lake attitlan, guatemala, is a hugemoungous lake surrounded by monsterous moutnains, ringed with little "towns." the two larger towns are panajachel and san pedro.

after a three hour minibus ride along roads more twisted than christopher walken, we arrived in panajachel (pana to the locals). from pana we took a boat to santa cruz, where the hostel is. you have to take a boat to anywhere, its the taxi between towns.

the hostel is great, the lake is beautiful, the weather is perfect. its paradise. i hate it here. its a fucking resort. the whole lake is a resort, kind of. it has that feel. people come here to "study spanish" and smoke tons of weed, meditate, do yoga, do mushrooms, be all earthy and crusty and its just really annoying. the hostel is at the lakeside, it really does have a great view and all.

today jergan and i walked up the mountain behind the hostel, into the "town". by town, i...

woke up yesterday feeling kinda sick. slept most of the day. went to the market and got a pineapple and a chicken, for my chicken and pinepple salsa. butchered up the chicken badly, brined it, and i was ready for action. i told TOPS i wasnt feeling good, i was a bit sick. he said i could leave a bit early if i needed to, he would be around. then he said he would be right back.

he never came back. i felt like shit. there was one french guy in the bar, i made him the chicken and pineapple, he loved it. he drank some beers. he only spoke french and spanish, so we talked in spanish. then Jergen the belgian came in, he was down for whatever reason, and to see me on my birthday. luckily, jergen speaks french soi they talked a bit. the bar was dead, i felt like shit, TOPS was out drinking and smoking and whatever, i realized i was no longer having fun.

and that was my birthday. happy birthday to me.

so i am leaving. its not like...

it´s thursday, there is a small boxing match going on in my stomach, and i'm 40. its dead as fuck here, high season my ass. last night the streets were empty, we had about 5 people in (one of them a black swedish chick. hot!), i made two plates of jalapeno poppers and that was it. yesterday was so dead, even the electricity didnt show up for a while, reminding me i´m in guatemala.

other reminders that i´m in guatemala are the guys with shotguns standing in front of random stores. sure, the bank has them, but the guetemalan steak house? the bakery? do they really need guards? i guess i can always hire myself out as a guy with a shotgun and stand around in front of stores. i just need a shotgun.

another reminder i´m not in the states are the glands at the ass of a chicken. see, a chicken has a gland by it´s but filled with green nasty bile stuff. they take that out in the states, so most people dont know about it. not here, here they sell you the...

it's a beautiful day in antigua, gautemala, almost makes me want to stay for a while.

last night was pretty kick ass. we made a chicken cacciatore that came out fucking spot on. TOPS went out for a walk in the afternoon, he came back with a freind who owns the new restaurant a few streets down, way cool chick. they need a chef, we suggested chris, and chris, TOPS and the chick went back to the restaurant. Chris came back said it looked ok, said TOPS was all fucked up, high and drunk, and we didnt see him the rest of the day. i ran the whole show. Chris was around to help, he put out two plates, then he hung out and i put out two plates, we sold lots of booze, we had a great time running the sinking pirate ship. the music was pumping, people were talking and laughing and drinking and eating, and it all came together. it makes me think the place just might work out.

it was one of those moments when the universe is singing and all is right. today chris...

From the coast of gold, across the seven seas,
I'm traveling on, far and wide,
But now it seems, I'm just a stranger to myself,
And all the things I sometimes do, it isn't me but someone else.

I close my eyes, and think of home,
Another city goes by, in the night,
Ain't it funny how it is, you never miss it til it's gone away,
And my heart is lying there and will be til my dying day.

So understand
Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years,
Face up...make your stand,
And realize you're living in the golden years.

Too much time on my hands, I got you on my mind,
Can't ease this pain, so easily,
When you can't find the words to say, it's hard to make it through another day,
And it makes me wanna cry, and throw my hands up to the sky.

So understand
Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years,
Face...