Lake Atitlan

These last couple of days have been a whirlwind of traveling, visiting, and new experiences. Friday morning we got up as early as we could manage, which ended up being around 6:30 am and made our way to the street that the camionetas come up. We then took s string of different camionetas from one town to the next ( I believe we went from Patzun to the Inter-American Highway, to Los Encuentros, to Solala, to Pana). The roads that we travels were all winding roads through and around mountains, so got a nice workout trying to stay in my seat as the bus whizzed around one corner and twisted around the next. At one point it got so foggy up in the mountains I was afraid that the driver wouldn’t realize that there was a turn and that this blog entry would have never came to be, but alas, all the turns were completed successfully. The view from the camioneta was breath taking. The lake surrounded on all sides by a mix mountains and volcanoes was like nothing I had seen before. Once in Pana we went to one of Lydia’s favorite stores to get mate and a croissant (best baked good I had all trip). We arrived at the dock to board the vessel that would carry us to our proposed destination, San Marcos. Our boat was called the Titanic, which didn’t give me much confidence, but we made it, fruits, vegetables, chickens and all. As we walk along the narrow walkways of San Marcos we saw more and more places of yoga, meditation, and hypnosis, and began to think that we might want to reconsider staying on that part of the lake. We did have lunch there at a nice little restaurant that unfortunately had run out of fruit earlier that morning and did not have a cook there that could make the stuffed chicken on the menu, which was a bit of a disappointment, but not the end of the world. While we waited for our food we had a rousing game of bananagrams (which I dominated of course, Lydia was only saved by the arrival of our food). Having seen another hostel on the way that looked like a nice place to stay (and it was lake front, which was a plus), we decided to re-board a boat and head for the Iguana Perdida (the other hostel). This turned out to be one of the two best decisions of the trip. At the new hostel we found better rooms for cheaper (with an additional Peace Corps discount), a better view of the awesome volcanoes, and we ran into a few PCV’s that were also staying there. After a quick dip in the lake (very quick, it was beyond chilly), we went on a bit of a hike with the other PCV’s with objective to find the place with the hot tub. It was a beautiful scenic hike along the side of a mountain overlooking the lake. We found the place with the hot tub, it wasn’t a hotel really, but more like a restaurant, pool, hot tub, and bar that was owned by people who lived above it. It is hard to explain, but it was one of the most beautiful places I have been in Guatemala, if not the most. We had a wonderful relaxing afternoon followed by a delicious family style dinner back at our hostel and that was followed by a competitive trivia night, in which my team came in second place (we beat Lydia’s team which was as good as first place for me). It was a very strange experience to spend time in a place with so many foreigners who spoke English. All of the restaurants and hostels that we went into were owned and operated by English speaking individuals, which was a strangely unsettling feeling after growing accustomed dealing mainly with Guatemalans. The next morning we again rose as early as possible, (this time being 7:00 am), and started our journey back to Patzun. By the time we arrived at Lydia’s street, my knees were sufficiently sore from been pushed up against the metal seat backs of the camionetas (which were clearly not made with people of my size in mind. By the time we made it back to the house we were very late for a Quincenera that we had been invited to. This normally would have been a bad thing, but we still made it in time for one hour of the three hour evangelical church service. The girl it was for was all dressed up in this princess looking outfit and there was a huge wedding cake looking cake, but all pink and princess like. After the end of the service we were introduced to the family of the birthday girl, who were very accepting for having a complete stranger at their party. It was great for me to be able to get to observe another example of how family oriented the Guatemalan culture is. This evening I got another taste of the family culture at a meal with Lydia’s host family. It was great to get to know them better, help them cook, and enjoy their company. It was a great weekend to cap off an amazing trip. I can’t believe it is coming to an end. I’m going to miss Guatemala and all of the wonderful people I have met here. And I’m especially going miss spending time with my sister.