guatemala? i think i slept through it.

so. san pedro. beautiful san pedro on even more beautiful lago de atitlan.
breathtaking views of volcanos. opportunities to hike the volcano, go horseback riding, kayak, swim, take coffee tours... etc. etc.
a place where the women all wear the traditional mayan wear and people still wash their clothes and bathe in the lake, and women are able to carry just about anything on their head... well, that may be an exaggeration... not automobiles or large animals... but you get what i mean.
unfortunately the place is crawling with wannabe hippies and travel slacker stoner types, but that´s just a minor annoyance.

so do i get to enjoy my 8 nights here? the longest stretch in one place so far?
no. not so much.
day one was a bit of a shock to the system. went for dinner, met a 2 day friend, went out for a ´bit of a party´. felt like i was in the movie ¨the beach¨with leonardo dicaprio. unfortunately leo was not there.

day two was spanish lessons. starting to feel a little ill. begin to experience a common traveller problem in central america.
night of day two continuing into day three is in bed, major stomach cramps, high fever.... feeling like a 24hr flu. the bad kind.

day 4 i start to feel a bit human, muster enough energy to realize that my visa nor my bank card are able to withdraw cash. take a trip across the lake in a scarily over crowded boat (side note: this is a place where you fear for your safety on a semi regular basis... between chicken busses, ferry boats and bacteria in the food....) to try to find an alternate atm. email the family and transfer funds via email, so they can send it via western union.

day 5 feeling a bit better, still listless, go back to major (well, major ish) town to - yay!!- recieve money!! whoo hooo!! feeling elated as i take the death boat back across the stunningly beautiful lake. go to my spanish class for 4 hours. learn past tense. good day. still some stomach issues, will deal with it tomorrow.

day 6 wake up feeling like crap. fever the night before... again! grr. miss spanish b-c i´m not well, but go to the school at 6 pm to be escorted to see the dr. . as it turns out, i have a bacterial infection in my intestines. nice. and some sort of overall virus. (did i mention that at this point i have a nasty cold on top of it all?) the dr. gives me medicine for the virus, some ibuprofen, and 4 pills to kill the "amibas". "what are amibas?" ameobas. oh. fantastic. flashbacks to grade school science class and farside cartoons.
on the bright side, i was able to communicate with the dr. en español. points for me.

day 7 stomach is somewhat settled, the cold is still bad, and i have an overall feeling of slight nasuea and fatique. i only get through 2 hours of spanish. i´m taking my medicine. i learn a lesson to never take harsh medicine on an empty stomach. i throw up while waiting for my food at a bar (fortunately i made it to the bathroom). they give me my food to go. i learn from some barflys that the medicine i´m taking basically kills everything. everything. even my zest for life? my will to live? (kidding. i still have my will to live).

day 8 the cold is still in full swing, but the throat infection seems to have been avoided, just sinus now. and very tired. and slight nausea. but i put the medicine to blame for this. i manage almost 2 hours of spanish. i remember to eat 3 meals. what an effort.... i´m on the violently ill diet plan. ha.
i´m looking forward to leaving this place tomorrow. even though i didnt get to kayak, or climb the volcano, or really meet anyone, or... or... or...
but my past tense is getting better. and i´ve met some helpful locals.

in a few days i meet up with the volunteer coordinator in honduras and we get to drive... drive! to la cieba together and i will have a home at last.