Antigua

I´m headed to hike Volcan Pacaya today, then plan to catch a bus to Xela in the morning for the last segment of the trip. I´ve enjoyed Semana Santa. I should have lowered my expectations for the processions but they were cool in their own way. Lots of time and effort is put into these by tons of people, they carry ¨floats¨on their shoulders (like 25 to 50 people per float). (Some women carrying the float with high heels on the cobblestone streets...what are you thinking) Each float is a scene from the Easter story. They walk really slow and there is a band playing somber music. They also burn incense as they go so it is smoky and smells interesting. The people also spend hours making alfombras or carpets on the cobblestone streets that the procession will march over. Everything is symbolic, although i´m sure I´m only catching half of it. The carpets are meant to represent the carpets people would lay down when Jesus came to their town. The pictures I took will give a better idea but they dye sawdust and use fruit and flowers to make all sorts of designs. The processions went on throughout the day and in between the hoards of people just sit and hang out in the plazas and parks. I have been staying with Charlie, on a cement floor with just a comforter and pillow, but its been remarkably comfy. I take sleeping pills. I´ve been able to sleep a lot here which I was hoping for because it seemed like I was getting up early for some reason or another for the first part of the trip, whether to catch a bus or go diving. In La Ceiba when I met that guy in the internet cafe, we went to the music festival across from where I was staying and the band started at 10. I was tired and only made it through a few songs before heading to bed (because I am old and don´t like Honduran beer anyway)...had to be up at 4 to catch the bus. That music festival I actually couldn´t hear from my bed, because there was another one behind my room that had much louder music that drowned the other out, like it was a competition or something. It was so loud but I was tired enough to sleep through it for the most part. The music finally ended when I was in the shower at 4 am. Lovely. So my cement floor is okay, its really chilly though because Charlie lives up on the hillside outside of Antigua. Also staying with us are two Belgians who speak French and Spanish but no English so the whole day´s conversation is in Spanish. It wears me out trying to keep the translation wires connected in my head. At night we have been going out for dinner and to several bars with some of Charlie´s friends. I even stayed out until 530am which, for me, is hardly ever worth it. However, I actually stayed awake the whole time, partly because Latino guys really like to salsa dance and appear to not be picky with their dance partners, since I danced like a rock star with Leonardo, Willie, Charlie, etc. for hours. (My favorite was Leonardo but thats probably because I found out he is married, figures) So I´ve actually enjoyed the bar scene because its not just sitting and falling asleep.

Although I´ve had small world encounters before, I just had another that probably takes the cake for the ¨smallest¨. I was standing in line for the one bathroom stall during a break from my salsa-fest, talking to the girl behind me, when a guy came up to her who looked familiar. Usually I would think first, but I placed him automatically in Costa Rica and just blurted out ¨Were you in Costa Rica a few years ago?¨ and luckily his job dropped and he remembered me too. With my amazingly horrible memory, somehow I remembered that we had hung out for a couple of days on the beach. However lacking in the boyfriend department my life may be, it never lacks in the temporary crush department. His name is Damian and his family is Guatemalan, so he is here visiting. It took me awhile but I remembered he lived in Chicago and works in the clothing industry. He even remembered that I had just left Chicago for Alaska. Anyway, it was totally bizarro. I´m about to call him and make plans to hang out tonight. Makes me feel like I´m at the right place at the right time. Freaked us both out. People are cool.