The Only Greater Casualty, or What Shouldn´t Go in the Lake While Cliff-Jumping

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Dear Friends,

So arguably, aside from losing a traveler, the only greater casualty, especially near the end of a trip, is your digital camera. While we didn´t lose it cliff jumping, it is at the bottom of Lake Atitlan, and try as we might, we couldn´t find it. 500 pictures or so, gone to the sea. Luckily, the set of Jin and I roasting marshmallows over lava are in tact!

We´ve had a wild past few days here since that long bus ride. We´re staying at a delightful hostel in San Pedro la Laguna on the banks of Lago Atitlan. The views are incredible. This mountain lake is surrounded by countless green-clad volcanoes. What is particularly amazing is that despite the huge tourist center that it is, the giant masses of wealthy tourists butt directly up against some of the most traditional Mayan villages in all of Guatemala. Go figure.

Yesterday, Jin and I took a boat (a boat ride, boat ride!) to a town called Santiago. This place, with a decidely Carribean flair, has a single claim to fame. It houses a statue of the Evil Saint Maximon. Upon arriving, we ran into a good samaritan from Puebloapueblo.org, who gave us the skinny on the Saint. Apparently, he is the amalgamation of a traditional Mayan god, and apparently, Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus. He constantly smokes cigars, is clad in gaudy scarves, and has an unquenchable thirst for whiskey. Oh, and he naturally wears a fadora. He travels around the village a bit, so we had to go on a bit of a mission to find him. But once we did, we discovered a dark shrine room, with small rectangular flags lining the ceiling, mixed among giant eggplants, plus many candles, other statues, and even Jesus lying in a bier! I wish I had photos, but alas...

Today we took a tip from some people at our hostel and went to find a cliff in neighboring San Marcos that you can (apparently) jump (or dive!) from deep into Lake Atitlan. So Jin and I packed a lunch, and made our way out there. In San Marcos we found the most extensive hippie, spirituality center that I´ve seen outside of India, but we weren´t sucked in. We kept hiking until a local showed us the spot. A large outcropping, maybe 50 feet above the water. After much hesitation, Jin and I, both self professed anti-adrenaline junkies, took the plunge. It was skin tingling, body thrilling, and overall a blast. After our first jumps, we planned to wait out some clouds before jumping again. But once it became clear that the clouds weren´t going to do anything but rain, we started jumping again, rapid fire.

Its been a wonderful experience of rest and relaxation, a great last hurrah before we return State side. This will be my last letter folks, thanks so much for reading. We´ve done some great things this time around. The man in Soloma, I hope, got his donation, and the children in Xela definately got theirs. I´m so proud of how much we were able to give back on this trip, I hope we can do it again the the future. Until next time,

Love,
Carl

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