My Nomad Diary, Week 14: Tackling Burnout
Moments from the week:
Enjoying a slower pace of life
Remembering the importance of good sleep
My favourite places this week:
Hello Monday! So, at the end of last week, I crossed the lake and headed to San Pedro La Laguna, for a bit more peace and quiet from Panajachel, which was just too much. There’s still a bit of a party vibe here but a fraction of the amount of people and at some parts of the day, it’s almost like a ghost town.
I’m staying at a Spanish school for a week, and get this… for $280 I have a week of private accommodation in a 1-bed studio with bathroom and kitchenette and 20 hours of private lessons. TWENTY HOURS. If you divvied that up 50/50 I’m basically paying $20 a night for a studio and $7 an hour for private lessons. That’s wild.
First day in the bank, but damn, 4-hours of one-to-one lessons is exhausting. I learnt a lot but I am shattered. For somebody that never thinks before they speak, having to do it for four hours is tough 😅
Finished the day with a movie night at the school with other students… really good film by the way: Instructions Not Included, I’m sure there’s a dubbed version in English, but it’s so worth watching in Spanish with English subtitles, and about a quarter of it is in English anyway. Great film.
Day two of Spanish school… oh man, I really, really needed this week. I’m getting back into a routine again, walking, eating healthy (tacos are healthy, right?), doing focused work… just feeling great, really great.
Really got stuck into updating my freelancing website, headed up the hill out of “gringolandia” to see the local side of San Pedro and had a productive second day of Spanish lessons.
Simple yet a great day, here’s hoping the rest of the week continues in this fashion!
Wednesday was a seriously wholesome day… I started by hiking 40 minutes up to the most amazing café I’ve ever sat in “Cafe Panorama”. What was even better is that they have Wi-Fi and a little desk to work from, with the most amazing views I’ve ever seen. Spent about an hour there and grabbed a tuk-tuk back down for a £1 to meet the owner of the Spanish school, René, who is possibly the happiest man I’ve ever met. He took me and another chap for a drive to some old Mayan sites and then to this quirky little resort called Guatitland (a portmanteau of Guatemala, Atítalan and land) which is home to a little restaurant, watersports resort and a farm. Where I took a selfie with a llama and was bitten by a goose. Result. Finished up the day with my daily Spanish class and called it a day.
Feeling a bit fresher for Thursday (was a little wiped out yesterday) and went for a walk to find some more local spots and then headed back to my studio for a morning of focused work. I’ve been putting together a competition of sorts for Channel Islands charities to give them a brand new website, but the great thing is, two professional contacts of mine have also thrown their hat in the ring too, how amazing is that? It’s been a huge pick-me-up and I’m really looking forward to getting this launched. You can see the project, here. Spread the word!
Started to flag at the end of the day and realised that burnout is on the horizon… it’s no surprise really, I’ve been on the road for almost four months now! I realised I was forgetting the basics:
Don’t watch movies in bed
Don’t sleep next to your phone
Wear earplugs and an eye mask
Friday morning arrived and whaddayaknow… I slept like a baby 😂 after a week of sleeping in hostels (where you absolutely need to sleep next to your phone), I’d picked up some bad sleeping habits again and it was really ruining my week. I won’t lie, the past 10 days have been super difficult, but it’s almost entirely down to poor sleep.
I hiked up to my favourite café again, hit my fitness goal before my morning croissant (c’est la vie) and cracked out some emails with a view like this…
Best office yet? I think so.
I have been reflecting on my time here in Central America thus far and I do think I’m going to skip ahead to Colombia after El Salvador next week.
The main pull of Central America are the activities like hiking volcanoes etc, which, under normal circumstances would be heaven, I still can’t run without a treadmill and still haven’t gained back full flexibility in my ankle, which makes climbing super difficult. And for that reason, I’m missing out on 90% of what this region has to offer 😕I’m super excited about Colombia though, I’ve been before and loved it and I have about 6 new places to check out; some are strictly from a tourist perspective (e.g. Cócora Valley) and some are to research quality of life for long-term living when I’m reunited with my doggo later this year (e.g. Bucaramanga).
Anyway, moving on, finished the day with my usual block of Spanish lessons… that’s 20 hours this week 🤯 I’m getting a really solid grasp on the past tense now.
Saturday morning and I treated myself to a lie-in before heading across the lake to San Marco. It has a beautiful nature reserve called Cerro Tzankujil and it was an amazing morning out, walking along the cliffs and watching people diving from the platform into the water. The only drawback to the place is that it’s a gentrified hippie retreat… you know the sort… “let’s unlock your mind’s eye” kinda bollocks. Good lord, I left pretty damn sharpish after the nature reserve.
Back on the boat to San Pedro and my accommodation, caught up on some work from my impromptu outdoor desk (see above) and packed my bags, because tomorrow is moving day.
Final day of the week and we’re at Sunday, it’s time to head back across the lake to the transport hub (read: dump) that is Panajachel and take my 2-3 hour transfer back to Antigua. I’ve splashed out on a hotel for the night as I have a 5-hour transfer tomorrow and a land-border crossing, something I’ve never done, so I’m pretty anxious.
I say splashed out, it was £90, but my normal accommodation budget has a £50 a night limit, so this is super posh by my normal standards.
New country (#31) next week, catch you on the flip side 🫡
