What goes to San Pedro, stays in San Pedro

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San Pedro, love it or hate it, you can't deny it has the best food in the whole of Guatemala. Oh, what heaven to find Thai curry and a roast beef dinner so far from home! Ok, not very authentic but certainly what the doctor ordered for Xmas and a real treat.

Rocking up to Yarachik, I met a really nice group of girls and we spent an indulgent 10 days gorging ourselves on all San Pedro had to offer. The village itself is pretty low-key and filled with friendly locals, the small lanes near the shore are packed with gringo centered restaurants and bars adorned with dreamcatchers and blaring trance or Bob Marley. Though you can be just as likely to be sharing the internet cafe with a local man in traditional clothing as another backpacker. The little ladies certainly know how to please with the baskets of banana bread and chocolate sponge they carry around on their heads. They know persistence pays off and can tell who has the munchies. I thought that perhaps the locals would despise the tourists for taking away the tranquility, though the security guard at the hostel assured me that this is not the case. Rather, they view us as 'friends'...I guess the fact we bring money, helps.

I decided to make the most of the arty atmosphere and do painting course. Well it was more a 'copy this' style painting course but I now have a lovely Guatemalan market scene to show for my efforts.

The 'Indians Nose' is an exhausting but rewarding climb for an amazing view of the mighty Lago de Atitlan and it's surrounding volcanoes. We actually raced back down in record time drummed on by the fear that we might miss out on Sunday lunch at Alegre, the Scottish pub. Fortunately they weren't serving until 6pm so we spent the next six hours salivating in anticipation.

We took a boat trip on the roughest, coldest day to Santiago de Atitlan, a small village just tucked around the headland. I read a book based here in the seventies and eighties and was keen to see how it related to my mental image. As is usually the case, I was in for a shock and the tranquil paradise described had been replaced with a lot of shops catering to the tourist's every fancy. Get off the main drag though and you're back with the locals. We paid a small boy to lead us to Maximon. This time, he was a short natural wood carving with silk scarves tied round his neck. We sat in as a Mayan woman was being blessed. Firstly the cartaker used insence to bless his shoes before placing them on the little old lady's tiny feet, she also wore two suit jackets. The caretaker then chanted her wishes and swung the copal insence burner before taking two mouthfuls of Quetzalteca and spurting the liquor all over her.

New Year's Eve was a brilliant night out. We started quite sedately by releasing the paper balloons my friends had made earlier in the day, making wishes as they drifted into the night sky. Things got pretty wild after that, needless to say, New Year's Day was a pretty quiet affair and by the 2nd, everyone was packing up to leave and half the restaurants were closed. Time to move on and start working on those resolutions...getting fit being one of them...

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Photos

The Indian's Nose
Use a bit of imagination and think of the profile of a horizontal face

God only know's...
...what the God fearing locals make of the scene here

Stick a fork in it!
Enjoying Sunday dinner with Trish and Isobel

Guatemalan market scene
It's bigger than this but you get the jist!