Senior Patricio y San Pedro La Laguna

Last Sunday, Ryan and I were hanging out in the central square in Xela, reading and people-watching and enjoying the morning sun. Then, a skinny, bearded gringo walked by and I said to Ryan, “Hey, that looks like Pat.” I didn’t really think it was Pat, because we were planning on meeting up with him a week later at the lake. But, of course, it really was Pat. Ryan jumped up immediately and yelled out, “Pat!” A moment later they were locked in an embrace and I was standing there with my jaw practically on the floor.





I just couldn’t believe it! Here was our legendary friend, the madman cyclist, standing right in front of us, and it was all because we just so happened to be sitting in the central square that very moment that Pat walked through the square to go find a place to eat.

For those of you who don’t know Pat, he and Ryan have been good friends since childhood. Pat moved to Buenos Aires a year and a half ago. Then in October of last year, he went down to the southern-most town in South America and began his journey. His objective: ride from Argentina to Texas on his bicycle. For the last year we’ve been following his bicycle adventure on his blog (http://swiftkidhistory.wordpress.com), and Ryan and I were really excited that our time in Guatemala was going to overlap with Pat’s ride through here. We’d planned to meet at Lake Atitlan, but Pat showed up a week early in Xela and surprised us.





So, for our final week in Xela, we spent our mornings at Spanish class, and our afternoons/evenings/nights with Pat. We heard all his stories! We talked for hours and hours every day, about all the joyful and difficult moments in traveling, the growing hunger for more adventure, the interactions with locals, the emotional battle in being far away, updates on everyone back home in Houston, all our thoughts and passions and ambitions and hopes and on and on. One story led to another. It was like a week of storytelling. And all those words just got me more excited about the year ahead. Pat has been on his bike, traveling for nearly a year. His journey is almost over. Ryan and I are just beginning our year of discovery. So, this reunion happened at a beautiful moment.

When we said goodbye to Pat on Thursday in the central square, I could feel the significance of the moment.



We were seeing him off to his final country (Mexico) before crossing the border back to Texas. He was seeing us off for the beginning of our journey, and our time of exploration and adventure. Pat rode off to Mexico, and we went to the bus terminal to catch a ride to the lake.



We arrived here, in San Pedro La Laguna, on Thursday afternoon, and to me, that day really felt like the first day of our trip. We studied Spanish in Xela for a month, which was important and good and valuable. But it didn’t feel like traveling. It felt more like preparing for traveling. Thursday felt like day one: our arrival into spontaneity and openness and uncertainty. We embraced it and lived in the moment, and now we are here in the peaceful village by Lake Atitlan.

This is the view from our hotel room:



And here is where we had breakfast yesterday:



I think an appropriate nickname for this pueblo is “Little Israel,” because I’ve literally heard more Hebrew than anything else. Signs and menus are in Hebrew. The local ladies selling banana bread say, “shalom.” The travel agencies have Israeli flags painted on their walls. I listen in on neighboring conversations and try to see how much Hebrew I can understand. All the Spanish and Hebrew feels so mixed up in my head right now!



What have we been doing in this beautiful place? Looking in wonder at the immense beauty of the lake, enjoying our freedom and time to breathe in the fresh air...

A whole lot of reading:



Eating delicious hummus. Awesome Israeli cafe:



Commenting on the characteristics of the million dogs in this village:





Walking the little paths that are filled with plants and lounging dogs, and that lead to cafes that are like secret gardens:





We are happy to be done with Spanish school, and super excited to head down to Ecuador in two days. In the meantime, we can’t put down our books (our kindles), and we are both reading more than we’ve read in years. It feels wonderful.

Estoy bloggando: