Lima

The airport in Lima is totally different from the airport in Panama City. In Panama there was no one to provide any tourist information. Here there were people who immediately got me into their hands and I was impressed how good the tourist information system works until I understood that these were travel agencies wanting to sell me their services. It was my mistake that I didn't buy any travel guide - I thought I would do it after my arrival in Lima. So I spent the first night in Miraflores because according to the agency this was the only safe place in Lima. Maybe it is, however, it is not very interesting. Meaning, it is, it is beautiful but it is very new. It's a district of stores, cafes, expensive hotels and casinos and it ends with a shopping center overlooking the ocean. The view is beautiful, the panorama is amazing, especially at night. There is a park with a sculpture of a couple in a loving embrace. It is a place for lovers - I saw many couples in loving embrace yesterday and, according to the guide book I bought today (Barefoot guide book on South America) it is a popular place for pictures being taken of newlyweds. I saw three just married couples, all very beautiful, happy but a little nervous posing for the pictures. Rosana, did you and Merardo have your pictures taken there? Today I walked to the main square of Miraflores and went around some nice buildings and a main church. Then I packed my backpack and decided to go the center and look for Hostal Espana which I found in the guidebook. The owners of the hotel in Miraflores were terrified when I told then the taxi is not neccessary, that I will take a bus... The center of Lima is very, very, VERY beautiful. It´s what I like - old buildings, and the atmosphere of monumental history. Hostal Espana is also in a very old building. It is the most interesting hostal I have ever seen. The owner is a peruvian painter and he must also collect works of art because the whole building is full of beautiful paintings and sculpture. I stay in the dormitorio ($3) in a beautiful big room with high ceiling and a painting which looks medieval. There are a few other people there and they are all very nice. We stay on the third floor and the "ceiling" on the corridor is really a vine and other plants. I don't know how to specifically describe this place - it`s like living in a museum. The stairs are narrow and winding. The corridors are wide. The place is full of unexpected turns and smaller corridors. There´s a small cafe, the internet cafe, laundry, phone booths for international calls. Seems like everything a traveler needs and at very reasonable prices.

I had lunch after I arrived here and I went to the nearby church of San Francisco which is the most interesting church I have seen (I don´t know when I will stop saying something was the most interesting of its kind but for now my eyes are open wide with amazement with everything I see - the further I go the more amazed I am). Why it was so special? I will tell you the story of the church tomorrow because the internet place closes in 5 minutes... It´s 11 pm and I am not very sleepy tonight so I will just read a bit about the history of Peru and its culture and relive in my mind the wonders of the church...

Lima

Just a short note to say that I safely arrived in Lima. I saw beautiful beaches on the way to part of the city called Miraflores. I am going to explore the city now and more tomorrow. Details tk. Hugs to all.

Miraflores

I decided to visit Portobelo when I come back to Panama (because I will definitely come back). Instead to Portobelo I decided to go to Miraflores where one of the locks on the canal is. I ate breakfast with Michil from Holland, Daniel from Switzerland and Riccardo from Italy. All of them have been traveling in South America for months and have interesting stories to tell (we all shared the stories about food poisoning, in detail). Michil was also planning to go to Miraflores so we went together. There's a museum there dedicated to the building and operating of the canal. It was very interesting. I learned a lot about the canal and also about the fauna and flora of Panama in general (tarantulas, grasshoppers, mantees, butterflies, dragonflies, moths and birds). I learned that this is the only place in the world where the captains give the rains to an operator working on the canal who safely gets the ship through the canal. There was a simulator on which the operators learn their skills. I became an operator for a bit and thought that maybe I can become one and stay in Panama. We saw two ships going through the locks, some Princess cruiseliner and a cargo ship. The cruiser had on it´s highest deck, you won´t believe it, a wall for wall climbing. We were straining our eyes to see if they offered horseback riding there but couldn´t see it. It`s just a matter of time... It was huge. It seemed like thousands of people were on it, waving to us furiously. We waved back. We took a few buses back to Panama City center. Panama is beautiful. There are good vibes here. It seems there are a few cities in one: Poland in the 60s, Alfama in Portugal, a bit of NY with high rised buildings, Havana and the Caribbean islands. The city is mostly dirty and loud but it has this amazing character which makes is interesting and not very tiring. I will rest for a while and go explore more of the city in the evening. It will be sad to leave it tomorrow... I will come back.

Panama Canal

Today I was woken up at 6 am by birds. I heard that Panama is a stop-over for many species of birds migrating between south and north Americas but I didn't think they would be so visible. There was a cacophony of sound made by them. It was amazing. Chirp, chirp, chirp. Chirp CHIRP chirp. chIRp, chIRp, chIRp. Chirp, Chirp, CHIRP! Very nice but imposible to sleep. I went outside on the balcony and decided to swing on the hammock and see how the city wakes up to another day. It's a district of banks and hotels. I had the continental breakfast, provided by the hostel, together with a few other early, but actually late, birds. I went to bus terminal to catch a bus to a city the name of which I don´t remember now... hm... and I don't have a map. At the bus terminal of that city I took a chicken bus to the coast to see the ruins of the St. Lorenzo fort. However, we got stuck on the canal and were stuck for 3 hours. It was very hot but a great observation point of the canal - I saw many ships passing by and the usual hurly burly of operating the gates, workers screaming commands, things being driven from place to place, etc. The people on the bus were like a one big family. There was no sign of any impatience shown. Kids started playing ball on the grass, adults were talking and napping. Vendors showed up with all kinds of food, mostly fried Carribean stuff, and drink. Someone caught an iguana which they presented to me and I said ¨very nice¨and they asked if I know the taste of it. And I explained that where I come from it´s considered a pet. They laughed. I think if they had a frying pan on the bus they would prepeare a meal for me right there on the spot, so that I could taste it. We finally crossed the canal and it turned out there was no other transportation except per pedes )20 km) or a ride. I parted with ¨the family¨warmly and shortly afterwards I got a ride from Russell, an American who has lived in Panama for twenty years. He is very much like Mike except he doesn't built projects for the poor but hotels for the rich. He was driving in my direction but on the way had to meet with government officials to assess a former military base which he planned to turn into a resort. I decided to go with him and I took part in the tour. The place is absolutely beautiful. A few very nice two-story high buildings, right on the canal, with beautiful lawns and palm trees around them. In the back there´s a dense jungle. Beautiful, beautiful. It won't be so when there will be hoards of turists but now it´s serene... Since I was so delayed at the canal I decided to go back to Panama City with Russell instead of walking back the 20 km and then God knows how long wait for a ride to the city from which I was to take the bus to Panama City. Russell said there are virtaully no cars passing this way except US soldiers who are stationed nearby and a possibility of spending a night on the road scarred me a little. Russell gave me a ride back and showed me interesting places along the way: an old railway through the jungle which is still functioning, the jungle national park, a new very nice bridge over the canal. The heat of midday exhausted me. I am going to take a nap... hr, hr, hr....

Panama City 2

I took a bus to the Presidential Palace and I didn't think the palace would be in the part of the city considered dangerous. The bus was taking turns through the winding roads of something which looked like Alfama in Lisbon. It's a very beautiful part of the city but very run down. It's right on the coast - some of the residential buildings, and the palace, overlook the water. The bus driver at one point stopped and called a police officer who "took me over" and walked me to the "Tourist Police Station". There they greeted me warmly and told me not to walk around the "Harlem" and offered to store my backpack while I was visiting the safe part of the Harlem. There was a lot of police everywhere... It's strange that the Presidential Palace is in such a dangerious area. But it is beautiful. It must look a little bit like Havana also - from what I could see in the movie about the Beuena Vista Social Club. When I returned I asked if it's possible to get a taxi but they gladly offered to give me a lift. Amazing! They drove me to the door of the hostel - the hotel in which I spent last night was expensive but I got to the centre too late to look for something else. Hostel Voyager International is very nice ($8). It's really an apartment turned into a hostel but the atmosphere is great - it's the atomsphere of a place in which people who travel the world live. I left my backpack here and I went to visit the Old Panama City which are just ruins of a cathedral and surrounding buildings, overlooking the sea. It's also a park and kids were playing ball with their parents, having pickincs, dogs were running around - nice. I took a nap on the grass in what used to be the parish house. It was very rejuvenating. I also visited the museum dedicated to the old city. Very interesting but I was the only one visitor. They were so happy to see me - I think people must be just bypassing it because it is a 10-minute walk from the ruinas. On my way to the hostel I realized I lost the address. I went to a pharmacy to ask if they had a telephone book but the hostel was not listed there and the daughter of the pharmacists offered to give me a lift to an Internet cafe so that I could find it there. The people are just amazing here. They are out of this world. There must be problems here if there's so much police, and I think much must be connected to the smuggling of drugs, but in general people have hearts on the palm of their hand. It took me some time to find the hostel - everything changes at night - and I am going straight to bed. I am roasted. It's really hot here. Hot and humid, like the worst summer days in NY. The city is very unusual. More about it soon. Much huggs to you all, thank you for your wonderful e-mails - I love getting them!!!

Panama City

The smell of Panama is the tropical scent: sweet and sticky. It's hot and very humid - what I presently wear as my hair style is an afro! I think it's bigger than the famous Texas afro... It took me 1,5 hours to get from the airport to the city centre. The airport is the strangest airport I have ever seen. There's no tourist information whatsoever, only car rental booths. I found one tiny "information" booth but there was no one there. Someone told me "they didn't show up to work today." I asked about the chicken buses (they look exactly like the ones in Guatemala - all are retired yellow school buses), I crisscrossed the highway a few times before I found the right direction. About a hundred taxis stopped, "No, gracias, senor. Yo prefiero bus de pollo." Taxis from airports to city centers are a rip off everywhere in the world. A very nice woman told me which bus to take, she got on it with me, took my backpack and put it on her lap. Amazing hospitality. Everyone on the bus said "Welcome to Panama!" It seems people here love their country and are proud to be its citizens. What I could see yesterday Panama City looks like Poland under communism, except gas stations look more modern. There are apartment buildings which look like the ones built in Poland in the 60s. I don't know much about Panama - I didn't have the time to do any research. I didn't even know American dollars are the currency used here. I met a person yesterday at the Internet cafe who told me a little about the history, economy and politics. I am going now to the new city centre - to see the presidential palace and the cathedral. In the evening I want to see the ruins of the old city and tomorrow I will go to San Lorenzo which is old fort an hour away from the capital. And, of course, I will go to see the canal. I will be in touch with details.

Mercado

Taji, I didn't keep my promise to write in Spanish. I will soon. I didn't write anything since Thursday, rats!

On Friday I did, with a map in my hand, a "tour of the churches" and visited a few of them. The most interesting is the church of San Francisco which is really dedicated to Hermano Pedro, a priest who was born in Tenerife and came to Guatemala in the 16th century. He was a missionary and an ascetic. In the church museum I found his underwear which looked like a fishnet made of course material. I knew priests at that time were wearing all kinds of clothing to mortify their flesh but such underwear seems just impossible to bear... It's one of the strangest pieces of clothing I have ever seen. The church was a very big one, a cathedral, but it was badly destroyed by all the earthquakes over the centuries. Only ruins remain but they are very beautiful. Hermano Pedro is famous for miracles, then and now, and the walls of one of the remaining chapels are stuffed with crutches and eyeglasses which the miracuously healed left behind. I concentrated very hard... closed my eyes... and took my glasses off ready to hang them on the wall... but maybe Hermano Pedro doesn't think I am ready to be clearvisioned yet :). I will wait patiently... There is a wonderful atmosphere in the ruins. It's nice to sit in the grass, surrounded by remains of the cathedral... Rob comes here with Rubber who enjoys it very much. Maybe he is not a Ganesh, maybe he is Hermano Perro and is reuniting with his spirit...

On Saturday I was running around the town the whole day. Rob was telling me about his favorite stands with used clothing on the local market so first I went with him there. It's on the outskirts of Antigua and it's big. There's a section which is covered by roof and then there's the whole outside area where people from towns and villages around Antigua come with fruit, vegetables, clothing, spices, flowers, etc., etc. Anything can be found on the market. It's noisy and very colorful. Very few tourists seem to go there. It is more of a market where goods are exchanged and where the Antiguan restaurants and businesses get their goods. First we just walked around enjoying all the colors and smells and then we went to explore the stands and bins with second-hand clothing for men, women and children. "Ropas, ropas, rooooopas! Por caballeros, damas y ninos!" It's possible to hear the vendors from afar. There are stands with clothes for 5 quetzales per piece (1 US dollar = 7.7 quetzales), 3 quetzales and 1 quetzal. The best bins are the 1 quetzal bins (about 12 cents). Oh what fun it was digging through the piles! Patrycja you would love it! It's much better than the store in Williamsburg we went to. Most of the clothing is Diesel-like, rugged, washed many times for many years, except it is really used not made to look like used and it costs 12c instad of $100. Good quality fabrics which age nicely. There's a lot of Gap and Banana Republic stuff, Dockers and Levi's, all sports labels like Nike, Adidas, etc., Jones New York, LR... Rob found a very nice Victoria Secret bath robe, tried it on for the amusement of the crowd also searching in the bins... lots of fun. When he found the robe I dug deeper thinking maybe we can find some Chanel or Carolina Herrera or other houte couture articles hidden underneath? Not that I like labels, but it would be interesting... to find something so outrageously out of place here. The find of the day were two things we though were just perfect for circumstances (local customs and climate): a totally transtransparent white peniuar and ski pants. I showed the peniuar to a very petite and very old granny digging next to me and she started to giggle at first and then the two of us were laughing hysterically. Rob then showed me another great find, a t-shirt with WHAAASUP!!! on it. I couldn't help it and I took a picture of him holding the t-shirt in front of him so when I finally put the pictures on the blog you will see it. I got a silk blouse and two t-shirts (total value $1) and Rob got three t-shirts and a sweater. It was a good paca morning.

Later that day I went to see King Arthur at Caffe 2000 - a place which is a bar in the evening and a cinema during the day. It has nice armchairs and cushions to sit, but almost lie down if one wishes, and a large screen. I really enjoyed the movie. I always liked the legend. King Arthur was nice but Guinevere! Guinevere was the best! A strong Celtic woman! A true warrior. Katka, I will have to read this book about Celts when I come back. My favorite line in this movie was: "What are you afraid of, Arthur?" It is she who is asking him this question, the greatest warrior, the one who seems the bravest, the one who is feared and admired for his strength everywhere, not the other way around. Because it is she who possesses the secret of what it means to be fearless: "Today is all there is, who knows what tomorrow will bring." - the secret has nicely been revealed. I enjoyed the movie very much (and the Spanish subtitled witch I was eagerly reading) but the people sitting around me were chain smokers and I got roasted - the allergy knocked me down. I will still have to avoid places where smoking is permitted. After the movie I went to Cafe Condesa, a very beautiful cafe with a fountain in the atrium and really tasty pastries.

Sunday - I was basically studying and reading, all day. I also decided that as much as I like Probigua, they don't really provide good study materials. I asked Buba to send me the books I bought in NY (and the dictionary - so it will actually make it to Guatemala after all) . I don't know how long it will take them to reach Antigua but I decided that in the meantime I will travel somewhere...

Monday - Yesterday morning I saw in one of the travel agencies this really great flight to Peru with a stop-over in Panama. So today I am going to Panama at 2:50 pm and I will stay there till Saturday. I ran a few errands, went to see Mike to tell him I will be leaving for some time and went back to Luna Maya to eat lunch. Paulo, who is from Pescadora in Italy and also stays in Luna Maya, came just as I was putting the first bite in my mouth: "Asia, Lucas and I are going to climb the Pacaya volcano in ten minutes, are you going with us?!" Of course!!! I swallowed the rest of my lunch in one gulp and was ready to go. It took as an hour by bus, with a group of other tourists, to get to the volcano. It was a 1,5 hour climb, first not so steep but very steep at the end. At the end it was walking on old lava, pebbles. The last part I did on all fours (and was sliding back on my bottom). It was one of the most amazing things I saw... When we got to the top, dirty, sweaty and exhausted (although I have to say I wasn't as exhausted as the rest of our group - I am staying fit, Curtis!), the peak was belching out pieces or red lava, which became black the minute they hit the rest of the lava already lying on its sides. There were two places through which lava came out. One was on the side of the main peak - we could see the red abyss!!! And the sulfur and gases coming out with puff, puff, puff. Smelled like Hell. We were just waiting for the little devils to come out and do a little dance, sweeping the lava floor with their tails. When we were coming down, everyone was in the elated stated of "we saw the inside of the earth." The sun was setting and in the distance we could see the peaks of the other volcanoes, the towns in the valleys, the sky changing colors. The last part of the walk down I did with Edwin who works for the volcano police (there were robberies of tourists climbing the volcano). On the way back the bus was buzzing with conversation. Lucas (from Malaga in Spain) and I were talking about LIFE and it was a very nice conversation. We then went to Luna Maya to take a shower (our faces and everything was just dark with lava dust) and then to dinner at Vino y Queso restaurant and had pizza (and Paolo had pasta, of course) because on Monday evenings everything is closed and there wasn't much choice. Since Paolo and Lucas are party animals they went to an Irish pub and I went home because I was barely dragging my feet... Today I woke up in the blissful state of having seen one of the wonders of the world...

I will write from Panama... kisses to everyone.

Spanenglish

Taji! Your Spanenglish is great! I have to see how I can log on to your blog... haven't figured it out yet. I have to get something to eat - my first meal in 24 h! and after my class tonigh I will write something to you in Spanish! Love!

Chimaltenango

Yesterday, unexpectedly, I went with Mike to one of the little villages north of Antigua where a new school is going to be built in a few months. We set out at 8/30 am)if you see strange signs where other signs should be it's because the computer at Probigua doesn't work very well) and went to Chimaltenango where PAVA has it's office. There we picked up Adam, a Peace Corps volunteer, and Luis who both work for PAVA. We went to San Martin )about 80 km) to meet with the mayor of the town and the region. From there we went on dirt roads for another 30 km to a tiny village of 25 families. We were greeted by a group of men from the villages and by fire crackers - that's the local tradition. The school is now a shack made of sugar canes and one teacher teaches grades 1 to 5. They are all in the same room: first grade in the first row, second grade in the second row, and so on. The teacher was an amazing person - I talked to him for a few minutes using my newly acquired Spanish words. The mayor came a few minutes after we came, with his body guards and someone representing the government police - a man with a rifle who was overlooking our meeting. The kids were let go on a break and we and the men from the village were sitting outside and all were talking about the new school and how the PAVA will contribute half of the cost of building the school, half will be provided by the government and volunteers will help the families build it. After the meeting we were invited to an everyday meal of the families: tortillas with salt and chicken soup. For desert everyone was given a piece of sugar cane, which had to be pealed off and cut into pieces and could then be chewed. I tasted some of the sugar cane: very refreshing and not too sweet - I was told there are different kinds, some less sweet then the others. Only sugar cane because I got food poisoning the night before (abuelo Herb invited me to taste the best paella in town, since he was returning to the US the next morning; I will never have another paella in my life) and wouldn't be able to hold anything in my stomach anyway. This whole trip was a very interesting one. Mike told me that the villages are very poor and I was preparing myself emotionally to see this poverty but I have to say it looked much better than the cities I was passing by on my way to Panajachel. Like in Chiapas in Mexico people seem rather happy. They work very hard, true, and they have very little. The houses are made of sugar cane or any other material which may be handy. There's not much in the houses. Men work in the fields and women take care of the families. Women's lives are especially hard. It's amazing how much dry wood for cooking they can carry on their heads. In places where there's no water they travel many times a day for miles to bring water home for cooking. Everything they wear is made of fabric the women weave (and some second-hand clothing which come from rich countries - men wear t-shirts with emblems of various US universities, advertising some luxury articles, medical conferences, etc). There's no entertainment and no vacations here. There's only the daily life of providing what is necessary to survive. We, westerners, would not endure one day of such life. Ann told me there is this saying here which people often say "The world owes me nothing." I was reading in the morning this book on meditation which I got from Tomek and a thought came to my mind that we the people coming from the richer countries, where the society puts so much fake rules and obligations on us and make us believe we deserve something or are entitled to something, making us people living in the past or in the future, we need to meditate and practice yoga, and search for the meaning of live while the people here don't need to do any of this, they don't look for the meaning of life at all - the meaning of life is for them their daily existence. This is exactly what we are trying to do with all these various classes, therapies, etc. They never loose touch with reality and what is truly important - their relationships with family and people in general. They do everything slowly - there's no need to move fast, to do certain things which will bring them toward some goal set for a distant future. There is no goal - the goal is to survive today. There are no "underachievers" here. No one has to be more than what they are. Only when they come to the cities, they start to want things and fall into eternal chase for things. So in the cities people have more, but are less happy. This seems to be the pattern... the more things people have, the more miserable they are. Of course, it's a different story with people who have so little that they starve or die of diseases or because of war. It may be true here as well, when the crops are destroyed or there's civil war going on... On our way to St. Martin we visited a newly built school which consisted of three rooms for three different age groups. Kids were in all of them but there is so far only one teacher - the government has to contract two more. The teacher was teaching in one room and kids in the other rooms were talking quietly, some were drawing. I couldn't believe how nicely they behaved, in comparison to Polish and American kids )that's the only comparison I have). Polish and American kids would be ripping their heads off if left alone for 10 minutes!

Yesterday evening Rob and Rubber Head stopped by Luna Maya, just as I was having a tenth cup of te de manzanilla'cammomile tea to cure my poor stomach. Rubber was very compassionate and was giving me one paw to pat after another, looking in my eyes lovingly. I really love this dog. He also has something of an elephant in him... Maybe he is a Ganesh? I will go to see a movie tonight with Rob, The Passion, and Rubber will have to stay home but I will visit them in the park where they spend afternoons earlier.

PROBIGUA

PROBIGUA es mucho bonita escola. Mi profesora Maria Eugenia es mucho interesanta persona. Nosotros hablamos per quatro horas per Guatemala y Polonia, familias, natura y animales, cultura y literatura, medicina tradicional y alternativa un poco Espaniola grammatica :). Yo estoy cansada y feliz!

For hours of non-stop talking made me dizzy yesterday. Today it will be the same )this is my 15'minute break[. Es mucho interesante but I don't know how long I will last. It's totally draining. I think it's a little too much at one time. I think I will travel through the villages with Mike after two weeks. Rosana and Taji, if you would like please write to me in Spanish - I think I can handle. I started reading Primera Encyclopedia per Ninos and I can more or less understand everything. More later... mi profesora retorno...

Valentine's Day

Today will be my first day of school. Probigua is on the same street on which Maya Luna is, on 6 Avenida Norte, just a few blocks away further down from the city center. I am also going to go to a huge library behind the Cathedral - Mike told me I can find there good books to study from. I am going to really concentrate on the language now. I already feel I picked many words and I can more or less understand what people say to me. Polish, English and Spanish belonging to the same family of languages helps. I will finish classes at 6pm and when I come home I will put on my best sunflower summer dress and join Herb who asked me to be his valentine for tonight (I turned down all other offers :)). Herb stays in Luna Maya and is a very energetic 70-year-old grandpa. We'll have dinner together and he will tell me about his adventures in Guatemala and I will tell him about my experiences so far. I don't know if anything interesting will be happening in the next week or so as I will be just sitting with my nose in the books. But I will be in touch with tiny little details and maybe I can even construct something sensible in Spanish soon. Muchos besos!

Chicken Bus

Ann and Bill shared my opinion about San Marcos and Ann took me to San Catarina for breakfast to see a real village. All the way there was very spectacular. In the city, after breakfast, we walked through the very narrow streets/sidewalks among people's houses, "Buenas Dias, Senor". Everyone was greetings us. The village looks like a very poor counterpart of Santa Barbara. It's located on the hill overlooking the water. Ann was showing me the houses traditionally made of clay and grass and now covered by sheets of metal to serve as roof (instead of the roof tiles used in the days of yore). She said that what killed people in the earthquake of 1973 was the walls collapsing and the metal sheet falling down. But in general the villages around Lake Atitlan didn't suffer as much as other towns in that earthquake. I came back by a chicken bus. I talked to MariaElena and she said the possibility of an armed robbery is the same on a chicken bus as on all other buses including the shuttle buses used by travel agencies. The travel agencies charge $24 round trip to Panajachel and the chicken bus is $2. There are also buses called "Pullman buses" which are retired Grayhound buses. They are about $10 round trip. There are also retired North American school buses which are even cheaper than the chicken buses but I think they operate on shorter distances. The chicken buses are called chicken because chicken travel on them as well as passangers but I saw goats and pigs coming out of the buses, too. The first part of the trip was a joyful ride with a group of guys from Israel. I didn't ask them but I think they just completed their time at the army and were enjoying themselves. I was sitting first next to Pele and we talked for a while and then a father with a four-year old daughter sat next to me and she slept streched out on our lap. The views were beautiful (it looked like a different route than the one we took with Ann and Bill), the driver seemed rackless to my standards and I had butterflies in my stomach a few times taking turns down the mountains. I had to change buses about 20km before Antigua and that was the yellow school bus. I couldn't believe how many people got into that bus. I was standing, squeezed from all four sides. And the person charging the fair was constantly squeezing back and forth between me and the squeezed people. But everyone was laughing, the ac was on - windows open all the way down knoting women's hair and bringing clouds of dust, khe, khe - so it was a fun ride. The owners of Luna Maya greeted me as if I was part of the family. I will stay there during my studies ($75 per week room and board). I am getting so sleepy that I will go back to Luna Maya and take a warm shower (if I am lucky, and if not, it will be a cold shower) and get to bed earlier tonight... Sweet dreams everyone...

San Marcos

Today I went to San Marcos by boat - it took about 40 minutes to get there. On the boat I met Susan from Stuttgart and Alisa from Berlin. They also came to study Spanish and they will work in orphanages outside of Antigua. We exchanged addresses in Antigua and we will hang out after school. We arrived at San Marcos and we saw many signs advertising various hotels and retreats. Susan and Alisa found a place in which they would spend the night. We asked the hotel owner where the village was and he said "Oh, I don't know really, I think it's somewhere there (he pointed left), or there (he pointed right), well, you will walk up and see it somewhere up the slope." He has lived there, it seems, for some time but he didn't know where the village was! Meaning the original village. Where he lives is the "new village" built by foreigners. We started walking around the "new village" and we thought we would just turn back and hop on the boat and go right back to Panajachel. The "new village" looks like some kind of a commune of totally organic people, organic to the very extreme limits: "Here's a place when you will feel good, where we will find the deepest secrets of your childhood and we will cure you for ever of all your old traumas", "Find your inner child and be free for ever", "Compost is holly, don't waste it", "Here's a separate toilet for pee and there is a toilet for poo, please use our toilets responsibly", "No toilet paper is permitted" (is that some kind of dictatorship, again???), "The food is totally organic, grown in our gardens, fertilized by our own compost" (from the poo toilets perhaps?). The place is full of healers, acupuncturists, herbalists, homepathic doctors. There's meditation and yoga 24/7, extreme detoxication, purification, etc., etc. I am pro hollistic healing and alternative medicine. It helped me tremendously and I have no bad word to say about it. HOWEVER! Anything too much of and concentrated in one place is not good. It looks like a Disney Land of alternative medicine. It is just so separated from reality that next to Hollywood it's the most artifical, silliest place I have seen so far. The tourists wander around in this elated state of nirvana, now that their traumas have been cured and their bodies purified. They are ready to become saints. I felt like asking one of them: "Hey, is there any McDonald or a Burger King here, man?" The place seemed so holly that I felt like a little of blasphemy might be helpful... to keep the balance. What is worst about the "new village" is that there is a clear division between the tourist who come to the retreats and the indigenious people who work for them: there are masters and servants. The local people's mentality is completely changed: they are not nice out of kindness of the heart but because they will get a bigger tip if they are nice. So they are nice in a very slimy and fake way. Terrible. Later, coming back, I met two girls from Argentina who were also running away from San Marcos as fast as they could. I guess it's the usual story of a place which becomes a tourist attraction, where the needs of the tourists are served and local customs disappear. And where the newcomers are so rich in comparison to the local people.

The three of us, Alisa, Susan and I, were forced, out of hunger, to have the very organic lunch and afterwards we decided to climb the slope around the lake to get away from the village. It was mid-day so it was rather hard to climb in this heat but the views of the volcanoes, the lake, and other "real" villages on the distant shores were magnificent. The water was deliciously torqouise, the surface slightly wrinkled. I think I have to agree with Aldous Huxley that it is one of the most beautiful lakes I have seen. We then found a little beach and some rocks to sit on and that was the best part of the day. The local women were washing their clothes and kids in the lake. Another group of kids came a little later and we had so much fun observing them play in the water. I played with them as well - they were splashing water on me (when I was reading a book), a few times their ball landed on my head - they were little pranksters. I laughed and that, of course, encouraged them to play closer to me. More splashes and more giggling. Local dogs came, were shaking off water on me, put their muzzles on my book, leaned against my back. O what fun that was! On my way back in Panajachel I bought a beautifuly embroidered shirt - I couldn't say no to a very nice man with a little son. He said "This one is the best for you" and I put it on at home and it's true: it's goregous. It will remind me of the fun on the beach today.

Piatek z Pankracym

No bardzo Ci dziekuje Misiu za te piosenke! Piatki z Pankracym byly odjazdowe. I z Misiem Uszatkiem i Kolargolem. Chlip, chlip, rzeczywiscie nostalgia dopada czlowieka, ale to taka fajna nostalgia, taka ciepla, nie pelna zalu za ubieglym czasem. Siedze teraz przy komputerze Billa w mieszkanku dla gosci Ann i Billa. Uskutecznilam prysznic bardzo dlugi i cieply (ciepla woda to jest rarytas w tej czesci swiata wiec byl to gwozdz dnia, wiecej o tym bedzie zaraz w wersji angielskiej GDYZ zdaje sobie sprawe ze wiekszosc milusiow jest, w rzeczy samej, dwu-jezyczna). Ale tak mi sie fajnie jednak pisze po polsku troszke... W kwestii lap kudlatych to jest ich tu duzo ale sa w lepszym stanie od psiunciow meksykanskich: tlustsze sa i chyba zdrowsze. W samej Antigui w ogole nie ma dzikich szwedaczy, co mnie cieszy bo widok dzikich szwendaczy zawsze mnie jednak napawa smutkiem. A tak w ogole to moglibyscie sie do mnie odezwac milusie! Poprosze o wiecej kawalkow audiowizualnych. Niezaleznie od swietnych przygod na gwatemalskich drozkach tesknie za Wami i wszelkie notki powitam z wieeeelka radoscia. A teraz bedzie troche w jezyku mocno popularnym.

I came today with Ann and Bill to Panajachel. It was two hours of driving up and down on the slopes of hills of vulcanic origin. I have to say that at the end of the trip I was a little dizzy and it was difficult to breathe for some time. Bill says he experiences the same discomfort because we both have allergies and our sinuses are somewhat clogged... It really was like a roller coaster. We were passing through many very poor villages but from what I got from Mike they are actually not that poor - up north they are poorer. When we were driving through them the same thoughts came to my mind as the ones I had while hitchhiking in Mexico a year ago, that the colonization did a terrible thing to these peoples and what was started five hundred years ago hasn't really been stopped... I remember watching the movie THE MISSION with Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons and thinking how these poor missionaries were manipulated by the superpowers, the government and the church, to believe they were bringing the people light and a better way of life and in fact they helped destroy the culture and a way of life which was in no way better than theirs. I am not saying anything new but I have to mention this because it just strikes me how the westerners thought their civilization was the best and how they still think it is the best! It just sucks. I know it's not possible to turn the hands of the clock. There are the people who work on preservation of the ways of life of the indigenious peoples and those who think they should be educated and incorporated into the western system because it's just not possible for them to exist in any other way. It's hard for me to say who is right... It just makes me sad to see how much damage the white man did; his greed and craving for power over the world. I love the old buildings of Antigua and I loved seeing Merida and San Christobal de las Casas in Mexico but I am very aware of the fact that it caused a lot of suffering on the part of the indigenious peoples to build these cities. They exist so I enjoy them. For the generations of Mayan people it would be better if they were never built... I think I learned to appreciate little things during the martial law in Poland when there was just absolutely nothing in stores (except the famous vinegar - some of my Polish friends remember this grotesgue situation of a store with many many shelves on which only bottels of vinegar stood) and there were ration cards for everything including a pair of shoes a year. And my relationship to toilet paper is special to this day! It was just not possible to get any and when the government "threw" some in the stores people were walking with rolls of paper on a string around their necks and whoever saw them ran to that store - imagine half of town running to a drug store... and it was more of a sand paper than a toilet paper... I laugh when I write this... because these situations were so grotesque, they were in the end funny and people just had to laugh. I see the same here in Guatemala. People are so poor and they have so little that they enjoy whatever they have. They are so open and so generous and hospitable. It's amazing. The conditions in which they live are really bad but I see them laughing and joking around. Every morning I was woken up by the maid in the Luna Maya hotel who was singing while cleaning and sweeping. Last night the wind was so strong it knocked out six windows upstairs on the veranda and she was sweeping the glass from the stairs and floors and when I was shaking my head in anger at the wind, she was just smiling and saying "what to do?" It's the happiness of people in peace with nature and their existance, however rugh it may be.

At one point of our journey today we reached a place from which we could see Lake Atitlan. It is, indeed, very beautiful. Bill said it was 12 miles long and I think 5 miles wide. It is surrounded by three volcanoes and there are a few towns on its shores. Tomorrow I will visit one of them, San Marcos, by boat. Today I walked around Panajachel and I visited with Ann and Bill an English school - 80 students study there and most of them get scholarships - and I also went to the library which Ann and Bill established in the city.

Podziekowania za piosenke

Moose. Niestety na tym komputerze, straszny slimak, moge doswiadczyc tylko wizji ale nie audio wiec jak dorwe jakis lepszy pc to sobie odslycham. Wszelkie wzbogacenia bloga mile widziane.

Dzisiaj jestem w Panajachel. O wrazeniach wkrotce.

Volcano

Maria and Deane, thank you for your note! Carolyn - the title of the book is EACH DAY A NEW BEGINNING. Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey.

The volcano is indeed spilling lava and the smoke can be clearly seen. Mike said that at night the flames are visible. I met Mike yesterday evening. Mike has lived in Guatemala for over 20 years and is part of PAVA Foundation, a non-profit organization dealing with building schools and bridges, reforestation and setting potable water systems in villages in central Guatemala. Mike recommended the Spanish language school which I also found on the internet earlier: PROBIGUA i.e. Projecto Biblioteca Guatemala which is also a non-profit school enhancing literacy and establishing libraries in rural Guatemala. I went there in the morning and met Allison who volunteers at the office and Rigoberto who runs the school. I registered for next week. I will be taking Spanish classes from 2-6 (there are morning classes available but I think I am more productive in the afternoons) for three weeks and then I will travel around the country. This is what Mike recommended and maybe I can do some of the traveling with him when he goes to the remote villages where he is establishing new schools. At Probigua I ran into Mike (coincidences run my life lately) and his assistant MariaElena - they are both amazing people - and we went for a walk around the town. I followed Mike and MariaElena with their various errands (during our walk we also ran into Rob and Rubberhead - coincidence again) and then MariaHelena left us and Mike took me to some very nice book stores, a textile store and other places owned by his friends. In the end we went to a place which organizes volunteer work and I met Frank who coordinates the work. I looked through a book listing various organizations and projects and I found a few which would be good for me. Some involve work at hospitals and health clinics, schools, teaching and tutoring, work with disabled kids. There are also house building projects, work in agriculture and reforestation, and also work in turtle and iguana sanctuaries. When I know Spanish well enough to communicate and I have seen a little more of the other parts of Guatemala, I think I will spend a week or two at the turtle sanctuary (collecting freshly hatched turtleeses) and then I will get into something which will involve help for the people.

I am meeting Ann tonight and if Ann and her husband go back to Panajachel tomorrow, I will go with them and I will go visit the small villages around the Lake Atitlan (I will go to San Marcos about which I read in Joyce Maynard's article in the NY Times.) I am taking my swimming suit with me!

I forgot to mention two wonderful presents which I got, and which are very useful and I myself would not think of getting them myself, so thank you so much for the guide book and the address book. The address book already has a few entries and it's indispensable. The guide book is THE ROUGH GUIDE TO GUATEMALA and it's really amazing. I didn't have much confidence in guide books (Michal Gastropoda says that if he was to go by what he finds in the Lonely Planet, he would not leave home - the world presented there is a very scary place). But the Rough Guide is really different. It it very up-to-date and includes very detailed information. I found there description of Semana Santa celebrations. Semana Santa is the Holy Week. The guide book says it is "the most extravagant and most impressive in all Latin America." The whole town is involved in the processions and celebrations. So maybe you can visit me during the Easter week? I am sure it will be an unforgettable experience. You can read more about it on the Internet - on websites devoted to Antigua.

Do you know what I forgot to take with me? A Spanish-English dictionary! which I bought two months ago planning to put it first in my backpack. It wasn't the first, it wasn't the last, it just stayed home peacefuly on the book shelf. Rats!

Siesta

It is hot, really hot, feels like 100F, and I am at the cybercafe to rest. The weather is wonderful. Except for the few hours mid-day it is nicely worm and dry and then the evenings are cool and a little more humid. I will see Ann tomorrow - she is coming with her husband to Antigua to see a dance performance tomorrow evening and I am going to join them. I found out yesterday that there is this really great Cultural Festival going on in Antigua for another week. There are many theatrical and dance performances, "Tosca", lectures on literature, jazz in the park, etc. I will go to see a few of them. I even attempted to go see "Carmen" yesterday but got lost at the other end of the town and eventually went to see a movie "The Terminal." I really enjoyed watching it. Victor Navorsky is one of my heroes! What I love most about him is his honesty. There are a few movie theaters which look like Cinema Paradiso. They are tiny; sometimes the screen is just an oversized TV. But the movies the theaters show are creme de la creme of world cinematography. I looked at the programs of a few of them and I saw all the movies by all the great movie directors. To name a few on schedule: Salvador, Talk to Her, Strawberries and Chocolate, Shower, The Bridge, Buena Vista Social Club, Monty Paython's The Life of Bryan. I don't know what do people watch on cable here but the movie theaters serve good movies.

I met today Miriam and Luis who own a jewerly store. They sell jade so they told me the nuances and history of jade and I, in turn, told them about the history of amber. They got very interested in the amber jewerly I make so if I can get some suplies from the Baltic Sea maybe I can make some for them. This is my second day here but I already feel very antsy, I got to work! I thought I would be resting, lying on benches in the park, sitting by fountains, reading, etc., etc. for the first week but no, I already feel I have to do something of substance!

Yesterday I walked through many streets. I am going to continue the walk today. I am just amazed still with the beauty of the buildings (I look out for details such us wood carvings, window panes, door knobs and locks - the beauty lies in details), the streets (and how clean they are) and mostly with beautifuly tiled bathrooms; and with smell of coffee coming out of smallest cafes, women dressed in the traditional heavily embroidered blouses and carrying babies on their backs, little stands with tacos and fresh fruit juices, school kids dressed in nice and simple school uniforms looking like the ones I once wore. The town is surronded by hills and volcanoes. One of them is active and if I am not mistaken I saw smoke coming out of it!

I have arrived!

I know some of you won't believe it since I changed the date of my departure so many times (I got a few e-mails asking if I left indeed) but... I am here! I arrived in Guatemala City yesterday at 7:30 local time which is an hour later than SET (so it was 8:30 in NYC) . Before I get to my first impressions...

I would like to thank you, dearest Friends, for everything you did for me. Since I found you my life in NY got so fascinating. The past two years were amazing and the last month especially was unbelievable. In my entire life I have not received so many acts of kindness, so many presents, haven't eaten so much great food (since you took me to all these amazing restaurants). It was total bliss. The two years were bumpy years in many ways but the bitterness of life was covered heavily with sweetness and the sweetness came from you, and only the sweetness will be remembered. Half of my backpack consists of the presents I got from you: books to read in my free lazy time; camera to capture and hold wonderful moments; Ganesh to remove the obstacles (and to put some on my way so that I appreciate more when they are lifted); a locket with lotus flower to mark the new beginning; a guardian angel to protect me; a wr watch! to dive into bluest waters; a reiki candle to bring me health and wisdom; a white dog to keep me company (I named him Cumulus) and a fan to use during hot siestas; a Le Pain Quotidien t-shirt to be dressed organically. From time to time I will dig into my backpack and I will get some underwear or other such insignificant replaceable thing :). All the other things - the presents you gave me are like eyes in my head - I will protect and cherish them. But most of all I will cherish your friendship. I feel unbelievably lucky, so lucky, to have met you. To be given a chance to get to know you and your beautiful souls. Patrycja gave me this photograph of both of us looking silly in our winter hats and in the back she wrote this: "Gdziekolwiek jestes Twoim swiatem sa przyjaciele"/"Wherever you are your world is your friends." Yes, I agree! Friendship is the most beautiful, most profound thing. If you have true friendship you have everything. No matter what happens to you, if you have true friends, you will come out of deepest life dramas and most terrible falls. I feel very strong and am not afraid of anything - you gave me this strength. I collect moments and keep them vivid in my mind - whenever I think of them I have to laugh, remembering how great it was to live them. I have to laugh when I see in my mind Karla and myself running full speed to catch the L train; opening the door to Katarina with a bottle of wine in her hand: "Asia, I came here to get drunk. "; giggling with Patrycja over margaritas; decorating Christmas tree at Krzys Harlemowiec's place, sitting at the Bohemian Hall all night, talking, talking, talking; listening to Kura singing shanties; watching Akos draw on the beach of Cape Cod; hearing Curtis shout "harder!!"... To make all this short: I just love you people. This blog is for you. And for dearest ones in Poland: Hania, Chwist, Jarek and Marzenka, Michal and Basia and their families - my friends from Poland who never lost touch with me all these years of my being separated from them.

Ladies and gentelman! Here's the first part of Stories from Lake Wobegon, pardon, Lake Atitlan that is...

Guatemala! I landed and I immediately could smell a particual scent which every country, every place, has. Ryszard Kapuscinski said this in his book about Africa IN THE SHADE OF THE SUN (I think that was the title) and when I read it I thought that this was indeed the first thing I experienced in every country I went to: it's particular scent. Guatemala's scent is sweet but fresh, unlike the scent of the Carribean, which is sweet and heavy. I found a minibus to take me to Antigua (it was an hour drive) and met Kerstin and Miguel who where going to same way. They are both from Germany and came here to study Spanish for a month. The ride was $10 - I will be mentioning prices of certain things so that you will know what to expect when you come to visit me. We found hotel Luna Maya which is also a cafe and a movie theater. I got a one-bed room ($6/night). I haven't expected such luxury - to have a room of my own, and with such beautiful hand-carved furniture. We had dinner with Kerstin and Miguel at the cafe and toasted the beginning of our stay with famosa cerveza Gallo - very delicious light beer with deep taste. Beer and spinach burrito was ($3). I slept 11 hours and went outside around noon and was just stunned by the bauty of the street! Antigua is an amazing town! The buildings are brightly painted in blue, yellow, ochra, red. They age gracefuly. Inside there are courtyards with pools, benches and trees. All streets are cobblestoned. Cars move slowly, people move slowly - there's no rush to do anything. I asked for directions to Dona Luisa's Restaurant and Bakery to meet with Mike whom Ann Cameron recommended to see for help with schools and volunteer work. I was offered a ride and since travelling in the back of pickup trucks is my favorite means of transportation I accepted and was also shown around the town. Mike was not at the bakery but I left him a note that I will try to catch him in the evening. And then I did what I never did in NY. I went... shopping! I saw beautiful textiles, shoes, bags and jewerly. It was a real plasure to see so much beautiful hand-made work. I went back to Luna Maya and over lunch met Rob and his dog Rubberhead and Chris. It was very nice talking to them and patting Rubberhead (he seems to be a very special dog). Now I am at a cafe/bar overlooking the town square. It seems a trendy spot for young tourists. I came in because I liked the music, it's very urban motion music - Brett you would like it. If I can get hold of Ann and she can meet me tomorrow, I will go to Panajachel. I will see if I can get there by a chicken bus if it's reletively safe. I prefer chicken buses and collectivos than the ac'ed minibuses - they are too sterile and full of tourists in shorts looking somewhat bored;) And there's nothing more boring in this world then spending time on the bus with boring bored people!

Much love to you all.