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Published: July 15th 2006
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Intro to Panajachel
Nicknamed Gringotenango (place of the foreigners) by locals and foreigners alike, Pana is one of Guatemala's oldest tourist hangouts. In the 1960s and 70s, it was crowded with laid-back travelers in semipermanent exile. When the civil war made it dangerous in the late 70s and 80s, many moved on. But he town's tourist industry is booming again and has spread to lakeside villages. Several different cultures mingle on Panajachel's dusty streets. Ladinos and gringos control the tourist industry. The Cakchiquel and Tz'utuhil Maya from surrounding villages come to sell their handicrafts to tourists. Lakeside-villa owners drive up on weekends from Guatemala City. Tour groups descend on the town by bus for a few hours or overnight. The town itself is a small, unattractive place that has developed haphazardly, but you need only go down to the lake shore to understand why Pana attracts so many visitors.
Our Experience
We arrived in Panajachel in the late afternoon, found a really nice place to stay, and walked around for a bit. Lago de Atitlan is amazing. The lake is bordered by sloping volcanoes, and it isn't crowded at all. We walked down the town's main pedestrian street all the way down to the water, got some great pictures, and relaxed. Lila thinks that the lake at El Remate (Lago de Peten Itza) is nicer; I'm still deciding. Both are amazing.
We ate at a restaurant on the water and watched the sun set behind the hills and volcanoes - a really great sight. We then made our way back along the main street, found a great internet cafe where could upload our pictures quickly, and finally made it to bed for our trip to Chichicastenango early the next morning...
Intro to Chichicastenango
Surrounded by valleys, with nearby mountains looming overhead, Chichicastenango seems isolated from the rest of Guatemala. When its narrow cobbled streets and red tiled roofs are enveloped in mists, it seems magical. Chichi is a beautiful, interesting place with shamanistic and ceremonial undertones despite gaggles of camera-toting tour groups. Mashenos (citizens of Chichicastenango) are famous for their adherence to pre-Christian religious beliefs and ceremonies. You can readily see versions of these old rites in and around the Iglesia de Santo Tomas and at the shrine of Pascual Abaj on the outskirts of town. Chichi has always been an important trading town, and its Sunday and Thursday markets remain fabulous.
Our Experience
We were just able to catch the first 7:30AM chicken bus to Chichi from Panajachel and arrived around 9AM. Since it was Thursday, the market in Chichicastenango was open and in full swing, so we were happy to get an early start. We grabbed a solid
breakfast right outside the market and then headed in. It was incredible. The streets were crammed with stalls of locals peddling their wares while other vendors simply walked around draped in their products trying to sell to anyone who would listen. All of the stalls had roofs of some sort, so while we were walking around, we were essentially under a cover all the time. It turned into a huge maze with tourist type products on the outskirts and food and items oriented towards the needs of the locals in the heart of the market. Lila managed to navigate it impressively; I made myself useful with a steady stream of money conversions.
Both of us managed to find something we liked at what appeared to be a reasonable price. The vendors start out by offering astronomical prices for their items, but they come down very quickly if you don't immediate say you'll take it. I found that in general, they would come down to less than half of their original price if you kept saying no. I actually bought a small item for 25% of the price the guy had first quoted me. The funny part is I still
really don't have any idea if I got a good deal or not, but everything seemed fairly cheap for what it was.
After walking around for hours, we sat down on the steps of a church in the middle and slightly above the market and got some great pictures. Seeing the market from above was a great sight: endless makeshift tents and tin roofs. We relaxed here for a bit, and finally made our way back to the chicken buses for the bumpy yet scenic trip back to Panajachel.
Back to Panajachel
We got back from Chichicastenango around 4PM, took a well-deserved nap, grabbed some dinner, and uploaded more pictures at the cafe we had found the previous day.
The next morning we decided to take a boat tour of Lago de Atitlan. It cost US $8 to visit three lakeside villages via boat. We walked down to the docks at 9AM, bought our ticket, ate a quick breakfast of yogurt, and departed Panajachel at around 9:30AM. Our first stop was San Pedro. San Pedro is the second largest lakeside town set against an enormous volcano (Volcan San Pedro, of course). It also has a plethora of
Spanish language schools. We spent our time exploring the city and climbing some rocks for a great view of the lake.
From San Pedro, our boat/shuttle took us to Santiago. It was Santiago's Friday Market and the town was abuzz with activity. The market was not geared towards tourists but rather towards the everyday needs of the locals. Tons of things were for sale: food,CDs, hair clips, shoes, twine, etc. It was absolutely loco! After walking around for a bit we sat down at a small restaurant and had a quick lunch. We are often approached by children asking us for "un quetzal para mi" (translated: one quetzal for me)... however in Chichi we had been approached by a boy who, after asking for a quetzal, asked us for "una lapiz para escuela" (translated: one pencil for school). If we had a pencil, we definitely would have given it to him. In the market earlier, Joe had noticed a stand with pencils for sale so we decided to purchase some and hand them out to children we see in the streets. I think if you are going to spoil a child, giving them a pencil for school is the
way to do it!
After lunch, we had a long boat ride to San Antonio (I slept and Joe... um... sat). At Santiago we walked into a local shop with an amazing loom. Almost exactly like the one my mother has. In the shop, a Mayan woman styled my hair for me. Joe enjoyed watching. He thought it looked kind of neat. I thought it looked kind of ridiculous... but it was fun. After the shopping, we bought a couple of Diet Cokes and sat on the steps of the city's cathedral and enjoyed a magnificent view of the lake. After visiting Santiago, our boat tour took us back to Panajachel. For the ride home, Joe and I sat on the roof of the boat. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the mountains were beautiful - it was a great way to spend a day!
After our boat tour we took a nap and then had dinner. At dinner we were approached by a 12 year old girl selling her wares (scarves, hair ties, etc). She was extremely intelligent and spoke excellent English (which she had cleverly picked up from tourists). Her name was Michaela, and
she reminded me very much of the young boys my family and I met on the streets of Cuzco many years ago. I offered her 5 quetzales for a hairband which she took... without giving me the hairband. She hung around for a bit, and I finally just told her she could keep the quetzales (approx. 70 cents) and the hairband. She immediately accepted (and I told her she was very smart). Before she left, I decided to put the 5 quetzales she had in her possession to good use and asked her to pose for a picture with me.
After dinner and my experience with Micheala, Joe and I played around on the internet (and were quite disturbed to read about the recent developments in the Middle East... terribly upsetting). To end the day, we read up on the trip from Panajachel to Guatemala City to El Salvador and then went to bed.
Up Next...
Entering El Salvador! See you on the flip side!
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