Oh my sweet Guatemala

Well folks, this trip is only getting better so far! Ever since I made it to Lago de Atitlan, I have been wondering how long I could stay here before getting bored. Well quite some time I guess, even though I am not really doing much here! But I guess that's the art of it all : disfrutar del sabor del tiempo, so they say here, so nothing wrong with getting hooked up on this place and staying here for a little bit longer. The only thing I miss here is my girlfriend Leen, it seems almost like a human right violation that I am here and she is over in Madrid, stressing and working her back off for her exams. The world can be unfair sometimes.I made it to the lake allright, took the chicken bus from Antigua, which was quite an experience! All the time we lost changing busses was made up by the speed at which these guys overtake other cars, busses and trucks. Superb reckless driving! I got a seat on the back of the bus, with surprisingly lots of leg room, close to the emergency exit door and an eye on the shadow of my backpack, which was hopping about on the roof of the bus. It was only getting more fun with every new bump and sharp turn we were taking. Actually, a chicken bus is probably as quick as those mini shuttles all the other tourists take, a lot cheaper and safer as well! No chance of any bandits robbing those colorful Maya women on the bus, it's just not worth it! And they probably wouldn't get to the end of the bus, being it so stuffed with people and animals. There's always room for more!So once I got there, I took one of the quick lanchas across the lake to the small town of Jaibolito, where - secluded on a cliff - you can find the most wonderful hotel in Guatemala, La Casa del Mundo. The view from their rooms is simply breathtaking, and evenmore, they have a outside hot tub that is heated with a wood stove, overlooking the lake. After dinner, we all took a dip, with a couple of beers and just looking at the stars. Woow! The lake has other charms as well : you can cayak, hike around, climb volcanoes, settle for a full moon meditation in the hippie town of San Marcos (28 day meditation, fasting the last week), smoke lots of quasi free weed in the gringo town of San Pedro or just simply hang out and do nothing all day on the shores of charming Santa Cruz Laguna. I settled for the last option (the mental feedback session and decision process took me like a full day) and got myself a cosy room above the bar in the Iguana Perdida, another very recommendable place. The food there is just so yummie, they have a big BBQ every Saturday with a small bar party afterwards (with lots of Gallo beer and wodka lemon), no electricity (candles everywhere), a sauna and to top it off a full PADI equipped dive center that does lake diving every day. So I took myself down 15m to take a look around, seeing lots of crabs, bass fish, rock walls and digging my hand in the hot vulcanic mud of the lake. Nice! I am considering doing a couple of more dives and getting my PADI Advanced degree here. Next to that, I managed to persuade a Spanish teacher to come over from Panajachel every day and give me 4h afternoon lessons for a week. So I pretty much have a full schedule from tomorrow on, swimming and diving in the morning and hablar un poco mas de Español en la tarde. Hehe. Hope that all is well with you guys, I can only tell you that you should get yourself down here once in your life, it's a magical place. ¡Hasta luego!