Blogs from Lago de Atitlán, Western Highlands, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean

After a week in Xela, I decided that I needed to do something a little different for the weekend before starting Spanish classes. And where better to begin my Guatemalan travels than Lago de Atitlan, which everybody here has been raving about since I arrived? I got up early and caught the microbus to Minerva terminal, where various helpful drivers directed me to the bus to Panajachel. It was a forty minute wait on the bus, during which time vendors scrambled on and off, pushing up and down selling ice creams, sweets, tortillas, newspapers, drinks and essentially anything else portable. The journey took a few hours, then from Panajachel I caught a tuk-tuk to La Reserva Natural Atitlan. This is a privately owned park set in secondary forest over a coffee plantation. Trails across the hillside ... read more

Blog 8 Adios, Atitlán We are approaching the end of our idyll here on the world's most beautiful lake. We have a thick vine of orchid flowers on our terrace, and every evening tiny hummingbirds come to feast on the nectar just as night is falling. All day long we hear exotic bird calls, and sometimes we spot the birds they belong to. And there is always the deep blue Lake Atitlán in the background. Today we met the owner of Hotel Bambú; he was dressed in work clothing and was out with the gardeners who keep the grounds here so immaculate. This explains a lot. He is a govenment official of some kind, but his heart is in landscape gardening. It will be so easy for it all to go to hell when he is ... read more

We left our wonderful $55 per night hotel in Antigua (Posada La Merced), and came by van with several other turistas to the town of Panajachel on Lake Atitlan. It was a pretty nice drive through little Guatemalan towns that almost crowded onto the road, interspersed with long stretches of the verdant Guatemalan countryside. We rose fairly steadily at first into the Western Highlands , a winding highway, up and down, for about two and a half hours until we caught our first glimpse of Atitlan. It lies in the caldera of an ancient supervolcano , fed by several small rivers, but having no outlet to the sea. Someday it will be a salty lake, but not yet; it is still young, only about a million and a half years old. In the years after the ... read more

So we have done so much in such a short time that I can only list the key points. Between Flores and Antigua we stayed in the jungle for a few days at a place called Lanquin. We did not have internet and electricty and water were intermittent. We went to a place called Semuc Champey which is a natural limestone bridge which has caused a serious of natural infinity pools stepping down in the mountains. The modes of transport we encounter as we travel deeper into Guatemala are becoming increasingly interesting. There is definately no Spanish phrase for 'I'm sorry this vehicle is full' We were transported to Semuc in a pick up truck. In the back. In tropical rain. About 30 of us. For an hour. On an unpaved mountain dirt track. With 500 ... read more

We wake early, with the sunrise, and unfortunately, my injury has morphed into something seeming more eggplant-like than foot-like overnight. I can only move by doing a series of leaps from one piece of sturdy furniture to another, and by lunchtime I have invented several new walking techniques. There is the club foot swagger, for when I am trying to move quickly, and the pogo-stick shuffle for when my foot is in extra pain and cannot handle any pressure at all. And so Sunday passes, with me lying low in the casita, and Brian going out into the world to explore a bit (but mostly just to pick up some ibuprofen). But the sun is shining and the breeze cool, and the water is perfect for dangling your feet into, and so in spite of my ... read more

We had another beautiful morning at Lake Atitlan. We did not hurry, but instead opened the door to our room and listened to all of the morning sounds - - birds, bees, fishing canoes being launched, and the early morning chatter of the hospital mission folks. We walked around so Clay could take photos of all of the flowers; those that know him, know that he cannot help himself. You will want to frame some for yourself! After Clay was done exploring nature, we decided to again travel into Santiago to the market to walk around. Clay wanted to get some of the pants that the locals wear and we needed lunch. He was brutal when haggling for the pants. Although we both know that ALL the local men wear the pants and therefore they cannot ... read more