Our host at Tilapita

Hola, Linda and Cristy! You'd recognize this river: it smells and looks like 'our' river....


The Hotel Pacific Mar is owned by Alex and Celia. He's the Front Man. Alex shows us our room, we're the only guests. The dining palapa has a cement floor, and three bare light bulbs hanging overhead. Alex shows us the cooler, and we make ourselves at home. The question about meals is quickly answered. He asks what time we want to eat, and tells us what Celia is cooking! Fresh fish, it will be ready in an hour. Later, I peek in the kitchen, and see Celia and their oldest daughter cooking over two wood fires. The floor is dirt, and the table is covered with a clean plastic cloth. I give Celia the remains of a loaf of banana bread I bought yesterday, and get a smile and hug in return. She's not a bit offended that it's not a whole loaf. Stuart has a small, curious crowd of small, barefoot children staring at him when I join him at a table. I have my paper journal, and the children are very curious about it. I show them the map I drew of Lake Atitlan, and they have no trouble identifying the volcanos I drew. My libre de mapa , map book, they call it. We talk a little, some are Alex and Celia's children, other's are neighbors. When Alex brings our fish dinner, they disappear like the wind. Apparently they've been told to leave guests alone while they're eating.

Late in the evening, I see Alex unplug the cooler with soft drinks and beer, just before he turned out the three lights in the palapa. There is another palapa with a sand floor, beside the pool, with a hammock with my name on it! The pool has no pump or filter, but it's clean and clear as drinking water. I can't wait to try it, tomorrow.

My pack got wet early today, in the boat crossing from San Pedro to Santiago. When I asked Celia about a clothesline, she pointed to the barbed wire fence around the pool. Works fine!













The Christmas decorations are still hanging. Pretty, hand-made decorations. Celia and the children painted styrofoam cups, cut them in a spiral, and attached a piece of ribbon inside. You can bet I'm copying this idea!