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Excerpts

Panajachel, Guatemala
Al Chisme

Entry:

Was at the Circus Bar listening to live Brazilian music and met a guy from Sand Point, Idaho, named Jim. He gave me a good amount of information on the town of Todos Santos, which is much higher in the mountains, four hours out of Huehuetenango. I've decided to go there on my way back to México. Huehuetenango is near the La Mesilla frontera on the way to Comitán in Chiapas. As it stands now I will go on Monday. Today is Thursday.

I am glad to be going. I want the quiet of a smaller town and the genuine flavor that I love so much about Guatemala. I want to get back on the path of out-of-the-way places, of seeing ruins and indígena culture. This time in Panajachel has been a sort of return to the States and the normal life I knew there. The time spent out of Pana around the lago will probably be the most memorable part of my four weeks here.

Once the feelings are explored
the memories sorted and stored
the sentiment grows and blooms
I have seen beautiful dances
frangible balances
I have seen the nightlife in different rooms

You come to town where faces change
as quickly as the clouds across the sky
you watch the blossoms grow and blow away
in their own trajectory through time

And there are those who seem to hold
a thread of constancy in this river of change
and even this thread frays and shreds
as those who hold it move away