San Pedro to Panajachel

---

Woke up this morning after a horrible night sleep. I am full fledged sick now & Geoff is beginning his recovery. Awesome! I guess it's better than us both being totally useless & sick at the same time. After I could pull it together we walked into town to find some food & a pharmacy. I'm self prescribing us both antibiotics so this doesn't get worse & last much longer. Plus I'm almost out of ibuprofen already. We didn't find an open pharmacy so we decided to find food. We ate at a little comedor in the town center. I had a plato tipico which is served all day long & can be any meal & consists of: eggs (however you like them), refried beans, fruit, cheese, fried plantains, & tortillas. I have eaten a lot of platos tipicos. They're just too good.

After breakfast back to our search for drugs. While waiting at the pharmacy counter to be helped another woman walked up, looking just like me with a runny nose & watery eyes & holding a kleenex, to ask for similar drugs as me. I didn't buy any because they were expired. Decided to wait for the bigger city.

We are heading to Panajachel today on the other end of the lake to get us closer to our next stop. I figure I can be sick anywhere & may as well make the short boat ride to get that leg of the trip out of the way. I will miss our view here though. Waking up to the mountains staring you in the face is pretty awesome.

At the water taxi dock we were directed by the usual group of men to the correct boat. We waited on said boat for about 30 minutes while they waited to get it filled with at least 12 people. Gotta make it worth their while to do the 45 minute boat ride. Finally, we had enough people & we headed out. The lake today is soooo much different. There aren't any waves & it is smooth boating. It is beautiful out on the water. The lake is so vast & the volcanos are so massive. It's kind of overwhelming.

We arrived in Pana (as all the locals refer to it) & were greeted by the usual welcoming committee of men asking do we need a taxi, do we need a hotel, are we hungry, do we need a taxi (almost always get asked this one at least 4 times), do we need a boat, do we need something to drink. The usual. We've almost perfected our ignoring tactics. If you ignore, you usually only get asked once. If you respond, there's always a follow up question. Since I feel like shit, I have no problem ignoring everyone. Unless they're offering kleenex (preferrably with lotion, which I will never find here) I am absolutely not interested right now.

After walking into town a bit, we meet the next set of welcomers. The guy who helps you find your hostel (even though you could totally do it on your own, he stays with you because then he gets a tip from the hostel you end up at). So our guy on a bike walked us to a couple places. The first one didn't have a seat for the toilet. That was an easy no. The next one was really nice & clean but they were asking too much ($20). So by the time we walked down the stairs I had talked the girl down to $16 & we took it. They have the most beautiful garden in the center of the building. It reminds me a lot of my Grandma's backyard. She had a ton of the same plants. Just really pretty & abundant.

We settled into the room, which basically consisted of taking backpacks off our backs, & headed to the pharmacy. I learned that the country of Guatemala doesn't even sell Sudafed because of the drug making properties. Disappointed to say the least. But I did get some heavy hitting antibiotics because I definitely have a sinus infection. Woohoo!

On our way back we passed one of the many fried chicken stands. They're like hot dog carts but they make & sell fried chicken & french fries. Gotta have some of that. I'm sure it will make me feel better. For $3.50 (28Q) we each had a big piece of chicken, fries & guacamole. Yum!

Back to the room & I was ready to be in bed. Slept, read, slept, then I turned the tv on. There were actually a ton of channels in English and most importantly they have TNT & it was a Law & Order marathon, as always, & I was set. Once the tv came on, Geoff headed out into the garden to continue to read. The tv was too distracting. After a couple episodes, I went out to find him sitting in the most comfy looking lawn chair in the middle of the garden reading his book. Nice! He finally started his 600 page book that he's been vehemently avoiding for some reason. He didn't even want to start it. Afraid of the committment? Don't know. But by the time I got to him he was already 350 pages deep. Silly. (And he's been avoiding the book for about 2 days). Funny stuff.

I feel like crap. Stuck in bed. Nose won't stop running, throat hurts. Ugh. Don't even want to get up. So I didn't. Before Geoff went to find me some more cough drops he had to take a picture of me (which none of you will ever see). I was sitting in bed with kleenex shoved up my nose, my hand in my pants complaining about gas and the remote control in my other hand. He thought it was incredibly attractive and needed the documentation. Not my finest moment, but I didn't care.

Then he went out & got us our new fav "Laky" & some of the most delicious orange muffins ever from a nearby bakery. Laky is like Cup O Noodle but way way better because there is an additional pack of chili powder to add to it! Spicy & Perfect! We went next door & got some mint tea for me, a Gallo for Geoff, & I worked our way into some hot water for our Lakys. Back to the room where I didn't move from the bed again. I watched a little Simpson's, took a couple benadryl to try and sleep with the massive amounts of mucus I am creating (seriously in overdrive) & goodnight. Geoff was reading when I fell asleep. 😊

---

Comments

[Pamela]

ooo to be you
love the pics keep them coming!