Reflections on a month stay in one place.

We were wondering how we would hold up for a month in one place , whether there would be enough to do, would we get to know some locals, how would it all shake out. We had stayed in Havana once for a month. We were ready to leave by months end. I went to a Lithography schools so I was occupied . Lou went veggie shopping from the street vendors every day.

At this house we have one English language tv channel which plays movies only, and not too bad of ones.We have our computer for news, music, movies, gmail, and of course Facebook. The house is far too big for our needs but that is what was available for the month.  We have an entire second floor that we do not use.  Although we did have a couple of friends stay for a few nights. So we feel a little over indulged.  We are the only gringo's in this area half way up the hill so I think we are a bit of a novelty to our neighbours - but since this is a rental I guess they are used to all kinds of weird visitors.  After about three weeks of carefully transporting bags of eggs from downtown to our house by tuk tuk we discovered a store about 20 metres (like next door!!) that sells eggs.  How did we not see this store?!  We think they just opened.

The roof top at this house is amazing.  We can see the entire lake after the mist lifts for the day and in the evening we see the lights of all of the surrounding villages. We think that this house offered the best of both worlds.  We have the most fantastic view of Lake Atitlan without the bustle of the tourist area but the accessibility to that area (10 minute walk) when we feel like it.

We go for a walk everyday downtown to Gringoland, maybe just to hear some English. We have also been sneaking out to Gringo bars for supper. Meals are about 70% less than at home and a litre of beer is about 3 dollars. Certainly breaks up the day. Amazing how you start to develop routines. So far we feel the best restaurant is the Alegre Pub which is right on the main corners from the boat launch (upstairs). Great specials and 20% off for seniors before 4 p.m. and the food is excellent.  We had a chicken pie which you had to pre-order.  It came with mashed potatoes and the best garlic green beans ever oh and gravy.. Every special we have tried there has been excellent. There are so many restaurants in San Pedro that I do not think we will be able to sample them all but we have 3 days left so we will try.  Since we have a house with cooking facilities we have endeavoured to be frugal but sometimes it is simply more feasible to purchase supper at a restaurant.  We do not buy meat here (we are skeptical Canadian shoppers-there is something about the flies getting the choice parts) so we close our eyes and order meat at restaurants.

The locals here are very friendly and to use an often heard adjective," warm". The kids are one of the most impressive things about Lake Atitlan. They are very cute, shy, behaved and you seldom see them crying or misbehaving. They are carried around in blankets when small, sit on parents knees on buses and never wiggle or fuss. I think it must be the water. In general the locals who are Tz'utujil and Kaqchikel seem happy with very strong family ties. There doesn't seem to be any assimilation of the locals into the gringo community. You don't see local girls in western garb or in bars. You don't see many local men in bars either. Haven't seen any locals at all smoking. Church of course is important in the communities.

 Santiago Atitlán , the largest of the lakeside communities,  is noted for its worship of Maximón, an idol formed by the fusion of traditional Mayan deities, Catholic saints, and conquistador legends. The institutionalized effigy of Maximón is under the control of a local religious brotherhood and resides in various houses of its membership during the course of a year, being most ceremonially moved in a grand procession during Semana Santa. Several towns in Guatemala have similar cults, most notably the cult of San Simónin Zunil.

The second day here at the house my back spasmed. Never fun but fortunately we were at the house so  I didn't have to try and carry my backpack or ride buses. Found that drinking a lot of beer with Tylenol was as good as anything. Then as I was recovering Lou picked up a bug. Severe chills and cough. I think it was bronchitis. She is getting better but still has the cough a bit after a week or more. I got a slight case but not too bad.

The towns that we have visited have all been similar in building and layouts and have been able to absorb the Gringo influence and manage it quite effectively. One thing that is surprising is how many gringo bars are owned by gringos managed by gringos and have gringo staffs. Most of the bars staff are backpacker kids or older people stretching pensions. They all work under the table. Don't know any pay scales but I am sure tips are the biggest part of their pay. It is surprising that no Guatemalan officials seem to be checking on employment issues. Never get away with this for long in Costa Rica.

Staying a longer time in a place has some benefits like never being in a rush or hurry. Always tomorrow. We are starting to see many of the same people as we travel around downtown and we know the best convenience stores, who has what etc, best veggie vendor at the mercado and prices of things. 

An interesting thing here is seeing litter virtually everywhere but they have a recycling household garbage program. You separate your garbage into, recycle, organic, garbage like plastic bags and toilet paper waste. Not knowing this ,when the garbage truck came to the door, I took the garbage to the front door. 2 ladies started to separate our garbage at the door. Kind of an embarrassing event in a strange way. Also we were informed by Mr. Wilson (who manages the house for the owner) that we were fined a hundred Quetzals because we hadn't separated our garbage properly. Of course Mr. Wilson never informed us of this but has said we should have known as we have recycle in our country. He expects the 100 q from us to reimburse him for paying our fine. Don't know if it is a scam or what but I think we should have been informed ahead of time.

One thing I did here was buy a guitar. Just a cheap one and a tuner for about 100 dollars US. That is something that has been a good investment. have learned to adjust my chording hand to suit the guitar.The action is much higher than my guitars at home. Plan on leaving it at Ben's if it makes it that far in one piece.

We are looking at transportation out of here. Chicken buses from here to Xela (Quetzeltenango)
are about 20 Q or $2.50 US that is half way to Huehuetenango. Pullman buses or shuttle buses I think are around 100Q. If our packs can go on the roof, then chicken bus it is. The buses leave at 4;45 am to 10;30 a.m. and take about 2.5 hours. Huehue is about another 2 hours.


We will be couchsurfing here and planning on visiting a Mayan ruin before heading to Mexico.

I think we are both of the same mind that for our next winter stay if any more than a couple of weeks, we would pick a place close to a beach.  It doesn't have to be on the beach but close. Or just travel like gypsies and book accommodations as we go.  Sometimes booking online prior to arrival is very disappointing.  Actual rooms are certainly not always as shown in pictures.  We have only had one incident on this trip where we were scrambling a little to find a room upon arrival. (Puerto Veijo, CR).

So to try and sum up a month at San Pedro, I think we were lucky and picked the best of the towns for an extended stay. The weather was good always hot during the day warm to cool in the evenings and very windy at night. Our house had a thousand different sounds but never bothered us as we were locked securely in our bedroom at night.

Would we return here? Maybe but not for a month. We are not into the mountain hiking , kayaking, meditation, yoga etc. Very little swimming is seen in the lake possibly due to concerns about pollution in some areas and there only seems to be one small beach.  Miss the beach. Looking forward to Mexico.