Safe, Sound, and Secure, Take 2

Hey everyone, sorry for my abscence. I was just doing a final read-through of my post yesterday when the power went out, and it just came back on again, about 26 hours later. Apparently I should consider myself lucky, since powe-outages often last days. But I learned my lesson...save save save!

I was posting to let everyone know I was safe and sound, since I got a few worried emails about the bus crash in Guatemala. I'm fine, and not really that close to where the crash occured.

I had a few pictures to post yesterday of the lake...looking a bit cloudy, as it should before 20 hours of solid rain. But it's almost more beautiful here when it's cloudy, because all the mountains are closed in and I feel like I'm in my own little piece of heaven, which I am! These pictures are taken from the dock of my hostel.







Last night was a quiet one, playing cards by candlelight with some fellow travellers at my hostel. I met the sweetest couple from near Owen Sound, who just graduated from high school and travelling the world. We all bought some bread, cheese and veggies from the local bakery and had ourselves a feast.

This morning I got up early and had a swim in the lake and a tan on the dock...some much-needed sunshine this morning. I guess they weren't kidding when they called this the rainy season.

Then, at 10 am I started my weaving lessons! My teacher's name is Olympia and we started by going to a little shop to buy the thread in the colours I wanted. Very expensive, about $1 for everything!! Then we headed back to her kitchen to spend the next 3 hours getting everything ready to START the actual weaving. Which, from what I understand, will commence tomorrow. Definitely extremely complicated, and I don't know if I'll be able to reproduce it without Olympia's help, but so far it's really fun.

The funny thing is, I don't actually know what I'm making. Every time I ask Olympia, she kinda laughs at me, tells me it's not a problem, and to just relax and be happy. Clearly there are some communication problems (we didn't review a LOT of weaving vocabulary during my spanish classes), but it just adds to the fun. I have a couple of pictures, but this internet cafe isn't set up for me to post them, so I'll have to go back to the other one tomorrow. I've also got some cute ones of Olympia's 2 little girls, who are adorable, and giggle every time I try to speak Spanish.

My ambitious plans to hit a bunch more places in Guatemala are fading with every look across the peaceful lake. I'm thinking I'll stay here for the next week, do some more weaving, some more swimming, some horseback riding, and some little boat trips to the other villages on the lake. So sorry, may be a bit dull reading for the next few days.

Then, in 1 week today Marcel comes to meet me in Coban! Yay!