Update from Panajachel

Johnny in front of our apartment in Pana

Saludos friends and family!

It's been awhile since I last wrote -- a surprise to us both. I was expecting to spend long mornings blogging away, but the truth is I'm suffering technology frustrations. I brought an iPad and keyboard, which as it turns out is not the same as working on a laptop, especially for loading pictures, formatting blog posts, etc. I also decided to load all our pictures onto Google+ thinking that would make it easier to insert them into blog posts, but that turned out to not be the case. Ugh.

When you have some time to peruse photos, hop on to Google+ and you can see all the pics! (If you can't see them, let me know and I will add you to my circle of friends. Still figuring out Google+...).

I would love to answer your questions and hear from you!

We've set up camp here Panajachel, a town on Lake Atitlan. This is where one of the Friendship Bridge/Puente de Amistad offices is located. I am working part-time with Friendship Bridge to collect follow-up stories on clients who have received micro credit loans through their partnership with Kiva.

So far I've met three clients, including one Trust Bank group. Meeting these women is the part that I like best about being here. I visit places I would otherwise not go -- the high hills of Quetzaltenango, the outskirts of Patzun and Patzicia. I am invited into homes, smiled at by cute kiddos and gifted homegrown apricots that later give me tremendous diarrhea.

Kind people at a house I visited for an interview gave us fresh peaches from their tree. It was such a lovely gesture that some part of me thought, certainly such a nice peach, given of a kind heart, couldn't make me sick? Unfortunately it was freshly washed. Still can't handle the water.

Johnny is continuing his Spanish classes at a school called Jabel Tinamit. I believe he is on week five, including our time in Antigua. He studies four hours a day, one-on-one with an instructor, plus homework in the evenings. He's made a ton of progress and is practically chapin now. (Chapin = Guatemalteco).

During our first couple weeks, I missed Antigua a bit, as life there was pretty cush. We lived in a beautifully designed, eco-conscious shared house owned by a Japanese couple our age. There were beautiful ruins and cathedrals everywhere you turned, organic restaurants, gourmet food shops, little haunts to enjoy freshly juiced licuados, cafes around flower-filled gardens, peaceful parks to sit by the fountain and even yoga class at the fancy hotel around the corner from my house. I spent a lot of time wandering, reading and unwinding my brain. Oh yes, and weaving. That was my favorite part. 

Panajachel -- or Pana, as it's known -- is touristy but in a different way. The main drag is lined with stalls selling bags, t-shirts, jewelry and pants. Some vendors are more aggressive, walking into restaurants and plopping their goods half-way onto your plate: hand-woven table runners, table cloths, bracelets and quetzal key chains. A couple days ago a lady actually wrapped my head in a head scarf while I was mid-conversation. There are many small stores that seem to all sell the same snacks and gross drinks... not as many unique, adorable little haunts as Antigua. But some.

Now that we have settled in, I am feeling more comfortable and enjoying it more every day. It should not go without saying that Lake Atitlan is absolutely beautiful. It is a huge crater lake surrounded by three volcanoes, and there are all these lovely towns nestled into its shores which you can reach by boat-taxi.
Each town has its own character: one is known for its many coffee and weaving coorperatives; another is the hippie haunt where the gringos have set up pyramid retreats, aura cleansing and reiki massage; one is home to the infamous Maximon.

On the docks in Pana

We have a nice, funky little apartment here. It took a little getting used to after the luxuries of Casa Menta, but now that I've had a mental reset, it is becoming near and dear to my heart. Sometimes there will be enormous spiders, and we all just have to deal with that.

Our place in Pana. You wish you thought of that color scheme.

Ours is one of a complex of six bungalows on a gated property. We have two bedrooms, a bathroom with a nice hot shower (and it doesn't even use an electric showerhead -- this is a luxury!), kitchen dining area and living room. We buy gas for the stove and jugs of agua pura from the land lady who lives on site, Helen. We have to use agua pura for everything from drinking and washing vegetables to brushing our teeth.

Like many houses, our bungalow is made of concrete block. It's topped off with a metal roof that makes even the lightest of rainstorms a real party. It's on a quiet street just off Calle Santander, where a majority of the touristy restaurants, book shops, cafes and Sombrilandia (which sells fresh fruit popsicles) are located. We're just a leisurely stroll from the docks.

That is my Sunday update. Today is market day, so we're off to buy our tomatoes, zucchini, onions, carrots and bananas for the week.

Miss you and love you!

Cara and Johnny

Mind over spider

Me and Bruno

Our friend Paul came over to our bungalow a day or two after we moved in. "Don´t look now," I told him. "There is a huge spider right over your head."

Paul decided not to look at all, since he´s kind of an arachnaphobe. Good idea because this was a big one. I am generally not squeamish about spiders, but this one gave me the creeps.

After Paul left, Johnny and I debated what to do about the spider. He had taken up residence in a crack between the ceiling beam and the wall. Johnny tentatively tried to reach him with a magazine, but it was too high, and the spider just scurried right up and hid. Short of calling in an exterminator, there wasn´t much to be done.

I decided it was time to reset my perspective. It was time for mind over matter. Or, in this case, mind over spider.

I dubbed the spider Bruno. I hate mosquitos and other biting, buzzing, itch causing insects, so thanked him for "guarding the door" and taking care of many of these nasty pests.

We observed Bruno and found that he has made no effort to chase us down, crawl on us, bite us or otherwise kill us dead. He is in fact rather shy, chosing to hide most of the day and hunt in the evenings. Sometimes we wouldn´t see him at all, or he will just leave one long black gam sticking out, you know, to let us know he´s ok.

Close up on Bruno, front door guardian.

Mind over spider works pretty well. It only became a bit more challenging when we realized Bruno has a cousin, who lives in the crack above our bed.

...

This choice of location proved more challenging.

I dubbed this guardian Takecare (after one of the greatest dog names of all time), since clearly all he was doing was taking care of us while we slept, guarding against bed bugs and fleas and mosquitos and other crawlies.We crawled into our cozy bed, fully expecting spider nightmares the whole night through. But, none came. As with Bruno, Takecare mostly hides and has never come lower than a foot or so from the ceiling. He has yet to try to kill us in our sleep.

So there you have it, folks. Mind over spider. Peaceful coexistence. Harmony with nature. All these good things.

Now we will have to see what we can do about the scorpions.