by Gouda » Sat Nov 19, 2005 6:22 pm
In Guatemala, Bliss by a Blue Lake<br>By JOYCE MAYNARD <br><br>Published: December 26, 2004<br><br>New York Times Travel <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/26/travel/26atitlan.html?ei=5088&en=fef3b2bcba40ca24&ex=1261717200&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&adxnnlx=1129471367-0nnpEtOB4aqLfEe+Y2oncA">www.nytimes.com/2004/12/2...fEe+Y2oncA</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>-snip-<br><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Mostly, though, I am happy to stay in town. In addition to its indigenous population, San Marcos has become known, in recent years, as a center for healing arts and alternative therapies provided by the small but growing, alternative-flavored expatriate community of artists and musicians, holistic medicine practitioners, midwives, musicians and social-worker types who maintain a surprisingly congenial relationship with the Maya community, by and large. <br><br>Walking through the village, a traveler may hear the exhortations (broadcast over primitive speakers) of an evangelical preacher, or guitars and singing inside the festively decorated Catholic church, and then, just down the path, observe a yoga class or signs pointing the way to reiki practitioners, a massage therapist, a holistic health center, a homeopath, a reflexologist, cranial sacral massage or "sound therapy." <br><br>Perhaps the best known of the healing centers is Las Pirámides, (502) 205 7151, where visitors typically settle in for a several-week-long course of meditation, vegetarian meals or juice fasting, or - for the hard core - a 40-day period of total silence.<br><br>More up my alley are the classes and good but inexpensive massages offered under the banana trees and orchid-laden jocote trees at the healing center of Casa Azul, run by an energetic young expatriate pair, who also sell a range of delicious organic snacks, and at La Paz, the vegetarian hostel that caters to the younger crowd...</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>
