LAKE ATITLAN AND BLAKE IN SANTA COSTUME

I have so many pictures this time to share with you that I don't know how I'm ever going to get them all on this post! My mom just left this morning (tear) and it was hard to say goodbye. We had an amazing time together and saw so many beautiful sights. She was such a help with Blake and after about 2 days, he warmed right up to her greeting her every morning with one of his big handsome smiles. Of course, she melted every time! I mentioned that we spent two nights in Lake Atitlan on my last post and I wanted to post these pictures first. We were able to take a small boat (Blake's first boat ride) to another bordering lake town called San Pedro. There, we found a hotel with the most beautiful lake view for I'm not kidding, $13.00 for both of us. Yes the shower pipe was sticking out of bricks in the bathroom and there was no mirror or clean toilet, but with the view we had, all we needed was a bed! The next day we took the boat back to Panahachel (where we came from) and stayed a night there. For $60.00 that night, we were very comfortable in a little more upscale hotel. See the picture of the yellow hotel "Paradise Inn." We were room 6 up in the right hand corner. Funny though, our view in the $13.00 hotel was 10 times better! We shopped, got sunburned, made friends with some local boys (Juan and Juan - see picture) and probably purchased a little too much! We had a blast. I HIGHLY recommend traveling to Atitlan if you ever come to Guatemala. It was so peaceful and nice to get away from Antigua for awhile.

My mom brought a darling Santa outfit for Blake which he wore all over town once we returned from the lake. The locals all said, "Mira, Santa Claus! Que regalos tiene?" This means, "Look, it's Santa Claus! What gifts do you have?" It was really cute. We joked and said we'd bring them next time.

Today was the second celebration of the holiday season, the day of "Virgin de Guadalupe." Day of the Devil was on the 7th. At a local church, all the children come dressed up in their traditional Guatemalan dress. The boys wear a beige shirt and pants with a red belt and hat. They also paint a mustach on to look like men. The girls do their hair in beautiful braids with ribbons and wear makeup and traditional costumes as well. A big casket looking thing with the Virgin on top then leads a procession in the streets of Antigua and all the children with their parents follow behind. It was really a neat thing to experience. Blake is so busy and will not hold still long enough to let me change his diaper! He climbs stairs and into suitcases as well as crawls all over the place. He has stood up two times now by himself, but only for about 3 seconds. He laughs out loud and does this little flirty thing with the women in the streets that talk to him by smiling and then looking away. What have we got ourselves into?!! More pictures to come. They are never ending!