After a lazy morning, we rented kayaks which were unlike any I’ve encountered before. Made of thin plastic with little round, keel-less bellies, they didn’t cut through the water so much as flit across the surface driven by invisible forces. My attempts to steer prompted bouts of swearing; things were better when I just bobbed around, pivoting my mighty craft only to face the wake of a passing speedboat. Later, we swam in the very […]
Read moreMonth: December 2005
Puddle-Jumping
Last night I kept waking up to the howls of dog-packs. This morning there was a shower-water deficit so I had to go talk to Cristobal [how do you make accents over “o’s”?], the hotel guy. I wasn’t sufficiently awake: “I give water cold, but coffee? Boat change time?” At the hotel restaurant I ordered the breakfast Maria had told me about: blue corn pancakes with macadamia syrup. A cigarette-smoking, flat-butted, grey-ponytailed Santa passed by, […]
Read moreOver Land & Lago
To our dismay, our 8:00 a.m. shuttle bound for Panajachel picked us up at 7:35. By the time we’d gathered up the other lake-bound tourists, made three unscheduled stops enroute at various roadside vendors (friends of the driver?) it was close to noon. M took this picture from the overlook above Panajachel. The moment our van pulled to the curb in town, half a dozen pairs of arms writhed at our windows, offering beaded and […]
Read moreThe Queen’s Spanish
With every passing minute my Spanish is worse. Luckily I have little pride and am glad I can bring such raucous laughter to the locals. I communicate more with flailing of arms than verbal articulation. On the bright side, I think my comprehension is improving because I didn’t hear anyone ask if I showered with my dromedary which — I’m not kidding — I’m sure happened yesterday. We heard from Doí±a Justa (the woman who […]
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