Hippie update

So this morning we had an amazing breakfast on Lago de Atitlan cooked by our Hostel staff. Some hotcakes with Honey and fresh pineapple and some kind of imitation orange juice. This breakfast must have put me and a really great mood because as we rode back into town towards the main road for Antigua we encountered a chain across the road. The students were in recess at their school and this part of the road was their playground for the next 45 minutes. San Marcos at Lake Atitlan is a 1 road town so we pretty much had to wait it out, we didn´t want to upset the security guard. As we were sitting there a hippish German chick approached me and asked if I could give her a ride on the back of my bike to the top of the hill and then out to the highway, which is about 20km. The breakfast must have been kicking into full swing because I heard myself say SURE NO PROBLEM. Then I kind of paused and thought to myself what I had just gotten myself into. She saw the situation unfolding with the guard and how we would not be able to pass thru the road, now because her ride depended on us getting thru she went to the guard and negotiated with him using her superior spanish skills. He conceded and the chain was dropped to let us pass. As she re-approached us after speaking with the guard I noticed some hair around her ankles and also noticed she was a particularly well feed hippie chick, I began to have immediate concerns for my factory stock equipment and rear suspension... I quickly changed my story and told Clay that it would be better if he gave her the lift because of his upgraded progressive rear shock and that I had had already told her that he would be happy to give her a lift to the top of the hill beacuse I didn´t have any space because I had the camping gear. It worked like a charm. Clay´s uprgaded rear shock was able to successfully carry that hippie right out of the lake basin all the way to the highway. No hippies were harmed during todays ride out of Lago de Atitlan.

We meet this guy from Boston this morning, he was staying at the house next to our hostel. Boston and I had some similar views on hippies. He taught Clay and me a new term; Trustifarian. I thought this was a perfect fit for the San Marcos crowd, must of whom were decked in the latest Patagonia threads.....

Today we are in Antigua which is absolutely beautiful. It´s really shocking what a contrast Guatemala is to Mexico, the mountain views and the climate here are really, well, wonderful... it almost feels European like we are in some little Italian village or something. And the Mayan people are truely amazing. I think what sets much of Guatemala apart from Mexico is that most of the Mayans have not really accepted Western culture like Mexico has. The Mayans still farm the same, dress the same and live the same as they always have, or so it seems. I´m no expert but it makes the country feel much cleaner, because they are not throwing plastic bottles and wrappers all over the road. Anyways we need to go enjoy the local culture. Keep it real all you Trustifarians out there.