Earthquake!

Thursday, April 07, 2011—Santiago Atitlan to San Pedro La Laguna

We had a slight earthquake this morning.  I could feel my bed rocking for about 10 seconds.  To be sure, I looked at the hanging light fixture, and it was swinging.  My thought was that they probably have these small earthquakes often here with all the volcanoes in the area.  Then I read the newspapers online and realized that what I felt was the Mexico earthquake reported this morning.  The story said that it was felt in Chiapas.  Well, that’s just across the border where I was last week.  When I walked into town later in the morning, there were some large boulders that had broken loose from the hillside and were resting on the edge of the road.  A man was there breaking them apart.  They probably fell because of the same earthquake.

I awoke early, or I probably wouldn't have noticed the earthquake.  I had been tired last night, so at 6:30 today I was awake.  Because it was cool, I built a fire in my fireplace.  It was so pleasant.  I enjoyed the fire for a while, then I read in my novel while it burned down.  

I can’t find my journal.  I had it late yesterday.  The wifi here at my hotel is only available in the dining room/registration area.  My guess is that I took it there with the computer and accidentally left it behind.  But no one there knows anything about it.  Because it was rather empty and was a nice leatherette one with an elastic closure and a fabric page marker, it’s possible that a local person found it and decided to cut out the used pages.  How frustrating.  At the same time, however, it might be a relief.  There were days when I didn’t write in my journal before completing the blog entry, so writing afterwards seemed a waste of time and effort. 

Not being in a rush to leave, I spent time in town this morning.  I bought a tostata mixta from a lady with a portable cart on the street.  She spread one-half of the flat, crunchy corn tortilla with guacamole and the other half with refried beans.  On top, she put lettuce, vegetable salad, a noodle mixture, and a lentil-vegetable mixture.  Then she topped it with sliced boiled egg and picante sauce.  It cost 39 cents.  Then I noticed people buying a drink from her.  It was a quark-based drink.  I had a choice of plain or chocolate-rice flavors, and I chose the latter.  It was delicious.  For a total of 65 cents, I had a very good breakfast.  I think my expensive hotel was charging $8 for breakfast.

The boat brought me to San Pedro La Laguna around 13:00.  I had a reservation at what my guidebooks says is the best hotel here, but when I got there, I learned that their wifi is not available in rooms.  I didn’t want to pay a high price again for a fancy hotel that didn’t even provide a basic service beyond their dining room.  Therefore, I left and started searching.  One place promised they would have a man come and fix the wifi so it would work in my room, and I didn’t believe them.  I ended up at a cheap hostel.  I have my own private room with private bath for only $6.50 per night.  Best of all, I have wifi in my room!!

I spent a couple of hours inside the room working on reservations in El Salvador.  I have two reservations confirmed there—in Juayua and in San Salvador.  I wrote e-mails trying to confirm rooms in Concepcion de Ataco, Chalchuapa, and Santa Ana today.  I will feel a bit uneasy until I have reservations in all those places, because I will be there during Easter week.  I was happy to find the reservations in Juayua and in San Salvador and even at normal prices.  Here in Guatemala, Easter week rates go up tremendously.  I saw a place in Antigua that goes up from $60 per night to $300+ per night during Easter week.  Glad I will be cleared out of there before then!!  One reason I wanted wifi in my room is that I wanted to be able to get this work done without having to be out at a public table.  Plus, I don’t like others to see that I have a computer with me.  If they don’t see it; they are less likely to think about trying to steal it!

This evening, I explored the town more.  First, I was looking at other hotels in case there is a better place where I would want to move tomorrow.  But I was also checking menus to determine where I thought the best places to eat would be.  I found about 3 hotels I will check tomorrow.  And I found several places I would like to eat.

Tonight, I ate at a small place that was very clean.  It had good prices, and I had seen another man having a burger there that looked good.  I ordered the 1/2 lb. (250 g) hamburger, fries, and 1 liter (1 quart) of beer.  The burger and fries were great.  One liter of beer is a bit too much for one person to drink.  Anyway, my bill came to $6.50.

I’ll write about the town of San Predro tomorrow.