merry christmas and all that jazz

merry christmas

made this for you

Antiguing yet again and again

going out for the night, after Reilly's bar where we spend some time. that be Kenny, Bree, Darren, dickhead Ben in back, Louise partly hidden, Jereme (look at him closely) and Tim. most of time on Antigua is spent w/ this crew

so we drove up to Carias' place squeezing in the back of his car. fun times to be sure


from Chad's balcony towards the volcano. awesome sunset

yet another big, big, big night, clockwise from me the suspects be: Tim, Oriane, Mario, Darren, Carias, Jereme and Aurelie. can you tell it was a good night? well it was

so i painted my guitar... in both senses. in my sketchbook and also painted on my guitar

dancing on tables at Reilly's, just another typical night there

met Hunter from Canada last time i'd been in Antigua, before going to the lake and goodbyes to El Garitón and Hawaii. this is us late at night in the central park, which looks great at the moment w/ all its lights on the trees. after picking the playlist at Reilly's for some of the night

Tim and Kenny fixing up a table at Reilly's which was broken the previous night.

at El Paso. a locals bar which is tiny but oh so cool. no other tourists tend to go there. Kenny and i had decided to go to a local barber w/ Tim and Jereme and get haircuts. only thing was that as Kenny sat on the chair Tim, Jereme and i got to pick his haircut and he couldn't say a thing about it. then it was my turn to go through it. end result... what you see in photo.

dinner w/ Mel, Chad and Ana. we started together in Mexico city and will be spending Xmas together in Belize

also met up w/ Dan (from Aus), Jill and Jeff from San Pedro again in Antigua. Mel as well

Kenny and i in our best Bogan poses.

me, Jezza and Timoteo singing along to 'throw your arms around me' at Reilly's where i got to set up a playlist for the whole night.

span style="font-size:85%;">antigua... finally got a picture of the famous arch in daytime.

that is one of the three volcanoes around antigua

Kenny and Bree at the ruinas in Antigua. cool little place to chill (even if it does cost you 5 quetzales to go in there. Kenny read 'guts' by Chuck Palaniuk there

some birds flying around in the ruins

sexxxxyyyy ruins

Tim on Ana and me on my guitar (still unnamed, can you see the little painting on bottom corner of it)
Kenny, Bree, Julia and I at an art exhibition opening on my last night in Antigua (for real this time, not like my other three last nights which i somehow always stayed on, though i did get to pick a music playlist for Reillys bar on my second last night). some of the coolest people there.

goodbyes to friends

so i went back to El Garitón and Hawaii for my last goodbyes to the are and people i had met. kinda sad after nearly three months in area.

this is Anayansi and David w/ my guitar and ukulele. may give ukulele to David when trip is over. was tempted to give it now as a xmas present but then blog wouldnt be the same, would it? that's their kitchen in the back


Carolina. she is super cute

David w/ the as yet unnamed guitar and me and Anna. that's Fabiana in the back who is Davids aunt... as is Anayansi. the house where they live on left.

Carolina playing shy for the camera. i like this photo

David took this one. camera was facing the wrong way

waiting for the 'camioneta' by main road in El Garitón. Jaime and her little sister came by. smallest one will always hang around but is really shy so will hide behind her sisters. there is usually a third older sister w/ them

small video made in El Garitón w/ Kate and Abby

back in Hawaii, was playing guitar when these three kids came by and hung around. the guitar and ukulele always, always get conversation and attention. it's great to break the ice.

my last sunset in Hawaii as i sat on lookout tower playing w/ Anna. that's Colilla on sand by the sea

Antigua - Chichi - San Pedro

some more catching up but almost, almost there

just another little drawing in book. inspired by Voxtrot


and now inspired by Bill Watterson... it's Calvin & Hobbes. one of the most brilliant cartoonist... writers... artists

still out in El Garitón at this point in time

some of the little girls from village

a lizard that hangs around Chad's place in Antigua. cool scales on him/her

fireworks off in the distance. they love their fireworks in Guatemala. any reason to bring them out is used

the only photo i have so far of the famous arch in Antigua. Aurélie and Oriane from France and Kenny and Bree from Melbourne. Kenny and Bree are champs. go here to check out Kennys blog : http://captainlignoid.blogspot.com/ a good fun read

a church in Chichicastenango. a small town that comes alive on thursdays and sundays w/ it's market

praying and offerings outside yet another church in Chichicastenango, or Chichi as the locals call it

Anna and I in front of a mask market stall

a cemetary off in the distance in Chichi. cemetaries here in Guatemala are adorned w/ flowers (plastic mostly) and painted in bright pastel colours.

view from hostel out to the lake in San Pedro. Lago de Atitlán. stunning w/ its enormity and surrounding volcanoes. the actual lake itself was formed from a volcanic caldera

met Seth who runs a hostel in San Pedro who took a few of us to a swim area. had to cut through corn fields, down little dirt tracks and then over rocks but at end was cool clear water, sunny big rocks to lie on and this tree above. almost perfect.

saw some amazing fire-poys people. one of these two japanese guys is by far the best i have ever seen. and this one girl who was also amazing w/ them one of the hottest things i have witnessed as she danced, performed acrobatics and played w/ the fire.

you have to go through a labyrinth to get to a lot of cool places in San Pedrom so there are these signs around the area. w/ Anna yet again

Rumen, a spanish volunteer at another turtle park, was my travel buddy there. we ate at this tiny 'comedor' where you eat in the families dining room. they had lunch at the table next to ours

there was a guitar at the Buddha bar so i had to play it as we chilled there w/ our chai té

same view from our hostel. that is the Big Nose mountain on other side. can you see it? most local people in area speak their native language Tz'utuhil. girls that worked in hostel taught me how to say a few words... can't remember any. stunningly beautiful as well in their traditional clothes

another view around lake

two of the amazing poy guys practicing. hung out w/ them for a while as they were staying in same hostel. one sitting down w/ drum was the amazing one w/ the fire poys

some more people i met there and hung out w/. Jeff, Jill (both from USA), Renata (UK), me, Kake (USA and sitting) and Brocko and Ollie from France.

till next time