Blogs from San Marcos La Laguna, Western Highlands, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean

Ah San Marcos! The adventure continued with the boat, and our suitcases on top it, and us fearing they would end up in the deepest lake in South America. They didn't, but we were all quite wet from the lake and rain when we arrived in San Marcos. Little did we know that worse is yet to come. Our accommodation was wonderfully authentic and unique. Our host Terry is an amazing woman. Her first question was whether we were there for the festival, a week-long event when all the locals descend on this village to celebrate, eat, drink, and be merry with lots of pyrotechnics. Which is when we realized the cause of very loud marimba music. But even louder was the sound of fireworks ricocheting against the mountain doubling the volume. But that's not all, ... read more

If you’re a Kiwi, chances are that you’re having a chuckle at the title of this blog entry! Being woken up by bedbug bites (again!) at 5am isn’t the most ideal way to start the day. Then on the first of four chicken buses that I had to catch to Lago de Atitlan, I realised that I had left my favourite headphones back at the hostel. Having taken them for a swim on Roatan Island however, they weren’t quite working properly anyway and luckily I have a spare pair, even if they are just shitty regulation iPhone issue. But a bad day got worse when getting on the second chicken bus in Chmimaltenango. Getting off the first bus, a dude comes racing up to me asking where I am going. “Pana”, I tell him. He then ... read more

San Marcos La Laguna is one of the smallest towns on the lakeside. Most of the buildings in the town are in dense rainforest and the place felt really isolated. San Marcos was really relaxed and friendly with lots of Gringo´s (foreigners). We found a place by the lake called Hostal de Lago. This hostel was really basic but the owners Brian and Sarah and the atmosphere of the place was great. In San Marcos we met lots of hippies and travellers all just chillaxin and watching the world go by. We wentto a place on our last night that was re-opening after several months of excavation of hundreds of tonnes of boulders that had destroyed the last cafe in a landslide in 2010.... read more

My real reason for rushing back to Guatemala was the start of the Moon course in San Marcos La Laguna. Far more hippy and low-key than San Pedro, the lakeside lanes are home to crystal healers, massage therapists and herbal remedies as well as the locals selling fruit, veg and cake. The village is also home to a meditation and yoga centre called Las Pyramides; here I will make my home for a month and try to get to the bottom of who I really am. This is the objective of the Moon Course; to give you time, space and exercises designed to help you think about your own reality. It teaches you the techniques for lucid dreaming and meditation, stretches your body into balance and gives you the lowdown on sorting your chakras from your ... read more

Demonic Possessions We were about three-quarters the way to San Marcos, crossing Lago Atitlan in a little boat, when the vibrantly tattooed ex-pat ex-lawyer from Los Angeles told us, "Yeah, some indigenous were moving some church walls around and disturbed some bones, some men were touching them, messing around, and then they started getting sick. Like they have seizures and attack people, the other day I saw three huge men trying to hold down one skinny man who went wild. After the men, the families got sick and neighbors, now it's like an epidemic, people are going crazy. People believe souls are rebelling and leaving the bodies, so they go around the town with whips, whipping the souls, herding them like livestock back to the bodies. Every night they go by my house, whipping at my ... read more