Hitting the three month mark

This was going to be a nice blog full of pictures, sadly, Blogger is not playing ball, so you will get my ramblings instead.

We've just got back from spending a weekend at Lake Atitlán. On the surface of things it was lovely to get away from the 'city' for a weekend, meet some new people and take a walk in the hills.
I can never quite switch off though... Like so many tourist places on different continents it is a place of stark contrasts. Hotels sprawl along the waterfront charging hundreds of dollars a night to tourists who want to get 'back to nature' whilst enjoying a five course gourmet dinner and silk sheets in their ensuite bedroom.
A hundred metres or so up the hill there will often be a village, a settlement developed after years of observing the variation in water levels year in and year out, rather than the inate desire to have a private dock directly from the French doors of your apartment.
And somewhere above the village there is a rubbish dump. A big ass ticking time bomb rubbish dump. A mass of the detiretus of two communities consuming with little thought of the consequences. Each community feeds the other, in a manner of speaking, their lives are so different, yet the result is the same.
I'm starting to sound a bit like a nutter aren't I? Don't get me wrong, I can hardly talk. My credentials are probably not that green, and I'm sure I played my small part in damaging the environment as much as the next person. And there are people who are trying to solve these problems, people like the Friends of Lake Atitlan
The lake is a stunningly beautiful destination, unlike anything I have ever seen, somehow I just hate to think that my experiencing it will go some small way to it's demise. Here-in lies the crux of the issue of being a perenial traveller I guess, we get to experience so many wonderful sights and sounds, but how far does the ripple effect go?

Both Sides of the Story

Today police raided several locations in the north of the country. They were looking for suspects in a case relating to the massacre and beheading of 27 people last week.

What did I do? Well I went to work, chatted with friends and colleagues over coffee, and went to an aerobics class. Not exactly what you would call living life in a danger zone is it?

Obviously it's not all sunshine and roses here in Antigua, (about 10 hours drive south of the Peten region where the violence is occuring) but it does seem like a world away from drug cartels and mass murder. We don't tend to go out alone at night, or carry anything of value on our persons, but I don't often feel like I am living in a dangerous place.

                                  The Catalan Shepheard takes a break

Another thing that I'm learning about living here is how to deal with the constant ebb and flow of people. I live and work with my colleagues, in a gated condominum. The fact that my spanish is still pretty atrocious, it's not safe to go out alone at night, and I'm not exactly rolling in dinero means that you form very close friendships very quickly.

Things change though, and as I find myself settling into the routine of living here, it seems that a lot of my colleagues are debating their next move. Life here at number 9 is significantly quieter without our resident Catalan songstress Eli, but she is moving on to bigger things and endless African sunsets.

I couldn't resist, an actual African Sunset, Chobe National Park, Botswana. (Not quite Ghana though)

Scenes of Semana Santa

I don't really have the words right now to sum up the last 25 hours. Easter is a BIG deal in Guatemala, and in Antigua especially. Thousands upon thousands of people have converged on our little town. The term 'Eat, drink and be merry' is not necessarily the first one which springs to mind, but it has certainly been an experience.

Here a few photos from Today and last night

One of the many floats, they weigh a ton (or two) and are carried for hours on the shoulders of the devout

Part of an Alfombra (carpet) made from sawdust, and trampled by the floats!

It's all about the Big JC

I don't really know what crocodiles made out of bread have to do with Easter...

But hey, it's an excuse to wear a big ass hat...

... and pose for cheesy photos...

They finished this one seconds before the procession hit, I won't show the 'after' picture, too upsetting!

cucuruchos (or pilgrims) follow alngside the floats

Some take it more seriusly...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... and some not so seriously...

So I guess I actually have to write something now then eh?

I've blogged for work, I've "microblogged", but I've never actually suceeded in keeping up an actual blog for longer than a couple of entries. I have been living in Antigua, Guatemala (You always have to qualify it with the Guatemala part by the way, otherwise people think that you sit on a beach all day sipping rum and playing the offshore markets) for about a month now, and so far, so good.

I have lived in a good few places over the last decade. Here I don't get marriage proposals shouted at me as I walk down the street, I'm not living with 200 of my students and developing my tolerance for large spiders, and I don't get to slope off at the weekends to play golf and drink too much red wine. Life in Guatemala has already presented me with it's own unique set of challenges and opportunities. The language barrier is a bit of both, sometimes in the most absurd ways. Google, for example, is obsessed with my location! It seems to view my modest IP address as some kind of shining beacon, saying Give me everything in Spanish! Even the spellcheck on my blogger account! 

But the opportunities are great too. I'm looking forward to being able to experience some of the great work that GVI are doing out here, with schools in the local communities of Itzapa and Santa Maria. In other news, Semana Santa (That's Easter week to you non 'espanolophiles') is fast approaching, and my home town will be playing host to the biggest celebration of Holy week in the whole of Latin America, nay, The World! Hey, maybe I'l even blog about it.  

      You can just about make out some of Antigua here, and  a volcono,                                                   there are lots of volcanoes...

 So, if you fancy it, please join me on this journey. I'l ramble on, you can thank a deity that I'm no longer your neighbour, housemate, work colleague, that girl you used to hang out with at gigs sometimes...