After a couple weeks out of site due to meetings and a little vacation, I'm back at it in ol' San Rafael Pie de la Cuesta.
The last couple weeks in a nut shell:
I took my first couple days of vacation at the end of June to check out the rest of this incredible country. Stop one, Pacaya Volcano to visit another volunteer and good buddy, Jesse Festa. Pacaya is one of the more advanced Peace Corps sites and ranks as the second largest tourist attraction in Guatemala behind Tikal due to its proximity to Antigua and volcanic activity (see pic below). Taking advantage of the natural fire pit, we carried up a bag of marshmallows and roast them over the open lava to make schmores. Really tasty, but it came at the expense of almost roastring our faces off because the heat from the lava was so intense. Also, with the constantly changing and shifting lava fields one has to be wary of tumbling lava rocks as pieces break loose.
From Pacaya I headed up to Coban, about 5 hours northeast of Antigua. About three months ago I signed up for the Coban half marathon, which is a huge event in Guatemala and one of the premier races in the world. The problem with signing up for a race that early in a Third World country is that you never know how your health will be three months from the sign-up date. Sure enough, I was bed-ridden for about 6 days before I started my travels and ran all of 0 times in teh 10 days before the half marathon. That said, the nerves were pumping the morning of the race. But all went well and I wound up finishing with an average of about 8 minute miles and finished second of all the Peace Corps volunteers who ran.
Since I was in Coban, I wanted to check out my buddy Oliver's site who's working with a rafting association on the Cahabon River...did I mention he has no running water or electricity? He took us down a 22km stretch of river that took about 4 hours and did not dissappoint. We hit this one part of the river called the Devil's Throat that almost bucked us out of the raft, but managed to hold on. After visiting Oliver, I shot over to Semuc Champey (pics below) to see one of Guatemala's best natural wonders. Semuc is basically a limestone table above the Cahabon River and is fed by surrounding springs, making its waters crystal clear and the perfect temperature to swim in. We hopped from pool to pool, jumping off of little cliffs or trying to turn smoother ledges into slides. Definitely one of the highlights of Guatemala thus far.
From Coban I hopped on a bus back down to Guatemala City to pick-up Mac from the airport, one of my best buddies from the States. After a fun-filled weekend in Antigua, including the annual and infamous Peace Corps 4th of July party, we headed up to Lake Atitlan for a couple days of R & R.; much needed after a stressful and tough couple first months in-site. We stayed at Casa del Mundo, an unreal hotel built into the cliffs surrounding the lake with views of San Pedro and Santiago volcanoes. Those couple days really helped recharge my batteries and get me excited to go back to my site and get some good work done.
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