La Luna Llena y Semana Santa

My time on Lake Atitlan is coming to an end. This is my last weekend in San Pedro la Laguna. I´ve studied Spanish pretty consistently for over five weeks now for a little over 100 hours. I can honestly say my Spanish has improved quite a bit. It´s still difficult to speak using all the correct grammar, but I´m able to hold pretty decent conversations with people which is pretty exciting for me, and definitely fun to practice. It´s also great when people don´t realise I understand what they´re saying right in front of me....


This past Thursday night, there was a party for the full moon (la luna llena) at an amazingly beautiful secluded location on the lake. Arriving at a party after a 45 minute boat ride, stepping off the boat onto a beach with the full moon reflecting on the water, and two stages of music with black lights and trance music emanating from the woods was an astonishingly surreal scene. Then watching the sun rise directly over the mountains across the lake after dancing (and hula hooping) all night is a memory that will surely last a lifetime.

I managed to make it back to San Pedro Friday morning just in time for a special religious procession in town. This past week leading up to Easter Sunday (aka the Resurrection of Christ) is Semana Santa (Holy Week). In Guatemala, Semana Santa is a huge deal with processions sometimes two or three times a day. The people carry huge representations of Christ carrying the cross on their backs through the streets. It´s a laborious display of love and devotion, which has made quite an impression on me. Yesterday morning in the streets surrounding the Catholic church in San Pedro, the local people spent hours decorating the streets with ¨alfombras¨ (carpets) made from flowers, fruits, vegetables, and sawdust of every color.


Each ¨carpet¨ was unique, some with amazingly intricate design and the brightest of colors. It was truly beautiful and went on for blocks and blocks. When the procession began, the people carrying Jesus on their backs walked through the streets over their freshly made carpets, yet another display of the temporary nature of life and art.

I leave for Honduras on Monday. I plan to make a quick stop in Antigua before heading on to Copán, where I will visit my first Mayan ruins. It´s about a 9 hour bus ride altogether from the lake. I´m looking forward to having a new stamp in my passport.
I will definitely miss this lake though. It´s been home for me for over a month. I´ve made some good friends here in town. And I´ll miss my room at the Buenas Nuevas with a view of the lake and the nice kitchen on the roof. I´ll also miss the endless availability of ¨pan.¨ Pan de canela, pan de piña, pan de chocolate, pan de banana. ¿Quiere pan?