San Marcos

January 23, 2011
Time seems to be flying by. I can't believe its already time to start spanish classes. We went to San Pedro and San Marcos yesterday by boat and checked out a few schools and signed up for two weeks. It was actually quite difficult. The first school we went to and fell in love with was full for next week so we booked for the week after. The next school we liked said they were full in San Pedro but had two spots in San Marcos. San Marcos is really quiet and a bit hippy-esque for us but we took a little tour and it looks nice and relaxing. There are natural hot tubs and saunas from all the hot springs. There are three volcanoes right in this area! San Pedro is right below the biggest one. So one week in San Marcos and one week in San Pedro! Its actually strange to have the next two weeks planned out. So far this trip has been anything but planned. The San Pedro school is super cheap! $65 a week for lessons and $40 a week to stay in our own bungalow. San Marcos however is trying to scam us and are charging $30 more a week for accomodations than what we agreed on (they just sent me an email) buggers. Gonna have to go and figure it out today. Chad was craving a steak really bad last night so we thought we'd find a comendable steak house. Thought we found one but the beef turned out to be a slimy couple of cheap steaks covered in green pepper sauce! No grilling involved here. I got pork ribs in BBQ sauce and they were tasty little morsels!
Later that day....
Checked into San Marcos this morning and paid the cheaper amount! ha ha! We have a little cabana all to ourselves with the tiniest bathroom i have ever seen! Chad can't even close the door because his femurs are too long! There is a friendly cat who reminds me of LB. He likes people who read in chairs so that he can knead away to his hearts content. We went for lunch and had quite possibly the best coffee we have had this trip! We have met so many poeople who are from Canada here as well as other expats who have set up shop and have no plans on leaving. This American lady was trying to get me to come to her massage/yoga studio in Antigua where she has been living and trying to get citizenship for some time. I don't think we have been anywhere where there is more english speaking people. There is an amazing view of the volcanoes from the cliffs here in San Marcos they are called: San Pedro, Toliman, and Volcan Atitlán. The last eruption was in the 1800's I believe. This town is seriously hippy central. We saw a sign for a Centre of the Pyramids that specializes in Tarot card readings, astro travel, zodiak, spiritual cleansing through vocalizations (i guess that was the hideous chanting we heard earlier today!) and all sorts of crazy mystic stuff. I guess this area is considered to be quite sacred and has lots of spiritual vibes and things. The bugs also consider it sacred because they congregate here in droves to partake in a blood sucking ceremony on my legs.