Because you can never climb too many volcanoes in one week, I decided to go up Volcano San Pedro with a friend of a friend to see what that was all about. I’ve been sleeping under its shadow for weeks, so I might as well see what’s up there.

And so this is what’s up there.  Or part way up there.

If you go a little further up, this is the view.

And if you go all the way to the top, and it’s cloudy, then this is the view.

I made the hike with 3 Canadians (as usual), with the two from Montreal doing it in Birkenstock (the hike wasn’t that bad). Took a few hours, but we were up and down like pros.

This is the view from the bottom back up towards the top. It was very green.

Then some weekend I went to Panajachel, the main port town, to see what was going on over there. They had a pretty cheap textile market that was interesting to look around. Maybe I’ll go back and buy some sweet pants at some point. Here was a view back at the volcanoes from the boat ride.

I also helped this group trying to put together an online presence for a cooperative. Here’s a picture from the photoshoot they were doing. I got a tour of the local homes, seeing those blankets you can buy for $6 actually being made.

And this is what the market looks like in San Pedro that I go to a lot for avocados. Sometimes I buy other things, but mainly just avocados.

Then this weekend I decided to take a trip to Chichicastenango, which is a gigantic Mayan culture market.  On the bus ride a sat with someone from Uzbekistan and someone from Malta, so check those off the international BINGO card.

As are most markets, it was a bit of a shitshow. But in the middle was a church, and they were burning incense and praying and doing other churchy things.

This was looking down from the steps at the church. A lot of flowers and stuff.

Standing in the same place, but this is part of the market (it has rows and rows and rows).

In typical form, I didn’t end up buying anything. I almost bought a belt, but knew I wouldn’t wear it very much so didn’t want to pay what they wanted. Then I almost bought one of the typical hoodies they sell around here, but they didn’t have the size/color combination I liked. So I went home empty-handed.

They have a lot of knives, but I think those would get back through customs. The pottery is really nice too, but what am I going to do with dishes? Plus they’d break. Anyways, there’s lots of cool stuff but I hardly want to carry it around for months.

I sort of feel bad just taking pictures of everything, but I did grab one picture just to show some of the cooler crafts they have.

So yeah, those are things I’ve kind of been doing. I’ve moved from my guesthouse into a hotel in town, which I think will be much more convenient (maybe from a WiFi perspective). But this will be my last week here, and then I’m trying to decide where to go next. I know I’m going North towards Belize, but there are like 3 or 4 different ways to get there and I can’t decide which way to go.