Bienvenidos...

... to San Marcos, a small magical lakeside village on Lago de Atitlan.

The attraction here? San Marcos is supposed to be a vortex of powerful spiritual energy, attracting those interested in meditation, alternative therapy, yoga and the like. You can´t walk down the narrow stone sidewalks without passing by offers on every type of massage you can imagine, Mayan saunas, courses in Reiki, Indian Head Massages, meditation and much more. Every day is filled purely with the sounds of nature (there are no cars here)--or of drum circles. A faint smell of insence wavers through the air. Everybody--foreigner and local alike--says hello to one another as they pass on the sidewalks. Vegetarianism is the norm here in the local restaurants. Free movies, such as ¨Love in the Time of Cholera,¨are shown every night. There is one bar in town, and one bar only. Happy, smiling children are everywhere. More species of butterflies that I have ever seen in one place flutter around the lush green jungle flora. Frenchmen, Frenchwomen, and French-children seem to make up the majority of travelers. The list goes on...

The entire village is interconnected only by these narrow stone pathways, and you are constantly surrounded by lime trees, or mango trees (it´s unfortunately not mango season), and other various fruit trees in which my eyes have never before been witness to. The mornings are the most beautiful time, as the lake is calm (great kayaking!) and the sun is strong, before the afternoon clouds and rain move in. So far, we´ve been lucky here and not had any rain, but I await its inevitable presence with open arms. Anybody looking for a somewhat exotic, peaceful place to turn your energy inward should consider this place... I know I will be back.

Tomorrow I move with Rachel into a place called Las Piramides (http://www.laspiramidesdelka.com) for one week and we will stay in a three bed, pyramid-shaped room. We are currently sharing a four-bed room with Scott and an Irish lad whose name sounds like Kieron, but I know is spelled entirely different than that. My days during the week (or two, or three) at the Pyramids will consist primarily of the following... yoga at 7am, metaphysics at 10am, meditation at 5pm, day in and day out. I think I will throw some more Spanish language lessons in there, but only for a few hours in the afternoons. I am already losing what I learned in my two weeks of classes.

So, I suppose I have found my home for the time being. The sun is shining warm and bright, the sounds of birds chirping and drums pounding ring in the distance, and another mini loaf of freshly baked banana bread is calling my name...

Peace and love to all :)