Okay, so we're coming around to the resort/hostel. Last night's chicken BBQ was great, and we must have lucked out because they didn't do the whole cross dressing thing. It took us a little while to get used to seeing fifty people instead of five, but the view and atmosphere won us over. The owners are really nice and they have a gigantic dog named Balto that is a lot of fun to play with. If we ever have a kid, that's the kind of dog I want to get for it.

There was a beautiful sunset and, after wards, a star-filled sky illuminated by a full moon, which we're now told was supposedly the largest full moon in 18 years; neato. We ate dinner outside and enjoyed the view while taking advantage of happy hour. 10Q Brahvas! I can handle that :) We got to bed around 10, but it was just an hour or two later that Brittany woke up and promptly got violently sick, if you know what I mean. She was up most of the night, so when it was time to get up for the Chichi market this morning, we were a no go. It would have been nice to get to the market, but I've heard Pana has some great stuff too, so I don't think we're missing all that much.

While she slept I hiked up and up and up the insanely steep road to the actual town of Santa Cruz. I didn't see any jeans or t-shirts up there, just the beautiful traditional dress. I don't think many foreigners head up there because I was a bit of a curiosity to the locals. What's this gringo doing all the way up here???

The views of the lake got better and better as I climbed up the road, but I think my favorite part of the day was helping a small boy carry a huge bag of grain down steep stairs to his family's little concrete home (shack). His father was very grateful that I helped and shook my hand, saying "Gracias!" again and again. Those are the moments I remember long after going home.

I strolled around the town for a while and even came across a movie theater, which was actually just someone's house where they played bootlegged movies and charged 20 cents to get in. Brittany was still in bed when I got back so I'll probably be spending the rest of the day lounging around the lake. If she's up to it we're going to head out tomorrow. We'll have to get back to Pana, then take a bus to Guate City (3 hours) and then another bus to Coban (5 hours). It'll be a long day, but I think we're kind of tired of "relaxing" here. We're ready to see something new!

In Coban we'll take a coffee plantation tour and then head to Lanquin for the caves and Semuc Champey for what we're told is an outrageously beautiful river.

Hopefully the hostel there (we haven't picked one out yet) will let us post some stinkin' pictures!