Vamanos al lago Atitlan

Well, spur of the moment about an hour ago, we decided that I´m gonna go to lake Atitlan until Saturday. There´s a fire department there that needs some help building a dock and fixing up a boat and stuff, so that´s what I´ll be doing for the next few days. That and swimming and relaxing in crisp, pristine, beautiful waters. Don´t act like you´re not jealous. David used to work with the bomberos (firefighters) here and used to be in charge of all the EMTs in Guatemala, so that´s how he met the guy (Paul, another gringo) that I´ll be working with. I´m pretty excited, because Lake Atitlan is well known as a pretty much gorgeous lake. And I´ll get to hang out in some smaller towns and buy some cool stuff to bring home, I think. And I´ll definitely take lots of pictures so you can be a little more jealous. So if I don´t update in the next few days, ít´s because I´m either without internet access or too enamored with my surroundings to bother with internet. Needless to say, I´m pretty excited about this leg of my journey. How nice it is when volunteer work and selfish tourism intertwine.

In other news, we went to dinner at ¨A fuego lento¨ (basically: little fire) last night and I ordered ¨una ronda¨ (a round). For 15 bucks (sounds expensive now... wait till I finish), you get the salad bar and, of course, una ronda. A round consists of 9 different cuts of meat, all seasoned and cooked to perfection. First was chorizo (sausage) and filet mignon, and it went from there, two at a time. When you finish the first two, they bring the next two, etc. Unfortunately, I couldn´t even finish the first round. I think I failed to mention that this is an ¨all you can eat¨ meal. As long as you keep eating, they keep bringin it. And we´re not talkin Western Sizzlin all you can eat... this is quality meat.

I love Guatemala