It´s been quite the busy week. We went to Panajachel on Thursday and Brenda and Adrian were in awe at how different it was from the other two towns they had seen. Yesterday I worked with a couple of clients and in the afternoon we both had massage appointments. Today we headed across the lake to Santiago.

No sooner had we stepped off the boat when a young boy approached us asking if we wanted to go to see Maximon. Maximon is the rum-drinking, cigar smoking idol that is worshipped in Santiago. I said yes and before we knew it, he had us escorted to his friend´s tuk-tuk negotiating a deal of 15 Quetzales for all 3 of us. ($1.80) He clambered into the back so all 3 of us would fit in the back seat and off we went.

However, the upsell was fast coming for little Joel. Just 9 years old, he had the sales pitch down better than I´ve seen many entrepreneurs 3 times his age. He told us that there were actually 5 sites we needed to see in Santiago. The Mayan laundry, the Peace Park, the site of the avalanche that killed 400 people, Maximon and the Catholic Church. For just 125 Quetzales, ($15) we could have the complete tour.

We were all laughing so hard, it was difficult to catch our breath long enough to say, “it´s a deal”. David, our 18-year-old driver was also absolutely delightful. He gave us a thorough explanation of everything we saw and I translated into English for Brenda and Adrian. They both taught us about the history of Santiago and how the civil war affected the town. It was fascinating and we all learned lots.

After the tour, we had them take us to El Bambu, the restaurant I had loved on my first visit to Santiago several weeks ago. They agreed to come and pick us up and when I phoned to let them know we were ready, Joel was waiting quietly around the corner for us and David was in the parking lot already. What service for a few dollars!

David dropped us in the center so we could do some shopping and Joel escorted us, noting what we were looking for. At one point he noted that Brenda didn´t like the colors of the water bottle holders that were available so he took us to another store where there were more colors. He paid attention, carried my bag when I bought something and made sure we didn´t pay too much. He waited patiently while we shopped and was consciencious that we got to the boat on time.

He knew his prices, that our restaurant had a fabulous lake view and the schedules for the boats. He had started working at 9:00 that morning and would work until 9:00 that evening. He will repeat the schedule tomorrow before he goes back to school on Monday. We haven´t stopped chuckling about him all day – he really was one enterprising young boy!

We had a fabulous day, later meeting my little girls that sell nuts just before leaving San Pedro. (You have to get to Santiago via San Pedro so it was a long day.) As we were getting on the last boat leaving San Pedro for home, Juana and Jennifer arrived selling nuts. I got hugs and kisses and Brenda bought chocolate covered peanuts. Just 7 and 10 years old, I am always thrilled to see the girls as they were in training with their Dad when I arrived in December. Now they are all over the villages selling on their own, weighing the nuts and calculating the change. They are absolutely adorable.

We arrived home tired and ready for a quiet evening in. We have a full week planned as it is my last week on the lake. I changed my plans and am not returning here after my tour through Guatemala but am returning to Canada mid-March as originally planned. So it´s a busy week and a bit of a sad one for me. It has been such a wonderful time and it has been fabulous showing Brenda and Adrian around the lake as they too fall in love with the people, the culture, the beautiful handi-crafts and the country. It´s easy to do!

In front of the restaurant overlooking the bay in Santiago

It turned out to be a busy weekend as I continued to explore the lake area. On Saturday morning I headed down to the dock to catch a water taxi to San Pedro where I would catch a second boat over to Santiago. My landlord Pierre, had his boat loaded with cartons of baskets he had designed, had made here in Guatemala and were being sent to a Japanese customer.

Pierre is a designer from Paris and has quite the repertoire of talent. He offered to give me a lift to Panajachel first where he would be dropping off the cartons and then continuing on to Santiago. As it would probably not make any difference in my travel time, I decided to have the adventure of crossing the lake in his small speedboat.

It´s an interesting experience to have the wind in your hair, the spray in your face and be bouncing along the waves with not a life jacket in sight. However, we made it safely to Panajachel where the cartons were picked up by a broker for their journey to Japan. He then warned me that the crossing to Santiago could be scary. Although it doesn´t look dangerous, apparently the entry to the bay is notorious for the high waves and precarious conditions.

Needless to say, I was hanging on but Pierre has been doing this trip for years and handled the big waves well in his small boat. However, I very much appreciated his warning to be sure and take a big boat back to San Pedro. I wouldn´t have known that last year 4 people died coming out of the bay when the captain panicked and tried to turn back in the high waves. It´s certainly not written in the guidebooks or talked about at the docks.

In Santiago I visited Maximon, the rum drinking, cigar smoking idol that has quite the reputation. It was definitely a different experience. I will have some photos posted to my Facebook fan page later this week so watch for those. Then after some wandering through town I headed out by tuktuk to a wonderful restaurant called El Bambu. Right on the bay, I had a front row seat to a beautiful view, great food and even had my first glass of wine for the year. Maybe it was a bit of the nervousness about the boat trip back that prompted the desire. It turned out to be wonderfully relaxing. Then I was off to find the “big” boat to get me safely to San Pedro. Am I ever glad for Pierre´s admonition as we did rock most of the way to San Pedro.

Sunday morning I headed back to San Pedro for market day. I had such a blast as I tried green (unripe)mango and bought another new vegetable I have yet to cook. People love educating me and it helps that I can speak the language fluently enough to get a real conversation going. I talked to old people who had to have my Spanish translated into their native tongue, I carried on conversations with young children and I was taught by the very wise women at the market. It was a wonderful morning.

For those of you familiar with Sacred Gifts, you are probably smiling as you know which of the Sacred Gifts is showing up when I write that. Many of my Sacred Gifts are present when I travel but this one is what makes traveling for me so very special. It´s also why doing a formalized tour is so unappealing. I need to be getting into the lives of the local people, not driving by in a sterilized bus full of other foreigners.

From there I took a tuktuk because my bag of vegetables and fruit must have weighed about 20 pounds. I headed to Zoolas where I had more amazing food and sat and relaxed, reading my book for a couple of hours as I drank wonderful hot chocolate, ate fabulous Israeli food and topped it off with a chocolate and ice cream dessert to live for. I figured that I would be burning off a few calories hauling my groceries up the hundreds of steps to my apartment.

Monday morning I experienced a most incredible body work session in San Marcos where Paul, an English fellow, did things to my body that I have never had done. Wow! He has worked on celebrities, Olympic athletes and high level military personnel just to name a few. Whatever he did, I feel like a new woman. It was almost ridiculous paying him $30 for close to 2 hours of amazing work. Then off for a wonderful lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in San Marcos called Fe.

Today our internet is back to where it should be as we were on and off the fair usage system since last Wednesday. Someone in the building was inadvertently downloading the news off of a little itouch and creating the havoc. At least that´s what it looks like, so hopefully we have resolved the problem and we are back to full speed (at least full speed Guatemala style!). Consequently, I have alot of work to catch up on but there´s blue sky, sun and a fridge full of amazing food to be enjoyed today while I work.

Watch for my newsletter coming out later this week. I think you´ll be surprised at a decision I´ve made. In the meantime, go create your amazing life. It starts with getting clear what it looks like. I was clear that this is what I wanted this year and it´s happening just as I envisioned. Actually even better than I envisioned. You can do the same! So go do it!