May Day

It's Labor Day in Guatemala -- a national holiday.  Antigua is supposed to be the site of a fairly big celebration/parade.  A few articles I've seen indicate that it can get pretty political, with indigenous workers -- primarily women -- protesting strenuously against both economic conditions and what they perceive to be the militarization of their national security policy.

I'm just hoping for ringside seats and a few pictures.

But it's gonna' be a hot one, folks, with a UV index in the "ridiculous" range.  Will dig out my sunblock, wear my floppy hat, and represent Management enthusiastically, today :-)

Donald and I now have separate hotel rooms.  Unbeknownst to him, apparently, he snores like an Evinrude outboard motor.

I slept ... virtually not at all, last night, despite a pair each of Benadryl and Ambien.

Very difficult to describe the physical sensation of being awake and wired while on these meds.  Must be what a shot of adrenaline does to a body that's in cardiac arrest.

Without the whole "we got him back" thing ;-)

The cognoscenti will know that ... sleep deprivation, leading to a whole host of medical problems ... is the pathogenesis of this entire trip ... this whole saga.

"Never again."

And it's my birthday, tomorrow.  The big 4-9.  I'll likely stay in Antigua a few more days.  May seek out a massage, or some other way to try to reboot my system.  I'd like to have a couple of good nights' sleep on board before deciding which way I will go, next.

I'm constrained by weather/climate ... more than anything else.  The Latin American rainy season seems to start in June, but leaves May iffy.  Extended rain, for days on end, would be a real spanner in the works.

Yikes.  I wrote "spanner."  It's happening to me !

But I can fly.  I can take first class buses.  I can throw the WHOLE plan out (sort of) and head down to Chile or Argentina or Montevideo.

I just like the name "Montevideo."

Always have.

This tightrope -- the one on which I walk -- is amazingly taut, and the thickness of dental floss.

Unwaxed.

Floss -- not tape ;-)

Despite the continued (mostly) 60+% humidity in Antigua ... a few nights' sleep disturbed ... imbalances the whole system.

My ocular alignment goes out (double vision).  That throws off my basic coordination (eg, walking on cobblestone streets).

The humidity no longer serves as an effective barrier to the ocular surface stuff.  Not quite sure why, but ... presumably ... some link between fatigue and neuropathic pain.

Okay: Article.

Score one for not making huge intuitive leaps :-)

So it's 9:15am.  No church bells.  All is well in Antigua.

Ciao for now, then, from the minimally sleep-infested waters of ... The Gulag.