Frozen chicken

Before we begin, a note to all those who are reading this via facebook: At the top of the facebook page is a link, on a blue and rectangular background, next to a picture of yours truly. If you click that, you´ll be taken to blogger.com, where this blog actually resides. It´s much easier to read there, and the video in the last entry that wasn´t visible on facebook will function as intended.

And so to business. Firstly, I am happy to report that my darting arm has in fact improved. The following day we went to San Jorge, near Lake Aititlan, and stayed with a family in the town. This was a very different experience to my two week homestay in Antigua, as the family were indigenous Mayans, who of course don´t speak Spanish as their first language. Things are much more basic in San Jorge, and the house I was staying in reminded me of the houses in Santa Maria where I was building stoves not long ago. It wasn´t entirely comfortable, but for two nights we coped.

Lake Aititlan is something special, even though not all the towns around it hold the same interest. Panajachel is captivating enough however. We arrived on Thursday having stopped on the way in a market that was almost as big as the town to which we were travelling. You can literally get lost in there for days, though most of the stalls sell the same type of products; a lot of textiles, a lot of jade jewelery. We chilled out in Panajachel for a bit, but that was pretty much it for Thursday. Just as well, because Friday will surely go down as one of the most surreal days of my life.

It began by climbing a rock high atop a mountain, to be greeted by the most spectacular view of the lake and its surrounding towns and volcanoes. Then we had to travel down to Panajachel to get a boat. This is where the trouble started.

I have explained before the perils of the chicken bus, but if you really want to crank it up a notch you should try a combination of standing up for want of a seat; hurtling down the mountainside, hairpin bends and all; overlooking the most beautiful lake you´ve ever seen; and - this is the clincher - with Vanilla Ice´s ´Ice, Ice, Baby´ being blasted from the radio. Without a doubt, that was the best bus journey one could ever have.

But my friends, it gets better. It´s not uncommon to cross paths with people from Israel whilst travelling. Indeed, there was a group of four Israelis sharing the minivan with us on the way back from Tikal. But what you don´t expect is to go to a remote mountainside town, which isn´t really even a particularly interesting place, and find a Star of David on a commercial building. Closer inspection revealed that this place was in fact an opticians, marvellously called Optica Shalom. I looked bewildered, took a picture and passed it off as a bit of cultural borrowing. Surely there were no Jewish people in this unassuming, basic town?

Well I bet you can all see where this is going, but I certainly didn´t at the time. Our guide took us to a restaurant in the same town, San Pedro. This place is the most chilled out eatery you could hope to find. The tables are low; there are big seating areas with cushions, but no chairs; there are board games to play with; fantastic plants; and animals too. This is easily now my favourite restaurant in the world, and would you believe it, it´s owned by Israelis! Furthermore, the food is Israeli. I had shakshuka, there was falafel as well. The place is called, in English letters, ZooLa, which apparently means ´a place to relax´ in Hebrew. And you really can; people just lie down on the cushions and read a book for hours on end. They even have an adjacent hotel.

If that wasn't enough, on returning to Panajachel I heard some Mayan children conversing with some Israelis in Spanish. The children asked, "como se dice 'como se llama'?" (how do you say 'what's your name?'), to which the Israelis replied, "Mah shem shelcha". Hearing that out of the blue really threw me.

I am aware that most of my loyal readers are Jewish. If that doesn´t convince you to come to Guatemala, then I guess nothing will.