Yay free internet!

There is a dog staring at me. I'm on the porch at a little cafe in San Pedro that overlooks the lake and has free wireless. I like this place because people speak English and they let you stay as long as you want. No one knows I'm here, but I figure they've already left me at a restaurant, so if they don't know where I am this time they can invent a story. Being in a huge group gets tiring.

One thing I noticed in Guatemala is how it’s so incredibly similar to New York City in certain ways. Instead of pigeons, there are dogs. Instead of hot dog stands, there are taco stands (and why don’t we have this in NYC yet?). Instead of the East River, there’s Lake Atitlan, which hotels dump refuse into. And the whole no toilet seat thing isn’t really unheard of in NYC. The showers are about as bad as the ones in my dorm. There are as many tiendas (small convenience stores) here as there are Starbucks in NYC. Instead of Budweiser and Heineken ads, there are ads for the Guatemalan beer Gallo (like Chris Gallo!) everywhere. And apparently it's pretty warm back in NY, too.

I’ve also discovered my terrible miming abilities. Here’s a foreign traveler anecdote for you all: I was lying in a hammock, locked out of my room - as per usual - and I heard a cat crying. I noticed that the cat had been locked inside the little kitchen area, but I didn't know how to get the door open. Being the brilliant person I am, I decided to go to the office and attempt to get someone to let the cat out. Unfortunately, my little Spanish phrase book doesn't really have any situational language for "cat locked in room," so I only knew "el gatto." So I go into the office and start saying "El gatto..." and miming for them to follow me. Obviously, they're confused, because these three people were in there just relaxing and some crazy American comes in and starts rambling about "the cat! the cat!" Finally, the owner followed me and opened the door, and of course the cat just looked at us and stayed in the room. So I looked even crazier. Damn cat. The owner looked at me like I was insane, I went back to my hammock. The end.

So now some photos!

Here's my hotel cat:


Some daisies:


When we visited the school a few days ago, we took all the kids out to lunch. They, in turn, took our cameras and took lots of photos of each other:


This little girl was really adorable:


Miriam (left) and Kai (right), the two organizers of Dream Weavers:


Miriam speaking to us with one of the other adult students:


This is Elise performing poetry in Spanish:


Two of the boys dancing in traditional Mayan attire:


A little boy performing poetry:


Most adorable little girl ever:


Part of the smoke/dance ceremony:


All of the students Dream Weavers supports through scholarships:


San Pedro from the road to San Juan:


The view from Panajachel just before sunset:


More from the docks at Panajachel:


Kathleen, Nicole, and me at the docks in Panajachel:


A flower at the restaurant we went to in Pana:


One of the shops in Pana:


More flowers:


Candles from Juan, the 45-year old hippie guy Stefanie Boa brought back to our hotel. We had no electricity for a few days, so Juan brought us candles before the group leaders kicked him out:


This yuppie guy who reminds me of Tom Hanks is sitting at the table in front of me, and he keeps looking at my Columbia laptop sticker. I've been here long enough, so I think I'll head back to the hotel to sit around and read and write and relax. Maybe shop a bit or go kayaking, since I didn't get to go hang-gliding this morning.