The encounter with a distant past..

In my best days as a heart-breaker, around 10 or 11 years of age, it was customary for my father´s side of the family to take my brother and I to this small town in the Ecuadorian Andes. It was very interesting to see the mixing of mountain aborigen people with the more mestizo looking ones. The same perceptions and feeling that I had when I was a kid in that town have reappeared here in the towns of Lago Atitlan.

This morning, after the spider incident last night, and my inability to sleep due to the Reggaeton blasting machine at the disco behind my room, I´ve decided to leave this hotel for another one. To cement my decision, I spot a humongous, even hairy spider near the shared bathroom. It´s early in the morning so I wake up this guy at the other hotel I had spotted yesterday. The guy charges me 75Q for a room with TV and private bath.. not bad. Dropped the stuff, take a shower, and run out the door.

All the hurry was because a tour boat was leaving at 8:30AM from the pier. I buy the ticket and jump in the boat or lancha. First call: San Pedro La Laguna. This town is supposed to be the bigggest of them all. In reality it´s actually quite small behind a well manicured pier area which serves as bait for tourists. After having the best breakfast so far in the trip for under $1 US dollar (nice cold fresh mango shake with 4 pieces of bread), I decide to walk around the plaza. This is accomplished in 5 minutes. However, they are enough to discover this tacit competition between young Mayan women of who wears the best shoes. In fact, their dress-up clothes are the same as the everyday ones but with high heels. They also like to carry things on their heads and flaunt their abilities by doing it without holding their cargo. I am not sure if they have the flattest heads of the planet but their ability seems innate as kids through older women do it. Never the guys.

The boat ride to San Pedro had been about 1 hr long and the one to Santiago, our next stop, was half that. Santiago Atitlan is a smaller city albeit a livelier one. Santiago´s festivities were today itself! If my memory serves me right, small town festivities equate to drunk and beligerant guys throughout the day (yes, including noon). There was no shortage of this but everyone is in their best attire and mood otherwise. I am still holding out for a big fist fight to breakout. A guy is even finishing putting a fresh coating of grease to the pole of a Palo Encebado (this is a very high slippery pole with an unknown prize awaiting at the top for the best climber). The required loud and slightly off-key band plays throughout.

Santiago is also home to Mohshimon (or however you write it) who is another religious figure for them. After they attempt to charge 5Q for taking a picture of the wooden figure, I reject the proposal and walk away. As a rule, Todd never pays for entering a church. I would add pictures to the equation. I still was able to sneak around some tourists and take a picture of it, just because I could.

Drivers here have mastered the act of reverse driving. The fact that the streets are so narrow, one-way and always at a steep hill, makes them have to back up for long distances instead of having to turn streets. Watching a gigantic Gallo Beer truck do this is an amazing sight!



Another fact that caught my attention was the males´ attire. As I mentioned in a previous post, older males sometimes wear skirts, very smilar to the women. However, in this town the men wear stripped, bermuda-height pants. These are most of the time white in background with red stripes lengthwise. This is accompanied by a longsleeve dress shirt and a straw hat, cowboy style. Their shoes are Teva-like sandals made of rubber and leather sometimes. Very interesting. Older men just sit and enjoy the festivities while the younger ones get drunk.

Next and final call: San Antonio. This town was actually pretty small. But I managed to buy a lot of stuff there. They are known for onions and home-made blue-dye fabrics. Pretty nice looking things. Aside from the best views around from the old Church, nothing else to report here. The water does look like it wants to see some of my best dives a la El Remate (see previous posting) but I´ll wait for the guys to arrive before we start a proper competition.

Back in Pana and I get to the hotel. The lady seems puzzled at the fact that I have a room in their hotel. Perhaps she did not see me walk in. I rest and watch some weird Mexican TV news anchor who sports a wrestler mask (I guess it could add credibility or something). Eat.

The guys are coming tomorrow and we´ll stay one more night here before heading for Guatemala City. That will be the re-unification of the foursome. Hopefully all goes as planned and they don´t bring any sickness my way.