From paradise to paradise...

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We enjoyed the morning in Antigua with tipico breakfast (eggs, black beans and plaintains), before heading out to the plaza for a couple of hours. We had to pack for three nights and the hotel owner was kind enough to let us leave the rest of our stuff there.

A mini-van picked us up from the hotel and there were various folks in it, including two rastafari from England. (seriously, odd characters) The ride was breathtaking, both because we went fast and passed on blind curves, and also because the landscape was incredible. We will let the photographs speak for themselves. The really amazing thing is that people have to walk far, carrying heavy things, in the hot sun, and somehow seem laugh and smile all the while.

After hours on the road, we arrived at Panajachel, a town on Lake Atitlan, a tourist trap but where you can catch boats to take you to the various other places on the lake. We just missed the “public” boat by minutes and the next would not be leaving for hours, so we had to haggle for a private one. See photos of ride across lake.

After quite the bumpy ride across the lake (it is NOT our friends’ “Jalapeno” (love ya Tim and Kathy!)) we made it to the hotel Bambu. This was the hotel chosen by our last hotel owner. It is an “eco” hotel, and for whatever that means here, the gardens are beautiful. It is right on the lake. The clerk took us to our room - - Number One - - the BEST view here. We feel blessed. Windows opened, rustling lake breezes, hummingbirds and other good sounds are all around. See photos. It is very hard to explain with words.

Just around the lake is the town of Santiago which we will explore tomorrow.

Tonight, we met various people here to do mission work for the new hospital. They were really nice and asked us to come up and see them tomorrow. In any event, dinner was spaghetti Bolognese. It apparently is quite popular here. After a short dinner, we headed back to the most awesome bungalow ever! (Pictures, tomorrow) This is a perfect place to enjoy a perfect view and soak up nature…

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Comments

[Sandra]

Enjoy
Loved the write-up and the pictures of the day. Have fun.

[Sandra]

Enjoy
Loved the write-up and the pictures of the day. Have fun.

[Sandra]

Enjoy
Loved the write-up and the pictures of the day. Have fun.

[Sandra]

Enjoy
Loved the write-up and the pictures of the day. Have fun.

[Marvin]

REMEMBER
Clay and Ann, as you might know, I´ve been checking your pictures, I think you have captured the essence of the western part of Guate. I´m a guatemalan living in Houston. I was raised in Pana. and we have family in Santiago. Close were you are staying my father had a house. we enjoyed traveling from Pana to Santiago every now and then to visit our relatives. If you walk to the right were you are staying on the shores of the lake, and walk around, you will get to a preservation site, right on front of an island and volcano, you might want to stroll around an venture finding that place. there is a nice beach called el arenal, tell the guide to take you there, you will really enjoy it. Thank you for being so nice to guatemalans. In Pana you might wanna check hotel Atitlan for its gardens, and close to there there is another park where you will see spider monkeys, a water fall and a zip line.

[Clay and Ann]

Remember
It is so nice to hear something very personal in reponse to our blog. It puts things in good perspective for us. We love Guatemala!