Independence Day!! Today is Guatemala and the rest of Central Americas day of Independence and consists of various parades, speeches and events. I was up early but unfortunately my stomach was playing up again and I didn't have the energy to head into the city early. However by 9am my stomach had eased so I made my way into the centre to watch the parade. Exactly like yesterday there were various schools and colleges marching, playing music, dancing and portraying images of their schools. It was cool to watch but after an hour I was board and so made my way to the ever exciting central market. I am off to San Marcos la Lagona today so I grabbed a few last supplies in the market and stopped by my favorite tortilla lady who was BBQ black corn tortillas - 4 for 15c. I then had to make my way back to Rafa's to start getting my things together and have a quick lunch. I chatted with Rafa for a while and waited for the rain to stop but it didn't so luckily Rafa drove me into the centre where I was going to take the private shuttle to San Marcos from. The private shuttle arrived about 45 minutes late and was almost full of the typical backpacker types and they had all crammed their bags inside shuttle making room and space even tighter. The ride was unpleasant to say the least and I had a large Israeli guy sitting next to me who continuously moved, bumped and agitated me - a good practice was trying to breathe and not absorb all the negative energy - ready for my yoga retreat. The van arrived at the lake after 4 long hours and the view coming down the hill was truly breathtaking. We arrived in a little town called San Paul and myself and 2 other girls who were also headed to Kaivalya caught a tuktuk the short ride to San Marcos. Hannah was from Sweden and Sandy from the states and they had both signed up for the one month intensive course that would be starting tommorow. We met Jade the girl that will be running the place for the next month and she is lovely and also from Australia. We chatted a while, got a run down on the place, settled into our rooms and then got together to discuss what would be happening over the next month. My mind my body and my heart has taken a huge sigh of relief and words can not describe how at peace I am already feeling here. Things I had learned at Vipassana 2.5 years ago all started to come back to me and I can tell just the environment will help me find what I am searching for. My roommate for the next week is Maria from Sweden; she has been here 8 days and already turned the room into a great space, after a lovely chat with her I tucked in under some warm rugs and fell straight asleep.

OBSERVATIONS:
- Antigua - Independence Day
- Shuttle ride to San Marcos - 4 hrs ($8)
- Arrival in beautiful San Marcos
- Kaivalya Yoga Retreat