It was the girls last night and we found ourselves devided between watching a dvd (the gals) and drinking at the bar (me). I partied with a bunch of new friends until the early hours of the morning, where two of us witness a legit ufo. I mean, it could be identified, but for what we witnessed, it was woah. The next day I explored more of the pools at semuc, climbing up and down the different levels, like an adult child, in awe of such beauty. Turns out that worked out to be my expedition the following day, and where i ran into a mate from Mexico, and caught up on the month or more that had passed us. I made it up to the mirador (viewpoint) despite the recent thefts and advice not to go there. It was a fierce uphill trek, but I was very proud to make it up there, and still come out with all my belongings.
It was a wonderful four days in semuc, stranded in the jungle with no wifi, surrounded in natural beauty, embracing local experiences like chocolate making in a local family home, and just damn right kicking it. The day to leave was an early one, set for some 7/8 hours to Antigua. We stopped for fuel in Coban where the only food was McDonald's. I grabbed myself a mcmuffin, and little did I know, that would be my cryptonyte. Soon after eating I wasn't feeling so good. For the next few hours into the trip I tried to sleep, and only waking with a sudden desire to burp or possible spew. It wasn't until we were finally in Antigua I couldn't take it any longer, I ran off that bus into a nearby restaurant, where the force of the hurl caused me to rip/tear/rupture my stomach, double folding me into a ball of pain. Back onto the bus and dropped into a hostel, I was keeled over for the rest of the night, with disastrous moments of making it, and not quite making it to the bathroom. The following day I managed to barely keep down some bakery food for sustanance. In the evening some girls from the hostel bought some fresh flowers for the markets for a flower power going away party for Kirsten, a volunteer at the hostel. I felt like absolute dog shit, but I thought to myself, I could crawl into a ball and feel miserable, or I could attempt to have fun, and then do that afterwards anyway. So I showered, put on some mascara and put flowers in my hair, I was enjoying some chats when suddenly we were called to the rooftop of the hostel. We climbed up the stairs to the roof where a dozen of us viewed the fuego volcano erupting and spilling lava upon itself. It was a spectacular sight and we cheered at every eruption. I was relieved that I would now not need to do a two day brutal height, to experience such a sight. We then headed to a nightclub where the highlight was a wasted dude jumping on a table to throw his hair back into the waterfall behind him, flick his hair forward into the crowd like a rockstar, all before falling into the tray, and getting himself kicked out, before half the people on the dance floor could comprehend what just happened. Soon following I found a soul sister who just wanted to get back to the hostel and share a packet of potato chips before going to bed. The next day I walked up to the viewpoint and got a great view of the old town amongst the volcanos. I attempted the Antigua markets before the exhaustion got the best of me and it was right back to the beanbags at the three monkeys before my 2pm shuttle to San Pedro.
I didn't get to experience much of Antigua due to illness but I knew I'd be back as the central shuttle hub in Guatemala. I was pumped to reach San Pedro where would get a much needed a cuddle from Dani. What was meant to be 2-3 hour shuttle to San Pedro, ended up being 6.5 hours. As we were about 45 minutes out of town, a truck had undertook a corner on a steep turn on the mountain and completely blocked up both lanes of traffic. We took photos and laughed before the time started to take toll. It got dark, rained, thunder and lightening. A couple hours in, an old lady living in town knew of a guy who could meet us on the other side of the truck. The shuttle company was doing nothing to help us.... I then scaled the front of a truck on the edge of a cliff, with all my luggage in the pitch dark and rain. When we all cheered, seated in the back of a minivan, so happy to be finally closer to San Pedro, we hit another speed bump. Morons had double parked on the road, taking us another 45 minutes to get through! Finally getting in San Pedro, the infamous mr mullets was booked out so I checked myself into the nearby fe hostel.
The following day I strolled around town, met some random Mexican dudes living here and they showed me that backstreets on San Pedro, the rocks, and then I couldn't wait to move on from their stinky BO. It was Friday and trivia was on at fe. It was a killer time, taking out best team name and a bonus round, free tequila, drinks and Italian pizza. The next morning I was up early, grabbed breakfast on the lake and caught a boat over to San Marcos. We jumped from an 8m platform into the lake and chilled on the sundeck for the afternoon. That night, at mullets the local band played, where we also had a bonfire, fire twirling and a pool comp. the following day I was headed for some "spiritual time" at San Marcos. Known for its retreats. I checked into a hostel, grabbed some lunch and made an enquiry for a retreat. Unfortunately I found them to come across as very condescending and judgemental. I grabbed my luggage and headed straight back to San Pedro! I was lucky enough to get a bed at mullets, and on the boat ride back, there was a double ran own across the lake. Meant to be.
The following morning we sat around the bar playing cards against humanity. Had a beer and went off with my two Israeli pals who I had ran into in three places, to get ingredients for traditional shukshuka, when we met an ex-pat in the street who insisted we head to a cheese and wine restaurant in a nearby town. We thought why not, and grabbed a tuk-tuk to San Juan. Waiting for us was a bunch of new people around a table in a spectacular cheese and wine restaurant. We ate 28 varieties of cheese and enjoyed the most magnificent wine. I almost had tears in my eyes for how happy I was! It was a heaven on earth, and it had been so long since I enjoyed my favourite indulgence. That evening, after a siesta, we checked out Zoola where we ate dessert - "hello to the queen". A dessert of chocolate brownie, caramelised banana, chocolate biscuit crumble and ice cream. We lazed around the casual dining area for hours, before headed to Buddha bar for open mic night.
The next day I wandered off for some alone time. Indulged in lunch at Zoola and then Designed a pair of shoes on my way home, ready for pick up the next day. The rest of the evening was cold and lazy with an early sleep as we would be hiking up Indian nose the next day. We were up at 3.40am to get a shuttle to the mountain. It was still pitch black and the stars were amazing as we began our 45 minute hike. It was mostly steep steps which my calves did not like. When we finally reached the top, the view of the lake was glorious. When we came back I thought I'd treat myself to a breakfast add-on, bacon. Devastated to find out they were sold out, I then found out that there was no wage in the hostel, no wifi and no electricity. I thought I'd best use my time to read in the hammock. But in the time I went and got my book from the room, the hammock had been Snaked. This was a milhouse kind of day! As a new friend was having a birthday, a bunch of great girls I met at the hostel and I, went out for dinner at the fancy Italian restaurant InTown. We had a wonderful meal, a bottle of red wine and plenty of laughs. At one point, the Irish girl made me laugh so hard when I was taking a mouthful of wine, I laughed it all over the table in front of me. We were all shattered and drunk and passed out at 9.30pm.
The next day I went for a stroll to the rocks, but didn't jump into the lake. I went to Zoola and shared an incredible platter with a volunteer at the hostel, we had so much food not even the two of us could finish it all. To full for dinner, I hit the drinks back at the hostel and got myself rather pissy. The next day was lazing in a hammock at the hostel where I finally finished a book I had been reading for weeks. It was then Thursday night, pool comp night at mullets, my hostel. The local band rocked it out and we danced and sang around the fire, where I made some great new local mates. The next day there was a bed bug scare in my room so as a preventative measure, I was shipped to a private, well, meant to be. I had all my washing done, but due to a mix up, was actually homeless for the night. Unable to nap for the first time, I was feeling restless. We went to trivia and then to the Buddha bar before being led to an after party in a friend of a friends tattoo shop. Strolling home at 6am in the morning, I felt like I was involved in what the infamous San Pedro was famous for - partying. The next afternoon I was moved into a private for the next two nights. Saturday night and it was the re-opening of a local bar, sublime.the party was off the chain, easily party of the year (well, so far!) the place was packed, with fire twirling, two incredible live bands, bonfires, decks, bars, tables and dancing. I danced my ass off all night and had the time of my life. For the after party, half a dozen of us snuck into the back of mullets and tried to keep quiet, through endless laughter and good times. One mate made up his own language and shit hit next level before neighbours through rocks in the yard because of the noise, and we all scattered off to our rooms. Sunday afternoon was smoking joes bbq. What a perfect place to indulge after a massive night. We ate a tonne of delicious food, plenty of beer and then back to sublime again for open mic. We ate, drank and danced the night away. San Pedro was sucking me in to its vortex.
Monday morning I was taken to an Italian bakery for breakfast which was a lovely delight. It was another chill day at the hostel before we got the fire started in the evening, with all of us sitting around with different instruments, playing tunes, and loving life. This is exactly what I had imagined this trip being about. We headed to Buddha bar until 1pm close and we scattered off to another random after pArty. This one was at a house, a fair walk down through San Pedro. There was half a dozen of us and when a small confrontation happened between friends, some random local lady pulled out pepper spray and sprayed it, causing all of us to chocke and dry reach with burning eyes. What a random night this was becoming, reluctantly staying until 6am with my friend, we finally called it quits and did the walk of shame through the town where normal functional people were just starting their day! We stopped periodically and just gazed at the glory of the lake and surrounding volcanoes and mountains. Home at 6.30am and up at 2.30pm, this was looking to become a regular patter. I had breakfast at 6pm at the gorgeous shanti shanti restaurant on the lake befor mullets happy hour lured me in. Tequila shots were so common now, that I just take them in my stride. I met some mates for their last night in town at fe where we played rage cage and constantly had to have our drinks full to the brim. The band played and we went absolutely mental on the dancefoloor. It ended up being possibly one of the most crazy fun nights in town. We went to sublime which I don't hardly remember. We walked the streets, bought alcohol under the table and hid from police. This was living! We managed to loose the crowd and finally head back to the hostel, again in the early hours of the morning. We watched alt j videos on YouTube and just laxed out until the afternoon.
As usual, the band would come banging on the door to wake up at some ridiculous time after little to no sleep. I got my ass up and headed out for brunch with some girls before having a nap and the evening related again -sublime and shots. Dancing like our life depended on it, the crowd dispersed at 1am when the police come to shut it all down. We went to an after party at some friends place, where six of them have rented a house. We sat in the front room with only two mattresses and two candles, a guitar and some spectacular voices. We sang until 6/7am when we finally left back to the hostel. The next day a friend from Mexico was arriving, and when she got here it was to sublime for "drunken munchies" platter at sublime, shots and beer - a typical San Pedro welcoming! The end of the night found me and two girlfriends on the roof of the hostel chatting away until 3am where we farewelled the band to a trip to El Salvador, and it was to bed for us. I was going to attempt to make breakfast each day and not to party while the guys were away.... I made at least two (kind of!) I ate breakfast and headed back to bed for another nap, a bit of routine for most stayers at mullets. Mel and I enjoyed a bottle of red wine and cheese & crackers for dinner before retiring with a mug of tea at 8pm. Oh how my life had changed in less than 24 hours! Mel and I strolled to the markets and I got a haircut, we then cooked a stir fry for dinner, enjoyed more red wine and had again, an early night in bed. I was liking this change of pace and after nine days of bendering until the early hours of the morning, it was good to have a little rest. 7am wake up for the chichi markets which was two hours travel away. We bargained our way through until 2pm and was back home at about 4.30. I was so excited to be "returning home" in the shuttle I could hardly contain myself. This place has got me good.
Surprisingly, a couple of great mates that I had made, returned for Antigua early was were going to stay another week in San Pedro. Just what I need, another excuse to stay! We had some drinks and came back around 10... I had to easy back into the party mode after a couple of days low-key! We played cards against humanity after breakfast, where the hostel owner cut us down some bananas, which the tree had been growing for six years and the bananas for three months! I pottered around the room and tried to settle into my third room at the hostel. I lashed out and bought some blue cheese for lunch and drank beer with the girls which were back in town. Tequila was flowing and next minute we were having a room party. We made it over to Buddha bar where we went upstairs and played spics and specs, singing tunes to the dinner menu and playing charades. On the way home we stopped for a midnight snack at a tex met restaurant where we proceeded to order three rounds of foods. The next morning we shot gun beers in the garden which would seem to set out the rest of the day. We joined a private boat, where 24 of hours went boozing and cruising on the lake. We stopped an San Marcos and an island, where it was both a weird and wonderful experience. The moon was full and powerful. The band was back In Town and playing at fe, so we skipped down and danced crazily to all their awesome tunes. It was so good to have the boys back in town. We carried on atsublime before retiring at 2am, we were getting better!
The next day me and the Aussie girls decided to celebrate Christmas in November, the 25, where we could all be together and celebrate. We were a bit worse for wear, but still sure on celebrating the day. We went off and did secret Santa shopping in the afternoon and exchanged gifts befor dinner. We had a cracker of a nightly sublime and again, back to the friends house for an after party. 13 of us all sat in one room with a guitar and reminitions of Colt 45. I called it quits at 4am, as little to no interest in sticking it out to the regular 6/7am time slot. Woken at 8am, I decided to have an early breakfast and see if I could get an afternoon siesta in. The hot showers were down for a few hours so I used that as an excuse to not move from my room and just chill out. A couple hours sleep was welcoming and I woke up super chilled. Hot showers were back on, so I was back on! Despite all of our pleas to do nothing tonight, a few beers in, a room party and we were back on track to a night at sublime. These moments are a shit tonne of fun, living in the same block of all your mates, meeting up for meals throughout the day, beers, partying and dancing, this is the time of my life. I've become a San Pedro local, and never committing to more than one task a day. Usually that task is just as simple as having a shower. Why? "Because I'm on vacation!"
We drank at mullets until the bar closed and heade to sublime where we decided to set off fireworks on the back dock. We sat around the fire before I was calling it a Night at midnight to get this long and overdue update to yours truly before 2am! It's been an incredible three weeks in San Pedro, and though I could easily stay here forever, as many do, I think I'm feeling pretty weathered and it's time to move on to the next. With beach and Sunshine in sight, it looks like el paredon on the pacific coast of Guatemala may be next in onlya couple of days! I get stressed and saddened at the thought of leaving this magical place, but the key is not to become attached to the good times, and not be adverse to the bad ones. I've achieved a lot personally in this place. I got a lot of healing done, as well as a lot of partying. As I am saddened that it may all shortly come to an end, and I see things around me wrapping up, but rest assured, that the best is still yet to come!
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