Buen Viaje a Mí­

To worriers: I’m leaving tomorrow for at least five days, so don’t be concerned about not hearing from me. I’m not likely to have Internet access anywhere and am not even taking my computer.

Yesterday I followed the advice of experts and bought some zinc for my cold. It comes in big orange disks like Vitamin C. Oooh, I love these, I thought as I popped one into my mouth. I enjoyed its sweet sabor and slight effervescence. It continued to effervesce. It effervesced until my checks bulged out like a puffer fish. I hadn’t known you were supposed to put it in water.

So, Three Kings Day. I don’t want to tell you about it because I forget and I’m bored with it. Two years ago today when I was in Mexico, I’m pretty sure I wrote all about it, so you can search for it on this blog. Type in rosca. It’s actually a Mexican celebration, not Guatemalan, so I had a hard time yesterday in my search for a Rosca de Reyes, the traditional cake for the day. The person who gets the slice with the baby Jesus has to give a party on February 2. It was not I.

l to r: Doí±a Maria, Doí±a Rosa, Doí±a Justa, Don Carlos, Don Santos, Doí±a Flora y Doí±a Margarita. Not pictured, as usual: Doí±a Djeena [yo].

A pila is a stone sink that the indigenous Guatemaltecas use for laundry. Today I washed my jacket all by myself in one. Man, it was hard work. One piece of clothing and my back was crying for mercy. Luckily, most Mayans are shorter than I am. I can’t imagine a few loads a day, not to mention the time it takes.

Hotel Santo Domingo is a beautiful and very fancy hotel here: old, low and sprawling, on the grounds of ruins much older. They have a new gallery/performance/eating facility high up the nearby hill. Maria and I went up for lunch today, and saw our new amiga Francisca from San Juan La Laguna. We’d bought a ton of scarves from her a few days ago, and got even more stuff today. Maria and I are dangerous together. She sees something she wants so then I think I really should have something and then she sees what I’m getting so she gets something else, and so on. Here’s a vista.

BTW, the food there (I had black bean soup and a salad) was maybe the most delicious I’ve had so far on this trip, so you should go there, except I don’t remember the name or address of the place, but you’ll find it. Tell them the view from the restaurant looks like this:

Back at home, while I was video-chatting with Yo-Nenny, the doorbell rang at our big metal portón. I didn’t answer it, since no one comes here for me. Then Maria called me from her apartment, asking me to find out who was there, via the intercom. I cringed. I hate disembodied Spanish. But I did, and found out it was someone named Felix (in Guate, pronounced approximately  feh-leex). I ran out my door, ran down the little passageway, ran into her dark house, smacked my foot into a wooden tiger, and ran up the stairs. She was working on a radio program with a young Guatemalan man. I told her that Felix was here to see her. I don’t know any Felix, she replied. We all pondered, and then the man said, Hay un servicio de envio se llama Feh-dex. Ohhhh, FedEx! When I reached the portón, I was still laughing.

To worriers who don’t pay attention the first time: I’m leaving tomorrow for at least five days, so don’t be concerned about not hearing from me. I’m not likely to have Internet access anywhere and am not even taking my computer.

That’s about it for now. You take care during the next days, you hear? When I come back, I’ll regale you with stories of Guatemala’s Caribbean coast, unless there are no comments waiting for me, in which case, I’m not playing with you any more and I’m going to tell my mommy (who had better have figured out how to leave a comment as well; I no longer accept her pleas of It’s beyond me.).

Buckets of love to everyone reading this, even the thousands I’ve never met.