Blogs from Lago de Atitlán, Western Highlands, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 7

The last four days have flown by with all sorts of events. We arrived at Posada Santiago after a shuttle ride from Chichicastenango along the Pan American Highway (which I have always wanted to see) and then negotiating a boat across the Lake from the hub of Panajachel to the pier at the posada - quite an evolution with our cases! It was New Years Eve and preparations were feverishly underway. It was the owner's birthday and he had invited all the guests to celebrate with him and lots of local friends. Another gathering of people from all over the world with stories to tell - great! The dinner was 7 courses , each with a different wine. Live music and sporadic dancing, wonderfully relaxed and fun. A boat was booked to take us all out ... read more

Hallo zusammen Nach Antigua sind wir zum Lake Atitlan. Das ist ein wunderschoener See, umzingelt von Vulkanen und kleine Doerfer. Wir haben Santa Cruz ausgewaehlt. Das Hostel La Iguana Perdida (www.laiguanaperdida.com) kann ich wirklich empfehlen. Relaxte Leute, feines Essen und direkt am See! Von dort aus haben wir dann verschiedene Ausfluege gemacht, unter anderem haben wir Pedro (ein Guide) kennen gelernt, der mit uns eine kleine Sonnenuntergangstour gemacht hat. War wunderschoen! Wir verabredeten uns dann gleich auch fuer den naechsten Tag um die Sonnenaufgangstour zu machen. Um 05.45Uhr gings los, als die Sonne aufstieg, tauchte sie den See und die Umgebung in ein sanftes Licht, es war wunderschoen! Die Aussicht war einfach fantastisch! Nach ca. 1 1/2h erreichten wir dann den Gipfel (also es war ganz schoen anstrengend :-)), dort hatte ein Bauer (Juan), der Pedro ... read more

From Las Ninas One of the many things I love is a baby. I think I met one of the cutest babies Friday morning! As you will read in later in this blog, my Mom had a homebirth experience where she never actually met little baby Antonio. She contacted the midwife, Juana, to see if she could meet the baby and see the family again. Juana had been visiting this family and bathing the mother and baby for seven days since Antonio had been born and Friday was the eighth and final day. This day is called “The Last Bath”. She invited Mom to meet the baby on this day and Mom invited me. The family lived in a concrete house with a metal roof and from what I could see, it was small and dirty. ... read more

Reflections from Las Ninas Our School If there is one thing I learned in our second week in Guatemala it is that learning a new language is exhausting! I think it is fair to say that all of us have really good teachers! My teacher’s name is Elvira, Leigh’s teacher is Benedicto, my dad’s teacher is Maria, and my mom’s teacher is Fredie The school is right on the lake with gravel walkways leading to the different classrooms. It is all outside with two buildings on the property. Both buildings have a little patio that has a cover so you can have class there. Also there are two little huts with wooden tables and stools that don’t have walls but have a straw roof. They are fun to learn in! On my first day I ... read more

Today we spent our last morning at Casa Del Mundo and had our last jump off the balcony. Then we were off to Panajachel and Solola. Panajachel is the main tourist jumping off point for Lake Atitlan, which is apparent from the large market. The market clearly caters to locasl with huge baskets of creepy dried fish and tourists with abundant Mayan crafts. Here, they embrace aggressive selling tactics as seen in the photo with Ryan. Solola is a very authentic modern Mayan town, with a very unique cemetery. Our visit coincided with their annual fair which made for quite an experience. I never expected to see a merry-go-round assembled outside the entrance to a graveyard. “The hand cranked ferris wheel was one of the more thrilling and scary rides” Ryan been on in a while. ... read more