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.
No comments:
Post a Comment