Trekkin and Relaxin!

Hola familias!

Debbie here, writing from the super zen, super hippie town of San Marcos. So, last time we checked in was in during our lovely 2 weeks in Xela homestays! Where we are now, is quite different, not in a bad way though, in fact most of us love it here more than Xela! San Marcos is a tiny town located on Lago Atitlan (one of the most beautiful lakes in all of Central America) and is mainly a place where people come for spiritual healing and what not. But, before I get too into explaining what we're doing in San Marcos let me tell you how we got here... Friday morning we woke up bright and early (6 am to be exact) and drove 45 minutes away from Xela where we began our trek. For the next 10 hours we trekked up and down a mountain, struggling, but doing our best to keep up our positive attitudes. 16 km later at about 4:30 pm we arrived in a small village, set up our beds in a local families home, ate dinner and went to sleep at about 7:30! We were all soooo tired from the day, and we were told that day 2 (Saturday) was going to be the hardest day out of the 3, and we had to wake up at 4 am! Saturday was indeed the hardest day of all, even though it was the same amount (16 km) most of the day was up hill, and it wasn't slighty up hill either, it was like climbing giant, unsteady stairs made of slippery rocks all the way up, but we did it and we are all so proud of ourselves! After setting up at a local hostel in Santa Clara, we all went to dinner together and talked about the day. Sunday we had to wake up at 4 am again, but this time it was worth it. We walked for about 20 minutes to a spot over looking Lago Atitlan and watched the sunrise. It was without a doubt one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. All of you should google Lago Atitlan after reading this and be jealous as to where we are spending the next week. Sunday was also the day we arrived in San Marcos, after a 15 minute boat ride from San Pedro we arrived at this quaint little town of San Marcos and settled into our absolutely gorgeous hotel, La Paz. After 3 days of trekking and no showering you can imagine how excited we were when we realized where we were staying, a place with hot showers, warm beds, beautiful scenery and of course, delicious food. This week is supposed to be somewhat of a spiritual retreat for each of us, and we are required to do at least one spiritual activity each day, so many of us do yoga or meditation. Maya and Meghan are both taking Indian head massage classes, and Keely and myself were lucky enough to be their massagees yesterday for 2 hours. Over all everyone else is just excited and happy to be in this beautiful place! Until next time... Adios!!

-Debbie