Blogs from San Pedro La Laguna, Western Highlands, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 9

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Our trip to Lago de Atitlan was really great--except for the shuttle bus ride up there. We had to pick up a lot of people before leaving Antigua, the seating was uncomfortable, and the roads very windy. But we arrived safe and sound in Panajachel and then took a boat across the lake to San Pedro, where Margie's two friends were waiting for us. Our dormitory room in a lakeside hotel run by a Spanish couple had a view of the lake and was large and comfortable, and we spent the weekend "chilling out". It was so nice to see the scenery and to get away from the pollution of Antigua's chicken buses and cars. There are mountains all around the lake, and it´s an idlyllic spot for a weekend. The town where we stayed, San ... read more
Explaining weaving
Making petetes (mats)
Making tortillas


alright, considering my last blog attempt did not work out very well, i hope that this will all work out. so, last week we met with a businessman here in Xela who does development work with small businesses. he had a really interesting perspective on how guatemala needs development, but that often entails sacrificing culture and environmental rights, but so often those are the sacrifices that need to be made in order to have economic stability but more importantly economic growth. but he was specultating that within the next four years or so, guatemala will have the #1 tourism industry in the americas. right now costa rica is the reigning champion but guatemala is really coming along fast and he believes that it will take the top the list soon enough. he had mentioned how the ... read more
view from back of a motor boat
crooked volcano shot
funny little cloud chugging along


San Pedro is a little nice village where most people may spend only a day or so, yet it was hard for me to get out of there. I went there for a day trip but stayed two weeks .... Some of the turists stay for couple of weeks to learn spanish on side. The locals are Mayans and let turists to integrate easily. If you get there, go to Santa Clara and walk the mountain to watch the sun rise. We walked it at 4 in the morning. The sun rise view felt like looking at paradise and if I was looking at my deepest dreams. San Pedro thought me to be easy and also showed me the skill of doing nothing. After 40 years, I learnt what it means to relax! Kind of virging ... read more
San Pedro at Sun Rise


Half day in San Pedro Today I worked again moving dirt. It was a half-day since it is a Saturday. So for the second half I decide to go to San Pedro de La Laguna. It is a small lake-side town on the other side of the lake from Panajachel. The boat ride costs Q20 ($2.50) and takes 40 or so minutes. I had heard great things about San Pedro but I didn't really like it that much. The two different hostels that I was going to stay at were both booked and I wasn't seeing anything worth staying for so I decided to head back that night. I know that if I had stayed the night-time might have been a lot more interesting than the day-time but I decided against it. There weren't many ... read more


Heerlijk aan het genieten in Guatemala, Lago de Atitlan, een van de mooiste plekken ooit geweest! Wil even de goede spirit doorgeven aan het koude Amsterdam! Gewoon wat foto´s... ¡Salud, hasta luego!... read more
Cañon de Sumidero Chiapas
Panajachel
Aapie


I have a new favorite sport: watching Mayan kids chase hippies. The realization came when two granola munching burnouts were trying to pick fruit to supliment their "living off the land" lifestyle, forgeting, as hippies do, that the actual owners would like to live off the land as well... anyhow the local 12 year olds were having none of their "you can't OWN the trees man!" argument, and so chased them over the property line. I dug it. Mostly because this place is overrun by hippies, and after only one day I grow weary of tie dye and the constant drone of drum circles. I am in San Pedro la Laguna, where the 60s came to die. Still, it feels nice. Most of the last 3 days were spent on the bathroom floor, so this is ... read more


...or rather, they don't. I had grand plans of catching the 3am bus to Guatemala city on Monday, getting a long way into Honduras before overnighting, and reaching Utilla on Tuesday with plenty of time to organise diving for Wednesday. When it came to it, however, I wanted to say goodbye to everyone and so I lingered over breakfast, reaching the bus stop with 15 minutes to spare before the 11 o'clock bus. If there had been an 11 o'clock bus. I was told the next bus was at 12, although it didn't actually arrive until 12.40. It then stopped 30 minutes later to tell us that becuase there weren't enough people, we'd have to get off and wait for the 2pm. This didn't arrive until 2.30. We then ran into numerous traffic jams and construction, ... read more


I had uhmed and ahed about returning to San Pedro for the full moon party, trying to reason with myself that I didn´t really have time, and that it wasn´t remotely on the way to the Bay Islands from San Salvador. In the end, common sense could not prevail, and the draw of seeing everyone again proved too great. From San Salvador I travelled to oban, spent a day at Lanquin, visiting the caves before returning to the little bit of Guatemala I had fallen in love with. The grutes at Lanquin were impressive to say the least. As you enter, to start with there are lights and walkways but they gradually peter out until you are scrambling over muddy rocks in total darkness. Knowing my propensity for getting lost in famous places (the Taj Mahal, ... read more


Back at the lake again (they say once you´ve seen it you´ll always come back). The entry on the mountain school is on the way . . . will get onto it. Initially arrived here with two American friends - Hayley and Thompson - from the school. We went to the biggest market in Guatemala, Chichicastenango on Sunday and then chicken bused the last hour here. Having found a place for 1.50 euro a night (with hot shower!) we went out for some drinks in Zoola which is basically the most chilled out place ever (as is the whole town really, you may remember I biked here three weeks ago). You lie around in this huge straw hut on cushions on the ground. Its so chilled out it takes an hour for them to process your ... read more


Well...we arrived in San Pedro on the 26th November with the intention of staying for a couple of days and ended up staying for a week. Partly because yvonne had a sore back and partly because it was pretty cool there. We didn´t do a lot but it was nice to relax for a while. The climate was good, not too hot and certainly not too cold in the evening...great food...and everything's so cheap here! Our hotel (Nahual Maya) was Q100 a night, around 9 Euro, for a nice, clean double room with own bathroom. For an extra Q25 we could have had a TV but we decided against it. We've been watching way too much CSI the last 4 weeks, haha, and I'm sick of carrying my unread books around me. Additionally we hung out ... read more
hangin at the hotel
riding 1
riding 2




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