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We found another one of Guatemalas not so secret treasures, Lago Atitlan.
As we arrived in our minívan we came over the hill to look down upon a large beautiful lake surrounded by volcanoes and much vegetation.
Panajachel is the largest town around the lake and this is where we were dropped off. Although this was nice enough we had read about another place called San Marcos, a town on the other side of the lake where we had decided to base ourselves. We soon discovered there were 3 prices on boats around here and because we were neither locals nor long termers we forked over our tourist cash.
San Marcos is a lovely little village with a small wooden jetty sticking out from the reeds growing on the lake shore. We had read that this town was something of a magnet for hippys that believe the area has a particular spiritual energy. So as we disembarked from the boat we prepared ourselves for our enlightened journey in San Marcos.
Straight away we found the place a relaxing spot. As we wound our way along a path surrounded by banana, coffee, and avocado trees to our hotel,
Luggage
Safely on and nicely covered from the down pours! we knew we had found a great place to chill for a few days.
The hotel we had chosen was called Aaculaax and it was the type of place that seemed to have evolved rather than been built. Each room had a unique personality with windows made of recycled bottles, lamps of driftwood and the walls covered in mirrored and stone mosaics. To top it off the restaurant served the most amazing tapas style food.
After we walked around the village it was obvious that in order to blend in and connect with the spiritual energy around us, we were going to have to attend some yoga or meditation classes. Yoga it was. So the next morning we awoke to the beautiful singing of birds and light streaming through our coloured glass window. We put on our most colourful t-shirts and leaving our hair unbrushed walked in our sandals to our 2 hour yoga class. It was a lovely outdoor setting and we, along with everyone else, grabbed a flax mat and sat down around a candle surrounded by freshly picked flowers and foliage. The class ranged in ability from the professional long term hippys (Matt did his
best to blend in), through to first timers (Us in reality). It was well worth while and very challenging on the body as we bent into some quite unusual shapes. As far as the spiritual side of class went we may not quite be there as Leanne was rather amused (and still is...) when Matt stood in the "Tree Pose" with his eyes shut as our teacher told us to imagine ourselves being our favourite tree. Apparently as you waved your fingers you could feel the bad energy being released, and your aura of good energy filling up your bodies cells with each 7 second breath. Of course your toes also played a part by allowing you to tap in to the energy of the earth and even the centre of the universe. These were also our tree routes. Although we know Leanne was a gum tree, Matt is yet to disclose what tree he was???
That afternoon we took a boat to another great village, San Pedro but by the afternoon the usual heavy rain had forced us to retreat and relax in our lakeside sanctuary over a game of chess.
Having thoroughly enjoyed and still feeling
the stretching from the day before, we decided to try the earlier yoga session. This was a different style of yoga known as Hatha and was located in a pyramid shaped building on the lake front. Our teacher was dressed in flowing white robes and we took off our shoes and entered the pyramid by a small tunnel through the floor (no doors). What we hadn´t quite realised was that this yoga was far more about the mind than about stretching and obviously we were not ready for such a jump. Thank goodness this class only lasted 1 hour and as our instructor lit candles around the room and uncovered a crystal ball in the centre, we sat in the shape of a pyramid learning about the 3 energies and various breathing exercise to unleash these. All experiences must be worthwhile somehow and this helped us realize we were not ready for this.
The rest of the day was spent at yet another village called Santiago which had its bi-weekly market. Always interesting wondering around watching the locals buy their supplies and the women in their traditional dress. We returned to our village once again in the late afternoon
Volcano Views
From the Hotel Restaurant Balcony rain and stripping down to our togs, we ran through the small, windy, muddy path (river) to the sauna.
Not the type of Sauna either of us had been in before but much more fun as you took a small candle and crawled through a tiny opening in a very small, stoned, igloo shaped structure. A nice way to unwind and sweat it all out. On one wall of the sauna is the back of a fire place lit from the outside. This is where you poured your water as you huddled over dare not touch it. There is only room for 6 people and we were the first to escape back out to the refreshing rain.
Feeling refreshed, with our aura charged and our negative energy drained, we have uprooted our trees and are now sitting in Panajachel awaiting our bus back to Antigua.
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emma
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Yoga
The nintendo Wii fit told Joel he was a yoga master and me that I was a yoga amateur....Joel now challenges you Matt...to a tree pose off.....