Between the Volcanoes

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Buenos Tardes,
We are enjoying Lake Atitlan which is surrounded by three volcanoes. You can´t go anywhere in this country without a volcano in the background. It´s stunning.

We have been staying in a small hippie town on the lake called San Marcos. THe hotel is built into the mountain side and from recycled materials. The insulation in the walls is made from plastic bottles filled with plastic bags. There´s also a compost toilet. (Look it up if you´re interested.) The windows have been designed by an incredible artist. They are stained glass windows made from recycled glass. He also designed the lights which are three dimensional animals made from stained glass.

We´ve been shopping and getting in our afternoon siestas everyday too. Yesterday we went to another town on the lake, and we saw a Mayan/Catholic diety called Maximon. He is a statue that is dressed up in a suit and smokes a cigar. He likes to smoke and drink rum, and he is moved from house to house each year. The locals go to him for help with their problems. When we went to visit him, we left cigarettes and quetzals(money). This is an intersting tradition that was very different from anything in the states. I´ll show you the picture when I get home.

Megan, there are scorpions here and we have seen huge spiders. The scorpions aren´t poisonous though. We also saw a blue and green lizard.
We leave Wednesday for the market in Chichicastenango. Adios.

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