Santiago

Today after breakfast (and more stories from Carlos) we all headed to Santiago, which is on the other side of the lake. As we ride in the boat across, it becomes clear how big the lake really is. Santiago is in a little inlet and from here, you can see the third of the three volcanoes, which is invisible from where Paxanax is. Santiago is also filled with more aggressive selling techniques. Local women and girls follow you up the main street asking you to look at their wares. One of the reasons for this is that there appear to be more western tourists here. I noticed a few people were here with a local guide or groups of people traveling here together. The product is mostly the same sorts of things that we found in San Pedro, however I found the level of workmanship not quite as high. There are more leather goods (some of the cutest little baby shoes), more children’s clothes, men’s pants and the women’s huipils and skirts. In fact, we got a picture of Suzanne wearing one! There are also a lot of vendors selling beaded jewelry, wooden carvings, paintings. The variety is amazing.

The lake is at its choppiest on the ride back and it’s quite challenging to get out of the boat onto the dock. It’s also quite late and some of us are starving. Joel arranges for us to partake of the vegetarian buffet at Villa Sumaya, which is a yoga retreat center. Carlos and family are heading home though, so we say our goodbyes, exchange emails and wish them a safe trip home.

We can walk to Villa Sumaya, so we’re there in a few minutes. The buffet consists of some bread and grilled vegetables for sandwiches, along with fresh greens and dressing. The veggies, like all of what we’ve eaten here, is grown locally and tastes amazingly good. They also have an absolutely delicious oil that I use on the sandwich in lieu of dressing. After lunch, we stroll a bit around the grounds, which consists of a small shop, a yoga studio, and a few different buildings with rooms for guests. They also have a small pool, hot tub and children’s area. I can imagine it must be quite an experience to come here for a week of yoga.

After lunch, we take a brief rest, and I decide to try showering now rather than competing with the morning rush to ensure more consistent hot water. Well, no luck, it still goes out quite a bit, but I do manage to get myself clean. Up in my room, I spot a few more interesting birds, including a small blue one with an interesting song, and the return of the yellow, black and red woodpecker. Since I’m up above the kitchen, I’m right at bird level and as long as I don’t move much, they get quite close.

Earlier in the day, we had decided to make soup for dinner to use up some of the remaining veggies and leftovers. So after our brief rest we regroup to start that going on the stove. While the soup is bubbling away, Suzanne teaches us a Pilates class. It feels really good to stretch a bit after days of walking up and down hills and getting in and out of boats! During our class the skies open up and the rain just starts coming down in buckets! Although it has rained every night we’ve been here, this is the heaviest we’ve seen it. There’s lightning and thunder to go with it. The soup turns out to be absolutely delicious! I suspect it has more to do with the quality of the ingredients than with any particular skill on our parts. Everything here just tastes so much more like what it’s supposed to, unlike most of the grocery store produce that we typically eat. Along with the soup, we have two different kinds of sweet potato, some bread we bought at the Santa Cruz market, and corn on the cob.

After dinner entertainment is The Descendants, one of the few movies I haven’t seen from the past Oscars crop. Tonight on our way to bed, the stars are finally out!