Lakes, Volcanoes and more swimming!

---

After a longer than expected chicken bus journey (a couple of hours and a couple more changes than expected.. it seems to be a pattern in Guatemala!) we finally arrived in Panachel, the largest settlement on Lago Atitlan. It had clouded up a bit and the views of the lake, which is huge and surrounded by volcanoes, were a bit non existent, but we hopped on a boat anyway that would take us to San Marcos, the village we had chosen to stay at. After being spoken to almost entirely in Spanish for a month and a half, it took us a bit by surprise when people came up to us at the dock with phrases such as "you need toilet, toilets are here" and "twenty five quetzals for the boat"! We were well and truely back on the gringo trail, where it seems most native English speakers can´t even manage a "hola" and a "gracias".. hm!

The boat was very rocky as we were heading for a storm, but eventually we made it to San Marcos and stumbled ashore to look for a hostel. We found exactly what we needed, a beautiful room in a little traditional house (that we had entirely to ourselves!) set in a garden full of flowers and a dog! We even had our own private garden which was covered in tiny purple flowers. It was good timing as the heavens opened as soon as we stepped inside! A shower, a great vege tapas meal and a good sleep and we were back as good as new!

The next day we had breakfast in a garden filled with sunshine, flowers, and hummingbirds and then walked along the lake to a spot where you could swim and jump in from the rocks. Compared to the day before, when the lake was choppy, grey and not very appealing, it was now beautifully clear and blue! I jumped in from a rock that was 12 metres high, and Ben (probably sensibly as it hurt a bit!!) stuck to the 6 metre jump which was still pretty high, but more fun!! We had almost run out of cash (with no ATMS in the village) at this point but luckily a restaurant owned by an English guy (and full of US expats) that prided itself on it´s curries accepted our US dollars so we didn´t starve!

Next day we had another swim (Ben deciding to swim rather than walk back to our hostel, I think he was a fish in his past life), and we headed back to chicken bus reality to go to our next destination, Antigua.

This journey was quite possibly the most eventful journey we made in Guatemala. In Pananchel, we waited for a bus for about 20 minutes and sure enough one came along. We were on our way! Rather inconveniently, the bus then went round the town to find more customers. Never mind, we could handle that! It then went back to the original place we had caught it, and parked in an alley. Oh well, we thought, maybe the driver needs the toilet. An hour later, we left, only to drive around the town again! Before we went completely out of our minds, it finally left Pananchel, only to take the long way round to the next town to pick up passengers.

This bus driver had his prayers answered and soon enough the bus was full, but in true chicken bus style, it can never be too full! On buses that are designed to hold school children (ex US school buses) the capacity will be exceded over and over!! 4 to a seat that is built for 2, so if you are lucky enough to get a seat you will either be squashed up against a window or squashed between lots of people... just gotta hope that guy headed in your direction remembered deodorant that morning...! After losing feeling in one half of my body we reached the end of our first journey to change buses. The second bus was even more packed, we managed to squeeze on at the back standing on top of a bag of rice. When people wanted to get off we had to jump off to let them pass, and one time the bus started to drive off with us hanging onto the ladders on the back!! A typical Guatemalan journey, it made us miss the air conditioned coaches of Mexico, but its all part of the fun!

At last we reached Antigua, but it was dark so we followed the first random bloke that came up to us offering us a room, and stayed in a dingy but cheap little hotel, but pretty luxurious as there was a curtain between the toilet and the room!! The next day we found a nice little family run hostel that was much better. The first evening we went to a restaurant that possibly gave me food poisoning, the service was awful and the waiters were too busy fussing over a table next to us so we decided not to tip, but of course they had spotted us coming and put the tip on the bill! So I nicked some loo roll and blew out a candle at the entrance. Haha! They wont mess with us again!!

Next morning we looked round the town, which is very beautiful and colonial, but full of English speaking tourists! Its very unlike the rest of Guatemala as there is no litter to be seen and it is very very clean. Unfortunately by the afternoon I had started to come down with yet another bout of being sick and tummy troubles, so that decided the rest of our stay in Antigua, lots of visiting the toilet, eating crisps, plain pasta and rehydration solution. Gotta love travelling! Luckily for us there were plenty of plain and boring food options in Antigua, including "Bagel Barn" an American style bagel place that was very very un Guatemalan. We feel very bad and uncultural because I went there twice and Ben three times... although Im not sure what Bens excuse was because he wasnt ill yet... hm!!

We were very lucky to be in Antigua in the run up to Semana Santa holy week, as the town hosts big processions, with lots of incense, brass bands, men in purple robes and very heavy looking floats carried on peoples shoulders (complete with people with big sticks to hold up the overhead telephone wires so that they could pass!). People decorate the street outside their houses with beautiful designs in flowers, plants and rice, it looks like lots of carpet on the road!

By the 3rd day I had started to feel a little better so we decided to attempt the main reason we were in Antigua, to climb to the molten lava flows on nearby Volcan Pacaya. It was rather more touristy than we were used to, with 200 odd Gringos in shorts and sandles huffing and puffing up the volcano and cutting themselves to shreds on the sharp volcanic rock, Mums and Dads you will be proud of us as we wore very sensible walking shoes and trousers! Considering one of us had asthma and the other rather a dodgy tummy we climbed up faster than the majority of people! The was one girl was acting you would think that the 1 hour gentle ascent was akin to climbing Everest....!! But it was worth it, as we got to see the lava glugging slowly down the side of the volcano, and our guide even lit peoples cigarettes with a lava laden stick. It was a very special sight, and as it got dark we were also treated to some amazing eruptions from Pacaya, spouting glowing red rocks and lava metres into the air. Possibly the volcano was a little too active for tourists to be clambering about on top but it was very fun! Throughout our time on the volcano we could hear it grumbling and when it erupted (every few minutes) it made a huge sound, hard to describe but "spouting" is the closest adjective we can think of!

Next day we packed up and headed out of Antigua, unfortunately Bens time to be ill had come and he had a rather unhappy beginning of the journey feeling very poorly, but he had a lucky escape as he was better by lunchtime! We were headed to Semuc Champey, thought by many a Lonely Planet reader to be the most beautiful spot in Guatemala. Its a series of natural pools in a river created by a limestone bridge, the river flows on top and beneath! It took a day of travelling in a rather cramped and hot minibus, but we entertained by a slightly older American couple who hadnt quite got what they bargained for in a bus. The guy swore and shouted and complained a lot, and to top it off he broke a bottle of red wine in his bag when he chucked it down. He angrily threw the remains of the bottle on the pavement, he was not a happy chappy, but he managed to get a seat in the front in the end. Us younguns sat quietly and didnt make a fuss, it does make me wonder whether we should have!! For a "luxury shuttle" it was rather a squeeze. We also had the delight of a lady who was sat in front of Ben constantly throwing up out of the window (not so good for Ben who was feeling queasy as it was!), a couple of times her sick flew back into my window at my face but luckily at that point it was mostly water as she had been throwing up for 3 or 4 hours already!!

We made it to Semuc Champey, checked into our hostel and had a quick swim in the river just outside the hostel. We were in a pretty remote location so we had dinner at the hostel where we met an English guy originally from Malmesbury (in Bens neck of the woods) who had lived in Australia for 8 years, and his Danish friend, who were both travelling through south and central America by motorbike. They had some pretty interesting stories! Next day we took a caving tour arranged by the hostel to some nearby caves, which involved clambering, swimming, climbing, abseiling, all holding a lit candle for light! At one point we all blew out our candles and sat for a rather long time in the darkness, which Ben got rather unnerved by. This was possibly not helped by me making suggestions that maybe our guide had run off!! Ben and I were a little slowed than the rest of the group in swimming as both of our flip flops broke, and we now know never to try swimming in flip flops let alone broken ones.. its very difficult! On the way back to the hostel we sat on inflated tyres and floated leisurely down the river, which was wonderful especially in the sunshine! After this walked down the road to Semuc Champey with our English and Danish friends. It was a very beautiful place, possibly the best place I have ever swam! The water was clear and warm, with lots of interesting places to jump in, and underground ledges to sit on. We spent ages here, then went for a very hot walk through the jungle to a lookout where we had great views of the river. Needless to say we required another dip after this! We walked to where the river poured very ferociously into what essentially was a hole in the ground as it passed under the limestone bridge, and also saw it come out the other end. All in all a worthwhile detour!

---

Photos

Lago Atitlan
At last! Some water to jump in to!

More of the lake
another blimming volcano!

Antigua
Semana Santa Preparations

Antigua
This is being held on people's shoulders!

Check out the backdrop!
After the procession

Pacaya
We didnt take this photo! Nicked it as well (see next photo - our photos weren\'t half as good!)

Semuc Champey
We nicked this image from the interweb.. we lost our photos of here in the Cuba incident!

Comments

[Eric and Heather]

I really enjoyed your post. It reminded me of my time there. My blog is looking for some good travel photos. If you have time, email us some at [e-mail] or check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com Continued fun on your travels, Heather