I would meet you anywhere the western sun meets the air.

Today we walked into town and Natalia, the property manager, was correct about it being a 15-minute walk. What she failed to mention was that it is all hill and not even all uphill so that at the end of the day you have an easy lope home. It was a relatively pleasant walk although I take seven steps to Chris's every one so I had a lot of catching up to do.

The edge of town was like the edge of most things, both ephemeral and eerie because for a moment you are neither here nor there but really just in between. The roads are all either cobblestone or dirt and I'm glad I brought some gym shoes; it is agonizing and amazing watching the women navigate the stones in high heels.

Chris mentioned yesterday that the outfits the people wear belie their poverty and it is true. Their tapestries are so beautiful and so rich in color, majestic really with the reds and blues and purples everywhere you look. The women practice their crafts next to their booths. We saw one woman kneeling on the cobblestones working a small loom who said to us, "I do this day after day."

We walked around town for several hours and saw some neat things... We passed the same school several times and at one point saw music class which met in the courtyard and consisted of drums, bells and trumpets. The children seemed to just play whatever they wanted and we couldn't identify the Guatemalan Chris. I may be partial, but the scene was dear.

We also found ourselves ambling along a trickling riverbed full of people prospecting--many by hand but some with shovels and screens. We were not close enough to see what they were pulling out, but it was interesting nonetheless.

I didn't see any dogs having sex though it would seem that is all they do given the abundance of mangy mutts in the streets. We saw literally dozens of them and while they seemed relatively docile, more than once I thought of Tim Johnson coming up the street in To Kill a Mockingbird. Except that instead of the dog being taken down with a spot-on rifle shot from an incredible distance, Chris and I would both just contract rabies and die horrible deaths. We made it through today, at least, without that happening.

We had breakfast and lunch in town, a place where it is easy to be vegetarian and where--unlike Mexico last summer--there are salads, and we found quite a nice market and bought just the basic supplies: wine, cheese, eggs and chocolate. We took a tuk tuk back to our place (not sure if this is always death defying or if Chris and my combined weight makes it all the more so), which is practically deserted. I saw one person this morning and we saw two others when we returned this afternoon but sat by the pool for some time in the early evening and had the joint to ourselves.

Now Chris is playing his guitar upstairs and I'm settling in to do some writing (the other kind) downstairs and I have him belting out Tear-Stained Eye as my accompaniment. It's a good life.