Turistas

I have just spent the last ten or so days galavanting about Guatemala with my mother. It all went smoothly, by Guatemalan standards, meaning everything turned out, but not without heaps of stress at times. Lets just says there´s nothing like catching a shuttle to the airport at 4am only to have the shuttle die as soon as it leaves town to head for the airport leaving us sitting in the mountains of Guatemala in the dark not knowing it the damn van is going to start up again or not. Oy, I´m glad we made it that day, barely.

I have never traveled with anyone and it was a different experience. More hectic than I am used to, always being able to take things at my own pace and not on such a tight schedule. However, there was plenty of relaxing to be had, it was the transportation connections that proved to be the most work.

We spent Christmas in Antigua, hanging out in the park on Christmas Eve practically buried underneath little Mayan girls. I asked one of them if I could see her skirt(en español) so I could show my mom how the Mayan ladies wrap them up. Initally she was shy, but before we knew it there was a line of them, ten deep all showing their skirts to my mother and I. Cute as crap doesn´t even begin to describe it. They were all so adorable. Then they proceeded to run laps around the park and when they passed us, one of the tiniest ones would yell "¡¡Feliz Navidad!!", every time she passed, in her little squealy spanish.

For Christmas, the Guatemalans blow up fire works, all day and night and day and night. At midnight on Christmas Eve, every rooftop in town has a show of fireworks. Every direction one looks, fireworks. Fireworks for Jesus, happy birthday Jesus, let´s blow some stuff up.

After Antigua, we spent two days in the jungle to see the most famous Mayan ruins here in Guatemala, called Tikal. It was hot and humid and perfect. The temples of Tikal are some of the grandest of all the Mayan ruins and though I had been before, it was awesome to see again.

We spent the rest of the time at the lake after Tikal, taking it super easy. My mother had expressed her desire to not be running around the entire time, so we didn´t. We chilled. Lago de Atitlán is a perfect place to chill. She got to meet Chema, my tiny love, and she had even brought a giant stuffed animal fish for him, which to say the least, was a hit. He was shy taking the gift, but two seconds later he was attacking his friends with it as though it was a shark. I love him!

New Years Eve in San Pedro was more than nuts, though there was peace to be found. Being somewhat of a party town, San Pedro draws the crowds on the party holidays. Half of Guatemala City was up there, I swear. Not really, but no one has ever heard so many fireworks and fire crackers in their lives. They sell huge bomb fireworks on the street for like 60cents and rolls of fire crackers the size of basketballs. Nothing like buying heaps of fireworks from an 8 year old, no lie. Guatemalans know how to party, blowin´ stuff up.

The woman(mother) left this morning from the airport after a sucessful time here, and I´m sure she will be thrilled to be greeted by freezin´ ass temperatures after days of 70´s and 80´s in the jungles of Guatemala. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, cold sucks!!!

Now I am spending the night in Guatemala City because one of my best friends arrives tomorrow at the airport after three and a half months in South America. She will be here for three weeks and I´m looking forward to it immensely.

And the plot thickens. The camera cable I ordered and had my mother bring, was the wrong one. Good thing I found mine. sheesh.