Lake Atitlan

Greetings everyone!

I am happy to report to you all that I am feeling a lot better and almost back to 100%. I still get tired really quickly and sleep a lot more than I am accustomed to but I am not sure if that is due to being sick or the way of life here in my site.  I think it probably would be a safe bet to think it’s a combination. 

This past week I have found a great house to move into.  It is definitely an upgrade to the house that I was living in.  I feel bad in a sense that the two previous volunteers had stayed in that house and I had to break the cycle but I am will be paying the same rent for a better place to live.  This house also will be with a family that I will interact daily with.  I will have the second floor of this house and I have just more open space with windows and an area to start growing some plants and test out my green thumb.  Another benefit is that this house is about a 10 minute walk to work.  My previous house literally was about 20 steps from the door to the door of my office.  This extra space will not only allow me to stretch the legs more on a daily basis, but it will allow me to pass more people in the street and talk and know more people.  For example, this week as I began to move things back and forth, I keep seeing this one older gentleman and we kept exchanging little chit chat back and forth.  Come to find out that he was the casket store owner here and tells me about his business.  It was funny because he told me that he has the opportunity to provide families with the last memory and gave a good laugh.  Just little things like this open the doors of relationships that the Peace Corps stresses in our work here within the community.

I just got back from a little trip to Lake Atitlan and to Panajachel.  The premier lake here in Central America, has been dubbed by some as one of the best most beautiful lakes in the world.  For me, I have had the opportunity to grow up around water.  I am very blessed to have family that has a lake house up in New Hampshire on Squam Lake (yes there is lot of bias but its still the best lake I know of) and also have had the opportunity to see the oceans of the Pacific.  Atitlan is a spectacle do not get me wrong but for the hype that surrounded it I was a little disappointed.  There were moments where it was very beautiful with a sunset, sun-kissed clouds and lighting clouds too.  It is a lake formed in the crater of a massive volcano and around the lake are three massive volcanoes as well jutting out of mother earth. There just wasn't that wow factor, maybe its there and I just did not find it yet.  Maybe I have to spend a little more time to form a accurate opinion.  I will definitely return.  Here at the lake was a little get together of other PCV’s that enabled me the opportunity to get to see other volunteers from my training group and catch up as well as meet other volunteers who have been in country for sometime.  It was a good morale booster and fun to see how everyone has been going through the same ups and downs as me.  It was a good weekend to recharge the batteries before a few weeks left of 2010. 

Lake Atitlan

I want to extend a Happy Hanukkah to all my family and friends who are celebrating, you know who you are!  I hope everyone is doing well and preparing for the winter! 

Finally, I want to add a little quote about time as a friend and I have been thinking about what time is, how we deal with it how we try to make it relate to our lives.  There is the same amount of time in each day, each week, month and year, but it is amazing the daily interchange of this concept and what we call relativity.  

“Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't

own it, but you can use it. You can't keep

it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it

you can never get it back.