We went on a trip to Lake Atitalan last weekend. It’s a premier tourist destination, and it’s easy to see why: georgeous volcanic lake surrounded by green mountains. Warm, clean water. Nice. Here’s Emily checking out the sunset.

The place where we stayed is a dive-training outfit, one of the few places where you can do altitude diving without a drysuit or saltwater. They also cater to backpackers, and have some pretty nice and affordable (and rustic) accommodations.

But the coolest thing that happened was running into Bill, a traveller from Washington. He’s my age, and I spent most of the weekend talking to him- he served in the Peace Corps in Kenya in the 90’s, doing the same project we are doing here. The parallels between his experience and mine are eerie, and a good opportunity for comparative analysis. He travels regularly, and his interestes are simliar to mine, as well- outdoor youth development (he worked years for Outward Bound). He currently works in the Outdoor program at Washington State. But what really drew me to Bill is his striking resemblance (physically and personality) to one of my bestest buddies, HT.