A week spent apart in Guatemala

After three months of travelling together, we decided it was time for some time apart! Actually, I wanted to go to a yoga retreat at Lago Atitlán, having read some good reviews, but as yoga isn’t Ash’s thing, he decided he would go back to Antigua to spend some time there.

Ash - an artistic week in Antigua:

So, it was time for me and Holly to separate for a week. Holly was staying at lake Atitlan for a week while I went off to Antigua. 

On the day we separated of course Holly was crying her eyes out, begging me not to leave her. But I had to stay strong, kiss her and say goodbye and leave.

I returned to Antigua which is only about a 2 and a half hour drive. I wanted to return to Antigua because I had previously been there and enjoyed it, and wanted to explore it a little more 

One activity I chose to do was a Jade workshop. Firstly, I learned about Jade and the history - many people just think Jade is green but this is incorrect, and there are many colours of Jade. We learnt about the importance of Jade in the Mayan culture in Mexico. 

The Jade workshop itself was meant to be for 4 people but I was the only one booked on, and it was great really as I had the instructor to myself. He was a lovely man called Pablo who had been working with Jade for over 20 years.

I chose to make a jade tear drop necklace for Holly. The process was very easy but also very time consuming. At the end I was happy with what I had made, and Holly also liked it so that was good.

Another activity I choose to do was a watercolour painting workshop with a lady called Desiree. Desiree lived just outside Antigua in a gated community, which was very nice and I spent 5 hours learning the basics of watercolour painting, and came away with two paintings. 

In the session I painted a red pepper, but to be honest it was rather rubbish. I also painted a view of the mountains and volcanos that I was happy with.

I enjoyed the watercolour painting workshop so that much that I decided to buy some equipment so I can practice on my travels. It’s a shame that I could not have more lessons, but I will try to find more lessons somewhere else on our travels.

Because I just love dogs (in case you didn’t know!), and care about them, I thought it would be good for me to go and visit a local dog rescue centre. It was a 20 mile drive to the centre so I choose to get a Uber. I had mixed feelings about the rescue centre let me try and explain. This dog rescue centre was huge and just went on and on, there was 376 dogs, over 100 cats and 1 donkey. I would say 90% of the dogs look healthy. I was told that each dog goes for a walk every day on the grounds. The kennels they lived in were not really cleaned and the sleep on the concrete floor. On asking how many get adopted I was told on average about 2 a month and that most dogs spend there whole life there at the shelter 

Now to put a bit of context about the shelter they take homeless dogs that are on the street and bring them to the shelter. In Guatemala homeless street dogs is a huge problem and the government is not interested in helping to solve the problem. So the centre take the dogs off the streets and lock them in cages/ runs. Of course they are well fed at the centre but I question if the dogs are happy. So on one hand I think the shelter is good, and one hand I think the shelter is bad. It did upset me due to never seeing so many dogs in kennels in one place, it’s not like uk dog centres. 

Then the other days I just spent relaxing and spending time looking around the city. Of course I could eat all the junk food I wanted because holly was it there - I had McDonalda, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and an Indian!

Holly - a week at the Yoga Forest:

I booked to stay a week at the Yoga Forest in San Marcos, it’s set high in the mountain with beautiful views of the lake. To get there it’s about a 20 minute hike up the mountain (carrying all your luggage!), but so worth it for the view. I had a dome all to myself, the bed was huge and the glass front meant that I woke up to the sunrise every morning. The Yoga Forest is an eco yoga and meditation retreat, the toilets and showers were all outdoor with beautiful views of the lake, and the gardens were full of exotic plants and animals. 

Each day started at 7.30, with 30 minutes meditation followed by 90 minutes of Yang (or energetic) yoga. Then we had brunch - the food is all vegetarian, cooked fresh and mostly grown on site, it was all so tasty! After brunch we had free time for relaxing, reading, hiking or journaling, or we could participate in a healing workshop or treatment - over the week I had a wonderful sound bath, a massage, and went to a cacoa ceremony. Then at 3pm we had another 90 minutes of yoga, this time yin (restorative) yoga, followed by an early dinner. One of the best parts of the retreat for me was the early nights - everyone goes to bed at 8pm, which meant I could have a good nights sleep and still get up for sunrise each morning. 

I met lots of really lovely people over the week, and the yoga teachers were all incredibly skilled, kind and thoughtful. The healing sessions were intense but good. I got to try different types of yoga, including acro yoga with my favourite teacher at the Yoga Forest - Xhanna, it was really fun!

The whole week was very relaxing, and exactly what I needed after three months of travelling and moving around. I felt rested, calm and rejuvenated by the end of the week - ready to start the next part of our trip! I missed Ash, but it was also good for us both to have some time apart after being together 24/7.