kellita the señorita the ibby dibby dow: Gamble and a win

Remember when I thought I wasn't sick anymore? Turns out I was wrong. And lucky for me I realized it the morning before another long 8-hour bus journey. Yay. I jumped in the shuttle at 8am in the pouring rain, eating Pepto like candy, pleading with my body to get me to Flores without pooping my pants. After a lot of deep breathing, meditating, sleep-ish, and popping various stomach meds, I made it accident free.

When I arrived at Los Amigos, my friend Tina whisked me into the dorm as she had booked and paid for my bed for the night. God bless Tina. I pounded some grape seed oil and laid out on the comfy floor cushions, thankful to have made it.

This morning we had a leisurely breakfast and when I decided my stomach was good, we set out to explore the island of Flores. First stop - ice cream cones. Second stop - not the bathroom. I'd say the day was off to a good start. Chris was on a mission to buy a Guatemalan hand-made blanket, something I had wanted to do but lacked the desire to carry it around for 10 more months. Luckily for me, he offered to take it back to the States with him and ship it to my parents.

So we set off on Mission Blanket, 5 hours wandering the streets, bargaining, followed by the realization that the ones we wanted were the first ones we had seen. I bargained up a storm with the brother and sister sales team in my best Spanish, and was able to get them from Q1200 each to Q1200 for two. I felt pretty proud, and now have an amazing rememberance of Guatemala and it's colorful culture. The patches of the quilt are pieces of blouses and skirts from the traditional women's dress here. Mara (our savy saleswoman) told me that her grandmother traveled around the country trading fabrics with other Mayan women, and that the craftsmanship took three months to complete. I take that with a grain of salt because I know they will tell you anything to get you to buy their blanket.

This week is a big celebration in Flores, and there are random parades happening all around us. Today we ran into one with a Michael Jackson performer who wowed us with his Smooth Criminal skills. Talk about random impromptu dance parties! Each night the parades end in the town square where the locals cheer on a basketball game before opening the court to a huge dance party with a live band. Guatemalans know how to celebrate life for sure.