After my strange night in Guatemala City I realized how much I hate large cities and the chaos that controls them. I got on a Chicken Bus (it’s pretty much what the name is) and took a 4 hour ride out to Panajachel to see Lake Atitlan. I didn’t have much time out there, but it was nice to see the country go by. Especially in an area that had recently suffered deadly mudslides. Most of the roads had been cleared off, but there were still some areas where they had been completely washed off the side of the mountain.

The lake itself was beautiful, but amazingly cold. Someone (I’m not naming names, Nicole) forgot to mention how damn freezing it was out there at night. I wasn’t prepared for that. Half way through dinner, I excused myself and walked down the street and bought a coat. I’m not sure if the guy knew how much he could take me for, as my negotiating skills were severely limited. He could have said $1,000 US and I would probably have said yes. In the end, I got a pretty cute wool jacket for about $30 US.

When I got back for my dinner, I struck up a rather pleasant conversation with a young Guatemalan woman at the bar. She only spoke Spanish. I only spoke … crappy Spanish. I was surprised how much I actually understood after not speaking the language in about 9 years. I’m not sure how long we chatted, but somewhere along the way she had asked me if I wanted to play basketball in the morning. Maybe it was my height, or my massive guns that made her think I was a pro basketball player. I get that a lot actually.

I got up early the next morning and did a bit of wandering around town before I met Graciea for her basketball schooling. Or so I thought.

It turns out that this 5 foot tall, 100 pound Guatemalan girl was quite the player. Granted, it doesn’t take much to beat me, but she really took me to the cleaners. Mind you, I was wearing running shoes and long pants. And, you know, my NBA contract forbids me to play outside the league. I mean, I was trying to take it easy on her for diplomatic and cultural exchange reasons.

Fine! She whooped me.

I was going to stay around Panajachel for the evening, but had to head back to Antigua so I could catch an early morning flight to Tikal. When I got back to town, I walked over to my favorite watering hole, Café No Se and found the same cast of characters. Noel had left for Costa Rica, but had left a goodbye wish – that was nice. The rest of us had some dinner, a few beers and headed off to play some pool over at Point & Feather (a true pub in Antigua). When Brenden and I walked in the Timberwolves were playing the Milwaukee Bucks. We were forced to watch, naturally, since he was from Wisconsin. Minnesota won … again.