tan(ish) and happy

We just spent the day in Chichicastenanga, which roughly translates to the gringo marketplace rip off madhouse. Or something like that. It´s basically endless rows of textiles, jewelry, useless Guatemalan nick-nacks, and of course gingos. That said, it was fun.

The highlight was when I decided I really wanted this beautifully colored fabric with birds sewn into it. Sounds lame, but it is beautiful. The woman wanted 600 quetzales for it, which was like $80, ridiculous and way more than I had in my wallet. We finally got her down to 400 quetzales when I realized I only had 300 to my name. After much wrangling, we got her down to 300, as long as we had a regalito (small gift) for her. We dug around in our bags, and my friend came up with a pink luggage tag with a butterfly on it. The woman´s daughter liked it, so she agreed, and I got this lovely textile for a somewhat more reasonable price. It was strangely fun talking with this woman and haggling a bit.

This weekend was the 10th anniversary of the hotel where we are staying in Santa Cruz, which is a few minutes boat ride from Panajachel. (There aren´t any roads leading to the towns surrounding the lake - each of which consists of about 2 or 3 hotels and some fancy houses perched precariously on the mountainside.) This means about 150 people piled into this tiny hotel for free dinner, a live band and much drinking and dancing. We met a ton of neat people from all over the world (including a Chicago contingency that I hope to see again when I get home) and have been having a blast. We also went on a boat ride out in the lake as part of the celebrations, ending the day with a wet, sloshy, somewhat perilous kayak trip in the chopping waters.

Tomorrow, we head to Rio Dulce. Now that we have changed our flights and have much more time on our hands, the tenor of the trip has changed for the better, as we are all more relaxed and soaking in our time here. Oh, and por fin, I am tan. OK, kind of tan, but for a blancita like me, it´s a start.