Tecpan and Panajachel

We picked up Lydia and company in the morning and made our way to Tecpan. An hour and a half later, we arrived and went straight to the cemetery to visit my grandfather´s grave (my mom´s dad).

Afterwards, we kept going for another two hours to Panajachel. We arrived around 2pm, and would have arrived earlier, had it not been for the construction on the highway and the directional signs being removed as a result. We passed up the Panajachel exit by like 30 to 40 minutes, and had to make our way back, so we lost valuable time there.

And then once we did arrive, we were starving so had to take time out to eat. Once we were done eating and ready to go, it was 3pm. Our options were limited as to what to do at that point, so we decided to take a prívate boat ride across Lake Atitlan to Santa Catalina and San Antonio. We would have preferred to go to Santiago, but it was too far (two hours to just get there and back) and it was already late.

We bought some things in Santa Catalina and then we hadn´t stepped foot on San Antonio for more than 5 minutes before we had to run back to the boat because it started to pour. We went back to the Panajachel side and straight to the hotel.

Ah, the now infamous hotel. We stayed at a government resort called, Casa Contenta, which means Happy Home. I think we can all vouch that it was anything but.

My cousin-in-law, Mike, who works for the government, acquired two bungalows for our one-night stay in Pana for free. To his credit, he hadn´t been at the place since they remodeled it many, many years ago. So we were all surprised when we walked into our rooms.

They were in bad shape - you could tell no one really took the time to keep them nice and clean and up to par. There was mold all over the shower, so everyone made it clear they weren´t showering the next morning. And no one wanted to sleep in the beds for fear bugs or mosquitos biting us.

It was an uncomfortable situation, but somehow we ended up laughing our asses off and finding the humour in things. They kept making fun of me because I was the only one with a small luggage while everyone else had small bags or backpacks - they kept teasing me that I was thinking I was spending the night at the Quinta Real (equivalent of the Fairmont or Peninsula) and instead I was spending the night in a shack.

And we kept teasing Mike, because he was the only one to brave taking a shower that night (and the next morning, I may add). My cousin Dinora (his wife) kept telling him to not even touch her because of his moldy shower cooties.

And we laughed at the beds - we had two bunkbeds - and how Mike couldn´t climb onto the top bunk for the life of him (not even with the help of a chair), and how the entire structure creaked and swayed in the process and how we thought he was going to fall on top of my Aunt Miriam (his mom-in-law) who was in the bottom bunk.

It was the pee-in-your-pants, your stomach hurts, kind of laughter. It was a sucky situation, but also a fun one. I love moments like those with my family. They´re the moments you will always remember.

Lydia, Max, Ivy and Fabi spent the night in one bungalow with the lights on, and the rest of us slept in another bungalow. But the only ones who really slept were Diego, my Aunt and Mike. The morning couldn´t come soon enough.

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