Central America - next stop: Guatemala

Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

After my trip to Vancouver I wanted to get started on my spanish languages skills and I was thinking where it would be best to learn. Of course the best thing to do is to go into a country where the language is spoken. As my brother was in Guatemala a few years back, he recommended to me to go there to study spanish. Thanks to him and his contacts, I was able to find a great spanish school very quickly.

Flying in from Vancouver is quiet long and tiring. I had to switch twice, in LA and Houston. I made all connections without a hitch though. I spent my first night in Guatemala City, the capital of Guatemala. A friend of mine arranged for me to stay with one of his friends living in the city.

One the next day I made my way to San Pedro La Laguna, a beautifully located beachtow right by the Lake Atitlan. A-must visit location when traveling in Guatemala.

GUATEMALA TODAY

Country Facts

Area: 42,042 sq miles (108,890 sq km)

Population: (2008): 14,000,000 (growth rate: 2.2%); birth rate: 29.1/1000; infant mortality rate: 29.8/1000; life expectancy: 69.7; density per sq mile: 304)

Capital and largest City (2003 est): Guatemala City, 2,655,900 (metro. area), 1,128,800 (city proper)

Highest point: Vulcano Tajumulco, 4211 m ( also highest point in central America)

Ethnicity/race: Mestizo (Ladino) - mixed Amerindian-Spanish ancestry - and European 59.4%, K'iche 9.1%, Kaqchikel 8.4%, Mam 7.9%, Q'eqchi 6.3%, other Mayan 8.6%, indigenous non-Mayan 0.2%, other 0.1% (200

Language(s): Spanish 60%, Amerindian languages 40% (23 officially recognized Amerindian languages, including Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and Xinca).

Religion(s): Roman Catholic, Protestant, indigenous Mayan beliefs. There are a small number of Jewish, Muslim and other faith communities.

Currency: Quetzal made up of 100 centavos. Approximately Q10.90 = €1.00

Government: Guatemala has a unicameral Congress, comprising 158 seats. Members are elected every 4 years and are eligible for re-election. The President is elected by universal suffrage for a single term of 4 years.

Head of State/President: Álvaro Colom Caballeros

Time zone: MEZ 7 h. There is no change in time between winter and summer.

San Pedro la Laguna

San Pedro La Laguna is a small town with a population of approximately 13,000 people which is situated on the Western shore of lake, beneath the volcano which also bears its name. The inhabitants of San Pedro are primarily Tz'utujil Mayan with a small, but growing, expatriate community. Many travelers visit the town to study at one of the Spanish schools, take time out to do plenty of outdoor activities as well:

- horse-riding
- salsa-dancing
- swimming in the lake
- african-drumming
- volcano hikes
- hammock swinging
- hot-tub soaking
- visiting nearby villages & other towns


view on San Pedro

San Pedro remains among the most visited of the lakeside village due to a couple of reasons :

- fairly cheap accomodations
- backpackers from various parts in the world -a global scence
- its marvelous setting

This is primarily a coffee growing area and a backpacker destination. Many people living in San Pedro will have to go work in the coffee field if there is not temporarily not a lot of work available in their actual job, such as teaching. There are plenty of spanish school in San Pedro and for some, which are rather unknown and not advertised super well on the global scence, sometimes suffer to make ends meet. Anyway you will see coffee being picked on the volcano´s slopes and spread out to dry on wide platforms at the beginning of the dry season.






The community in San Pedro follows mainly the traditional way of life. You will see people wearing indigenuous clothes, mostly around the busy market area in the upper & local part of town. Most of the touristy things are in the lower part of town, between the 2 docks. The one on the southeast side goes to Santiago Atitlan and the other one on nortwest side serves Panajachel, a well sought-after town in the whole of Guatemala.

streetmarkets in Gringolania = local term for touristy part of town




creative craftmaker




Bienvenidos en Guatemala! It's good to be here!



religious painting on a wall, highlighting the profound belief




my first gallo beer







motorbike snapshot




public bus (informal chickenbus) which
were auctioned off in the US and newly
painted after being bought





on my way to school




reunion at the catholic square




beginning of semana santa celebrations



early volcanco hike whilst sunrise - stunning with in the back



neat house in the mountains



old man carrying stuff on this forhead








streetmarket, random guy playing guitar



back to San Pedro on the back of a pick-up truck




main church in Panajachel - one daytrip to check out the city



Amigos



buying beans on the market




old woman on the market wearing an indigenous dress




well captured photo of a typical family



creative painting




main street uphill towards the local part of town



main streets towards Gringoland :)




hilarious exposure as part of a political campaign




Tu'ku - the local taxi :)

Generally it is easy to walk around in San Pedro. Once you are lost, you will always either get up to the catholic church in the local area or to the lower part where all the tourism activity takes places :) Otherwise you can always ask people on the street. Nearly everyone is willing to help and give you some directions. "La gente de San Pedro" (people of San Pedro) is friendly and always willing to help!

Opening up a new chapter

Hello world out there. It is February 2011, even though that this post has just been activated now :) I accompplished my apprenticeship in the hotelbusiness in Frankfurt/Germany. I lived in Frankfurt for 2 1/2 years. Time really fies once you enter the working world. I got to gain valuable and hands-on experiences.
After all I was very determined to continue my work & travel plans overseas. This time is NOW :).
I have done various metropolitan trips around europe to destinations like Madrid, Lisbon (a beautiful city) and of course a couple of times to Paris & London...

I would like to share some inspiring travel quotes with you:

- “Remember that happiness is a way of travel – not a destination".

- “We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.”

- “I should like to spend the whole of my life in traveling abroad, if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend afterwards at home.”

- “Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you traveled.”

- “When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.”

- "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page."



Ready to HIT the road again


In March I decided to fly to Vancouver to check out "the most liveable city on earth". I spent a week there. Check out a few pics below:



Vancouver bird´s eye view



Downtown Vancoouver



spectacular view



Downtown by night, taken from Granville Island




view from my friend´s appartment - breathtaking!



snapshot downtown at Canada Place

Overall I think that Vancouver is vibrant, entertaining city. Furthermore it is the most eco-friendly city in North America who means business in the sustainability aspect.
Definetly worth a visit!!!

Toronto

Toronto´s skyline with its emblem - CN Tower

Since my brother lives in Toronto with his girlfriend Vika, I planned on visiting them definetly. I spent about 9 days in Toronto. My brother showed me a bit of the city, its main attraction for instance we wandered around downtown which sort of reminds me a bit of some streets in Manhattan and actually there is a spot which is kind of like an imitation of the Times Square in NYC. Other than that, we did an excursion to Toronto Island - awesome! We were pretty lucky with the weather and walked from one side to the other, discovering its hidden spots. Watching a baseball game, attending a street-jazzfestival with international artists and bicyle trips were additional highlights. Also I wanted to get to see Toronto and surroundings from the CN Tower´s observation deck, apparently the highest isolated building in the world. The line-up was totally crazy, packed with tons of tourist but the long hours of waiting were worthwile. Last but not least it was just nice hanging out with Harry, Vika and family. I´ll definetly come back soonish :)

Vika and me on the balcony

in front of well-known castle

glassfloor of CN Tower - scary height :)

Downtown from CN Tower

Baseballgame

somewhere around University Campus :)

Harry & Me on Toronto Island

Vika & Me in front of a bunch of
canadian flags

It´s done - my gapyear has ended and I can say it was an amzing year! Now I am back in Frankfurt/Germany and will complete my apprenticeship in the Maritim Hotel. Later on, I do want to keep traveling, that´s for sure! See you soonish on the road :)
Best Regards!!!

TTC - Yoga Teacher Training Course

NAMASTE :) !Here I am, ready for a new challenge and reinforcing my interest in YOGA :) My next destination right after my NYC-Trip was the Peaceful Valley Ashram owned by Leela Mata, internationally known teacher with great wisdom. Thanks to my parents my interest in Yoga grew and I accompanied them to yoga classes in Bad-Meinberg, Europe´s biggest Yoga-Center by the way. That´s where I met Leela and learnt about the TTC. I wanted to immerse myself into Yoga and decided to take part in the TTC.

First of all I´d like to give you a short introduction into Yoga - here are some basics:

Yoga focuses on harmony between mind and body. Yoga derives its philosophy from Indian metaphysical beliefs. The word yoga comes from Sanskrit language and means union or merger. The ultimate aim of this philosophy is to strike a balance between mind and body and attain self-enlightenment. To achieve this, yoga uses movement, breath, posture, relaxation and meditation in order to establish a healthy, lively and balanced approach to life.

Though the exact origins of Yoga are unknown but Yoga is considered to be the oldest physical discipline in existence. Yoga, thus symbolizes balance in every area of life. In the earlier times, the rationale of the Yoga postures and breathing exercises was to bring stability and relaxation so practitioners could prepare for the rigors of meditation, sitting still and alert for long periods of time. In modern context also Yoga can play an important role in maintaining a fine balance between work and healthy mind.
more info on: http://yoga.iloveindia.com/

read info leaflet above :)

Basically and essentially it gives some brief facts about Leela Mata, the knowledgeable and loving main teacher + owner of the Ashram. This leaflet is meant to provide information on the respective scheme consisting of Ayurveda and Panchakarma. Also I thought it would nice to catch a glimpse of Leela and her ongoing projects. Anyways as mentioned on the leaflet yoga and meditation are included and it was naturally included as well in the TTC. Diet i.e. vegeterian food and lifestyle education plays also an important role. Through living the integral system of yoga, the student is provided with necessary knowledge to continue his/her practise at home.
The daily routine of the TTC has been settled beforehand.

The day started with Satsang (meditation + teacher´s lecture on yoga philosophy and wordly wisdoms) at 6:00 am. After a couple of days we changed it to 5:45 in order to get started with some breathing exercises. Honestly it was kind of hard getting up that early at the very beginning particulary after a pretty much restless trip to NYC,anyways i don´t want to complain :) i got used to the daily routine quiet quickly. right after satsang is a little break - tea time for about half an hour and it carries on with yoga exercises, usually with the guidance of leela and later on we taught each other to gain confidence/ practical experience. At 11 am is brunchime. Karma Yoga, meaning selfless service in the ashram, is subsquently for an hour. The two other participants and I mainly worked in the garden pulling weeds and things like that. Midday break was from 12:00 to 14:00 pm. After this it was time for Chanting Class, which got likewise extended to an hour since the feedback was throughout positive.

the main buildung of the Ashram property

groupphoto on the first evening

Right after Chanting Class we got down to Lecture on Yoga Philosophy for an hour. We did not learn exclusively about Yoga Philosophy, no, Leela also shared moving stories with us. The last agenda highlight were Principles and Practise of Teaching. We watched a DVD, discussed certain postures and aspects of teaching, so we gradually advanced :). In the evening, after dinner from 6:00 to 7:00 is again Satsang and Lecture. This was always the ending of the day. Bedtime was usually around 10:00 or a little later. Special notes were on Wednesday, which was stated to be Mouna - the day of Silence. On Thursday is Guru Puja in Place of Morning Satsang. Guru Puja is about worshiping the Gurus (act of graditude) who passed on their great knowledge for the sake of unversal peace and healing humanity. Leela´s knowledge is based on the Shivananda lineage.

on an excursion to nearby Clarion River

Cathie and I studying the manual

Generally the purpose of this course for you to pass the teachings on to others along with proper information. However, the main purpose is to give you an experience of the positive benefits of the approach to Sadhana. Sadhana means the concious practise of discipline that will have a amazingly profitable impact on your personality. Also, another purpose is to give you an experience of integrating spiritual values into daily life. You will see that everything you do can become Yoga.

graduation

receiving the blessings from Leela

I personally took advantage of the course and left very balanced. It was an amazing experience, in a certain way it felt like coming home. Living in close contact with Leela Mataji, a yogini of great love, compassion and wisdom was memorable. Also the "Ashram Family", everybody living there deserve a big thanks. If you are interested in learning more about Yoga and the Ashram, feel free to contact either me or the Ashram on:

www.leelamata.com

by Clarion River

last picture taken just before departure