Guatemala

Guatemala

 You must go to the Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. Antigua is nice, but its a crowded city, and Guatemala city is like some kind of terrible hell on earth, but the lake is one of the most serene places I have ever been in my life.

 The sunset and the sky in general, but especially at night, amazed me every time I took a moment to appreciate it.

Aldous Huxley wrote ,“really, too much of a good thing.” referring to the lake. 

The indigenous Mayans believe that the first complex life forms were born from the lake. It certainly does feel like to womb of the planet.

The most popular pueblo around the lake is called San Pedro, and where most of the party-scene is.

The lake looks just like the Mandlebrat fractal if viewed from the air, and is definitely a microcosm of the universe in its own unique way.

If you don't know about fractals, I can't help you, but you can look at many online. . . check out http://fractalfoundation.org/

At night, from where we were staying, very bright stars would line up with all of the major three volcano tops, and it would seem as if the universe was in perfect alignment. . .

    San Marcos de Atitlan is one fo the most beautiful Pueblos. It has a large community of healers from all over the world, practicing every form of the healing arts from yoga and Reiki, to chocolate ceremonies and sound healing. It is amazing.

You definitely have to go check out Santiago pueblo also. this is one of the oldest, and there are some strange things going on here. . .

  

There is a legend about a shaman who requested of the forest to send an emissary to heal the people of sicknesses brought in by the Spanish. One of the trees named 'Maximon' came alive, and traveled the whole lake, healing all of the people. Once his task was over however, he became a nuisance by using his powers to turn all of the elders from the villages into young girls, and having them wait on him while he smoked cigars and drank rum all day. 

Finally the people decided this had to be stopped, and so they all attacked the tree-man, and cut off his legs. He then agreed to stop his dastardly behavior, if the people would hold a parade in his honor once a year. This has been a tradition for many years. The tree-man is still there in a small church, which you must go see if you go there.                                                                                        

 He has an opening for his mouth, and takes offerings of rum, and of cigars, which I kid you not, he actually smokes. I did not believe this until I saw it for myself. He actually inhales, and the puffs out the smoke.

He has an attendant who is also very peculiar . . . the man looks just like the tree-man, and is literally growing roots out of the backs of his calves and ankles. 

This place is too magical to describe properly with words here, but you should definitely check it out for yourself.