tikal!), and though you could swim in Lake Peten Itza, it was pretty warm itself, and not that refreshing..so it ended up being a cycle of it being to hot to do anything and thus not being motivated to leave, and so I repeated this for 4 days or so... haha
As for Tikal, it was nice, though I shouldnt have gone on a tour. But I did make a good friend, Duncan from Scotland, with whom I had some awesome political conversations with, and debated affirmative action, and learned about UK government. The ruins were ok, nothing will ever top my experience at Palenque in Mexico!
After Flores, I caught a bus to Antigua, and spent a night or two there. That weekend was the celebrations for the city, so there was a parade on Sunday and some chess tournaments in the square and live music. What was really neat about that visit was how I felt like I knew over half the people in the hostel...people I had met from different parts of Guatemala seemed to all have congregated at the same time in the same hostel, and on top of that, I knew the staff, so it really felt comfortable and it was great to catch up with all of them!
I finally returned to San Pedro for my last two weeks of Spanish school, and by chance got the same teacher that I had before. Delia and I had a great time, and I got really close with her. She helped me out a lot those weeks, and she invited me over as well to practice making tortillas and we cooked a vegan meal with a Guatemalan twist! The school was full again, a lot of students! I stayed at a hostel, at Yo Mamas Casa again, but this time got a private room for cheap, since I stayed for an extended period of time.
I kept myself really busy and was really motivated to get the most I could out of the last while I had left in San Pedro. So after 4 hours of Spanish class, I started helping Luis, one of the teachers at La Cooperativa, with English classes at Basico, which is sort of like middle school in Guatemala. The kids were really cool, much easier than helping out with primary school children. And it was neat have the contrast of learning Spanish and then teaching English. Luis sort of let me lead the class with very little guidance, which was kind of scary at first, but the class was really respectful most of the time, and they helped correct my Spanish as well, haha
Then after teaching English every morning, I started taking mayan weaving classes for about 2 hours everyday- I started making a scarf, that was a little larger than normal, and ended up taking me over 4 days... around 11 or 12 hours in total. It was a lot of work. But it was cool using a backstrap loom and really being able to appreciate good quality work - because mine definitely has a lot of flaws, but still is functional of course! Hanging out with Maria and her family was nice as well ...she must have been about 60 or so, and her cousin who was about 9, her name was Ana, was a hoot, always coming to bug me - she was a witty one!
Then after weaving classes I would go to the gym, do something slightly active! Then I would usually make dinner at the hostel and hang out with Lorna and Anna, Pedro and Adrian and Magnus (if any of you read this, I miss you already!). During the weekend, I went to Panajachel with a friend Claire, who, on our way back from buying souvenirs for friends and family, proceeded to help drive the boat back to San Pedro. What a nut!
On my last night in San Pedro, some friends from the hostal and the school came out with me for dinner at an Asian/Guatemalan restaurant, Ventana Blue, before we went to Buddha Bar for a few drinks. I went home pretty early though, to finish packing and get a good nights rest! It was really hard to leave, but I did it! I will definitely be going back there, I could live there.. haha
Then I was in Antigua, had a few more adventures with Cait, made some more friends who will be coming to Vancouver! I´ve been meeting quite a few people on my travels that will be passing through or living there, and I`m really excited to see them all again, on my own turf this time
So thats about it! Now I am, as I said, in Mexico City Airport, trying to pass the time. I will be catching a Greyhound to Kelowna on Wednesday, where my dad will be picking me up, and we will be back to Grand Forks on Thursday! So soon!
I miss you all, and thank you for reading! See you soon!
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