We spent a couple of weeks in San Cristobal de Las Casas in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, over the new year. This town and the surrounding areas feel very soulful and vibrant, despite it's troubled history. Lots of living art and music and utterly delicious food. We met lots of great people and made good friends with Rocio and Gus, a couple we stayed with. Good hearts and good minds. This was my second time here and this time around was even better than the last!
After many long conversations, weighing together the many pros and cons of staying on the road versus other options, we made the decision to begin (slowly) heading back to Canada. A lot went into that decision, and in so ways it was a difficult one... this had been an utterly amazing adventure within our greater love adventure, and it was hard to even conceive that it would be ending eventually. We decided to head to Mexico and spend a couple of months there, exploring Chiapas and Oaxaca, before flying north. We crossed the land border into Chiapas and headed to San Cristobal de Las Casas. We visited the Mayan ruins of Palenque, a load of gorgeous waterfalls (one of which I had been to in 2012) and San Juan Chamula, the most fascinating, trippiest church I have ever seen, with its syncretic integration of catholic and Mayan deities and rituals. WOW. Look it up. ;)
I wanted to return to Atitlan because the last time I was there, all sorts of magic was present and happened. But just as you can't step into the same river twice, an experience reflects a particular point in spacetime when you are in a certain place in yourself, and those you are with converge into the spontaneous creation of that magic. Lago Atitlan, while stunningly beautiful, felt a little less vibrant this time around. I had changed, quite a lot. San Marcos had changed, too - like so many places I'd visited before, it had grown bigger, more touristy, more commodified and lost some of that special quality I had found there previously. Maybe part of it was also because after almost a year of traveling around the world, we were just already full, saturated with worldly stimulation. Still, a lot happened there. I shaved my head. We decided to slow down the pace of travel, and to find a place where we could go into a deep chill. We also started talking about what to do next with our lives. Were we going to keep traveling? Buy a hotel on Lake Atitlan and settle there or somewhere else in Latin America? Or head back to Canada, where our families and friends were?
From Ecuador we headed north to Guatemala, stopping first in the beautiful city of Antigua. I'd had a fabulous adventure there six years prior, and it was great to revisit some of the same sights. This really brought home the fact that while you can go back to the same physical location, the experience will be vastly different because you are there are a different point in time and in your own journey. While there the Volcan de Fuego ("Volcano of Fire", aka ChiQ'uaq), a stratovolcano about 15 km away from the city, began erupting. It continued to do so the whole time we were in Guatemala, resulting in several fatalities. We could see it spewing bright red lava from as far away as Lago Atitlan.
From the Andes we travelled to the town of Banos, where we spent a week taking in the sights and chill vibe. Exploring the area was a lot of fun - lush jungles, interesting wildlife, massive gushing mountain waterfalls and a swing into the clouds at the end of the world.
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