For those readers who also follow us on social media you already know that this blog is behind in news. As in unprecedentedly behind. In nearly ten years of blogging and two years living a nomadic lifestyle and spending time traveling extensively I was always only a week or two behind on the blog. Well, let’s just say 2017 threw us into a tailspin in which the universe spoke to us in a fully unexpected way. And when the universe speaks- you listen!
If I’m being honest, Mazatlan has never been our favorite city. It is widely popular and does offer long, stunning beaches, but for a variety of reasons, we have never embraced this Pacific coastal town.
Of all of the numerous things we miss about Lake Atitlan, one that we miss most is days spent simply watching the cloud formations change over the lake.
While we loved our home base of San Marcos, one village that stole our heart at Lake Atitlan was the textile heaven of San Juan la Laguna. It is really impossible to spend time in the entire country of Guatemala without becoming more than a bit obsessed with the stunning, hand done textiles.
We knew that when we headed out for a life on the road that we wanted to spend time volunteering in the places we explored. We had done a variety of volunteer work back in Oregon from Habitat to Humanity to Fences for Fidos to cooking for the families at the Ronald McDonald House. Volunteering abroad is not much different, and our time with the Guatemala Housing Alliance one of our favorite memories of Lake Atitlan.
What a great life we lead! We slept in a bit this morning after the fun of the 2nd annual La Ventana hot dog crawl and a few too many cocktails. The sun was peeking its way over the horizon on the Sea of Cortez and it was just chilly enough to really enjoy our cup of brew as we meandered the beach watching Aspen chase her coconut. The wander home culminated in the wonderful surprise of seeing Kato & George from 2born2travel had nominated us for the Versatile Blogger Award!
In 2015 my word for the year ahead was transformation and wow, did we ever do it up right. We sold our house and the majority of our material goods, we moved into our camper and headed south to points unknown in search of a different lifestyle.
2016 found me choosing surprise as my word for the year and, once again, the universe provided. In fact, no one is more surprised than I to find myself not somewhere in southern Central America, but back in Mexico!
For 2017 I may have found the perfect word to truly describe not just the year ahead, but a more general thought on our life in general:
The memories of our time in San Marcos, on Lake Atitlan, are still fresh in our minds although we reluctantly left her shores nearly one month ago. Scanning photos of our time there brought a renewed look with fresh eyes on just how stunning it was to walk the narrow, winding pathways of town. Guatemala is stunning..here are a few visual souvenirs for you all to enjoy.
As with any routine is is easy to become jaded and stop actually “seeing” what is around you.
Never fear, San Marcos, we will be back!
I was never one to appreciate coffee, just as I was in my mid 20’s before I developed a taste for beer. I totally blame this on my parents. Growing up in small town Minnesota with Folgers instant coffee and restaurants, ok lets be honest and call them truck stops, chosen merely for offering a bottomless cup of bad coffee did not inspire the desire to imbibe. In addition, my parents also drank this bad coffee loaded with milk and sugar as one does, of course, when drinking crap.
Pasajcap really needs little introduction from me. Every overlander around is familiar with the stunning views and friendly service given by Pierre and his wonderful staff. Despite the title, we didn’t actually camp at Pasajcap. Pierres three beautiful shepherds are lovely dogs, but not always as fond of having doggie visitors. Thus, we were “forced” to rent one of his ten gorgeous accommodation options; in our case, cottage # 3 from the gate.
