No Shortage of Excitement!

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Now where was I? In Gaut City I think, waiting for Rachelle and Vitaliy to arrive, which they did, and only one day late! The next morning (Tuesday), our shuttle picked us up as promised. The trip to Lago Atitlan and the Town of Palajachel was uneventful, except that it is a very winding road up and down the mountain sides, and takes quite a while to navigate. When we arrived, we learned that we needed transportation to our home stay, and so obtained a ride in a small Toyota truck. My back was killing me, so they let me ride in the front and carried most of my luggage. The home we stayed in is located on a cliffside overlooking the lake - quite a view. But the road dead ends there so they had to take down two stands of barb wire fence for the driver to turn around in the small yard. After a short rest we were called to the kitchen for supper. It was the home of the Home Stay program organizer, and he speaks quite a bit of English. When we got to the kitchen, his wife and his moher were busy getting the fire heated up (wood) in the stove to cook the tacos. Both Rachelle and Vitaliy tried their hand at that, while I accepted the position of taster and photographer!

Supper consisted of rice and beans, with tacos of course, and a hot drink made of corn, sugar and cinnamon which is quite good (I cannot seem to remember the name of it but Rachelle does!) The house is on several levels on the hillside sloping away from the lake, with our rooms being on the lower level. There was a grandmother living there, and a little girl who really took to Rachelle (6 years old). There were also other family members passing through: the organizer´s father had supper with us, his brother appeared for a time, and three nephews as well were around when we arrived and went through the yard on their way to school in the morning. After supper we hiked up to the top of the hill, about a 15 minute climb, and saw the view from there.

The beds were not fancy, but adequate, and we are thinking of going back there on Saturday, as we arrived too late on Wednesday to go to the nature reserve, and our bus to Xela passes through Panajachel anyway. We would then go to Xela on Sunday afternoon and the kids will return to Gaut City by express bus on Tuesday as originally planned.

As for today, it was quite an experience. We caught a shuttle this morning near the house, but it was quite full and the folding seat I had was not very comfortable on those ever winding roads. As we arrived at Chichi at the famous market, Rachelle ahd a gall bladder attack and was in a lot of pain. It re-occurred several times while we shopped, though she had taken medication for it. Still, we managed to acquire a few souvenirs, and caught our bus to Antigua. This time we were last on again, as it was a different bus and in a somewhat different location to which we had to walk. Luckily my back was a lot better today, though still sore. Rachelle and I both got folding seats. So did Vitaliy, but up beside thedriver, and over the motor so that there was no leg room at all except folded against the dash. Then they picked up two more people who managed to squeeze in somehow, one in the well on the entry.

Many mountains and valleys and curves later, we encountered road costruction (again). Suddenly much of the windshield was smashed in, with a rock falling on a truck and landing in Vitaliy´s lap! The rock was about a foot across, and the hole it left in the widow was about two feet high and a foot wide, though narrower at top and bottom. Luckily no one was seriously hurt, with Vitaliy suffering some cuts on his arm. But there were glass particles everywhere, including in our hair and clothes. The driver pulled off at a rather posh restaurant and we were able to use the washroom. Then he got some plastic and taped it over the worst portion of the windshield. It was no surprise that the patch lasted only a very short time. So we made the last hour of the trip with the wind blowing straight in on us and the driver straining to see through the plastic or around the edge of it. Needless to say, the company offers no compensation.

One here in Antigua, we again had to walk about 4 blocks to our hostel. But our room seems comfortable, we found a good restaurant recommended to me by the woman I sat beside the last leg of the trip (her husband and her spend a lot of time here but are Americans). After that we had a walk through the central park, quite nice, and found a huge local crafts store stuill open. By then fatigue was setting in so we headed back to our hostel. And since there was a computer with itnernet connection in the lobby, we´ve taken advatage of it. But now its time to call it a day. I almost chickened out on the volcano climb tomorrow (overnight) but there are no rooms available here and my deposit is paid, so I guess I´m going.

If I survive that, I´ll tell you all about it in a couple of days!

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Comments

[Adrian]

thank you
Enjoying your blogs immensely.aj

[drcc]

Did I do this right LOL
Hi ya Scouter Al!! I hope all is going great for you and everyone. I hope you get this message. I wish everyone a safe and healthy trip. We will be doing lots of reading and following you. Take care my friend, we are all wathing over you.