Julian..

is an angel from Jersey who is currently attending university in upstate NY. He stands out in Guatemala and I´m almost tempted to go around introducing him as my bodyguard, he´s quite fit & pale with clear eyes.
We met about 5 years ago during a high school retreat in NY, both of our schools were Marist and I could have fallen in love with him if were weren´t so damn similar. By similar I mean we look for the same type of partner and are generally deep quiet thinkers. So we kept in touch and we have both been amazing at answering each other´s 3am crisis phone calls. We met up two or three years ago and hadn´t seen each other since. It was during one of these 3am phone calls that I convinced him (within 40 min) that he should join me in my travels to Guatemala, which was about a month ago and he booked his ticket that same evening!
Anyways, I hadn´t really realized how similar our situations were until we started talking during our eight hour bus ride from Guatemala City to Flores that my mother deliberately told me not to do (perdon madre). We had both recently ended a three year relationship and were internally withering away in a sense. But onwards. I had a difficult time relaxing for an entire day without doing anything productive whatsoever in a nice posada by Flores with a great view of the lake...have you ever tried doing that? An entire day. Of nothing!
Don´t be fooled, it´s quite difficult...
So we went from Guatemala City to Flores then Tikal (had a magnificent workout climbing ten flights of stairs only to then realize I was afraid of heights). After Tikal we went to Coban for a coffee plantation tour. Oh! Highlight of our trip so far!! Has definitely been staying at Finca de Ixobel, or as Julian refers to it ¨hippy heaven.¨ They have bungalows, dormitory style bunks, and treehouses! Most of their food is organic-ish and grown on their 250 acres where they have two dozen horses, geese, and parrots galore. The establishment functions on an honor system, so you can grab anything you want and write it down in a little notepad with your assigned page! So imagine chilling on a comfy hammock with a guide book in hand, a warm breeze, a cup of coffee by your side and some cool fellows playing guitar. Heaven eh? It´s also a meeting point for all sorts of travelers, there were Israelis, Dutch, Americans, all sorts of people. This was my first time doing any sort of ¨happy hour¨as well, with screwdrivers at 8Q=$1. I had very limited amounts of this whereas the birthday boy did not, he had a lovely celebration too.
We´re currently in Panajachel, a touristy city with a cool vibe and perfect for an evening walk post dinner and e-mail....toodles.