San Pedro Parte Dos

This is our microbus by the way, with dude strapped down stuff:

So during lunch it torrential downpoured, with lightning and thunder. Like 15 minutes after we got to lunch. So we took a leisurely lunch and waited for it to mostly subside. The cobblestone streets with no drainage turn into rivers though- nice afterwards, cause they are streaming downhill and it looks cool, but when they're flooded and you hafta cross them, not so great.

So we took "tuk-tuk"s (named for the puttering sound their engines make) since it was still raining, to our next destinations. These I guess exist in India- tiny three-wheeled cab type things with a convertible canvas roof, with a driver steering with handlebars and 2-3 people crammed in back. See below. These first took us to some thing called San Simon, which was this ridiculous looking idol who was smoking a cigarette, and you could have a shot of beer in front of him, and give him money. He was in this little hut. We saw other San Simon idols, and you basically just give him money and/or say a prayer for something specific. Its a combination of pseudo-Catholic beliefs and traditional Mayan ones- but its not a religion, just a specific traditional, basically pagan, practice. Weird.

One of the tuk-tuks had like a 14 year old driver. Sweet. The rides across the city cost like five quetzales each. Which bothered my dad until I reminded him it was less than a dollar.

Three of us in this thing smaller than a smart car, plus driver.

Then the tuk-tuks took us to another church, decorated for a wedding, with a big plaza with the volcano behind it. Cool. The church had these plaques (just from 2001!) commemorating various massacres related to civil war stuff and riots and protests, and some priests were killed. Man. It was decorated for a wedding inside though which was nice. They had a courtyard which had lime trees (where I finally had a conversation to confirm my suspicion, that limes were called limons and lemons were called limas (at least in Guatemala). But its still a bit confusing. My dad also took an artistic photo of me in front of this giant avocado tree- who knew they were huge? Actually the Steady Shot on his camera was broken so it'd vibrate sometimes when focusing. Once I called the avocado tree a guacamole tree. When I saw the avocado tree and the lime tree, I thought to myself, man, if only there was a tequila tree and a tortilla chip tree, we'd be all set!

The San Simon. You'll see others. He's in there wearing a hat and tie. Ridiculous.

We also went past this market on the way back to our boat, and there was a truck with a whole cow in it. Cept the cow had no skin and was cut in pieces. The two halves of the cow were hanging up in the truck, which a guy threw on his back, with bare hands, one at a time, and hauled into their little store. There was a bucket of legs, stripped of the skin, and a bucket that had other...uh, pieces in it, including I think the neck, leading to the head somewhere under there. And a giant thing looking like a bundled package, tied with twine, that was actually the entire skin folded up like a blanket. WOW.

Half a hanging cow. Note bundle of cowhide.

Cow on back.

Cow on back 2. All in a days work. Unreal.

Bucket of covered head and heck, and something else looking fleshy and bloody.

Bucket of hooves and menacing looking pick.

Mangiest dog of all time. Wet, dirty, cowering in the corner. And blurry.

Then we basically went home and it was time to get dinner. We went to an Italian place of all places- me, my dad, Paul, and Anne, and others took naps or showers. Then we returned and others took naps- I hung out on the porch, read a book, and then finally myself and Brie went and got some wine from a corner liquor store to sit and wait for other people to return from late dinner/napping.

The boat ride back was a bit colder and wetter.

But had a nice breeze and still cool once-in-a-lifetime views.

Paul and I took pictures of each other.

We saw these random fisherman type boats, all docked together, some still out on the lake with people in them, but they were always full of cornhusks. No comprende.

We walked the main drag at night, intending to go to this place called Circus Bar, with live music. I'd say it was a mariachi band, but it wasn't. It was three dudes with classical guitars. And (Brie- "doesn't it sound like there's a drum too, thats amazing how they do that on their guitars!") a bongo drummer slightly hidden from view.

And that is all for this entry. We went home after a couple drinks and slept soundly. Until 5am or so..................