Lago de Atitlan y Chichicastenango

August 1st - 4th

We finally reached the LAKE!!!! It has been on the to-do list since we arrived and we can now cross it off :)

Let us just say, the first day was ROUGH! Hannah and I arrived to Santiago Atitlan after a long chicken bus ride, greeted by fireworks that were set off less than 5 feet away from us. Let's just say even if you know it is coming (and we had NONE whatsoever as we were distracted by a procession of masked individuals), it´s still cardiac arrhythmia-inducing. We took a psuedo-motorized boat ride to San Pedro, tuk-tuk'ed to the other barcadero, and rode another boat to San Marco, where we had planned to stay the night. Mind you, this is all while it was down-pouring - yay wet season. Once on the docks of San Marco, we were greeted/bombarded by small children claiming to be our tour guides who would escort us to our hostal for a small fee. On another day, it could have been endearing, but as my travel companions can attest to, things need to move quickly once my rucksack is on or you may see another side of me. After about 5 times of saying nicely "no gracias, no necisitamos un guia," I cracked a little when he asked for money (as we were turtleing it - large rucksack on the back, smaller daypack on the front, bags in each hand - WADING through muddy, puddle-laden pathways while fending off mosquitoes) - I may have said something to the effect of "FOR WHAT? Why would I give you money, you didn't do anything except walk slowly in front of us and continue to bother us when we told you we didn't need a guide!" Schwoops...I definitely got an F for "cultural sensitivity" at that moment. We got to the hostal, dripping all over the floor, and began our usual inspection for bedbugs. I cannot say for certain that there were bedbugs, but there were many visible bugs crawling on our sheets and pillowcases, thus making our decision to go to Panajachel that much easier. A very interesting Montrealite distracted us with conversation about the purity of walking as a main mode of transportation...yep...and then we found ourselves RUNNING to catch the last boat to Pana, set to leave 30 seconds after we began retracing our muddy steps. I honestly do feel that an obstacle course race while people are turtleing it should be a new Olympic sport, if for no other reason than the sheer entertainment it would provide viewers. So back to the dock, to wait for one last possible boat since we missed the one we were running to catch. Know what is awkward? Waiting in the rain while the boy you didn't give money to earlier talks about you with his fellow dock friends, while continuing to ask for American money now claiming it is for a school project. Yeaahhh...that went on for about 27 minutes and finally two boats showed up simultaneously. Being that the boat to Pana was full, we quickly adapted and decided San Pedro really had to be better than San Marco. While searching for a hostal once we arrived, we rounded a corner and quite literally saw a beacon of light. It was...drumroll...a HOTEL!!! Mainly due to our state of desparation, we asked how much it would be for a room - Q100, or the equivalent of about $13 in total. Mom and Dad, you would be soooo proud! Nahual Maya Hotel had clean and bug-free beds, our OWN bathroom, toilet paper, SOAP, our own TOWELS, a TV, and HOT WATER!!! We kinda felt like royalty. Basically, we ran out for our first real food of the trip (non-rice and bean dish) to get falafel and hummus, and returned immediately to spend the rest of the evening in our sweet HOTEL room!

Hannah and I awoke different people, bright-eyed, clean and ready to embrace San Pedro! A nice dose of fresh squeezed orange juice can't hurt as well! Sadly, our sweet hotel was only available for one night, so moving on was in our near future. Our main goal of the morning was to walk around, explore the art galleries and their beautiful central park (their fountain not only had actual water in it, but fish, turtles, and lobster as well), and find the post office. There were about 4 different sets of directions to the post office, the last two being from each of the post office's neighbors - I usually pride myself for having a pretty decent sense of direction but at times I just have to question that. Luckily, Hannah has an amazing sense of direction as well...that also had a glitch for about 8 minutes while trying to locate stamps. Then, KAYAKING ON THE LAKE!! We got in some kayaks made of a material that I can most closely parallel to paper-mache and headed out to explore the banks of pueblos on the water. Sitting on tranquil waters with a 360° panorama of volcanic and mountainous shores was nothing short of amazing. That may be one particular time where you catch yourself not thinking and just appreciating the moment. We returned to shore and headed back to get our bags from the hotel, thinking things really couldn't get better. The owner of the hotel then casually mentioned having an apartment with a lakeside view that he'd give to us at the same price for another night...umm, slight glance over at Hannah's smile growing, and YES PLEASE!! This day went down as "highly unlikely to happen again," but we loved every minute of it while it was happening. The rest of the evening consisted of organic hummus and cracker eating, journaling, staring at local fisherman as they practiced their art along the shoreline in front of us, and getting organic coffee (for Hannah) at a fair trade cafe. Over coffee/hot chocolate, we decided to celebrate our one month of traveling by heading to a new country! Who does that? Ultimately, it became a day that will hold a special place in our hearts for a while.

Great breakfast with FRUIT, yogurt, and granola, a long but happy goodbye to "our" lakeside apartment, and on the boat to Panajachel. So, the 10-15 passenger transport boats have an outboard motor, bleacher-like seats in the middle and a small bow for people to sit on (weather-permitting). Small confession - being someone very prone to seasickness, I may or may not have had to look up what the front of the boat is called on a "Boat Safety For Kids" website. Having a keen ability to pick the worst possible seats in whatever mode of transport we're on at the moment, we chose to sit on the bow to celebrate the sun's presence. The mistake was realized only about 5 minutes into the near 30-minute ride as we were thrown into the air and slammed down into the boat as the bow met the rather uncalm waters. Possible spinal compression? In all seriousness though, we were very thankful we didn't go overboard and I was equally thankful for my new focus on staying in the boat to distract me from my nausea :) The scenery was breath-taking...how are there rows of crops on a mountainside of 50°? Dork reference: It reminded me of what the Shire was described to be in Lord of the Rings. Arriving in Panajachel, we settled into another private room (we were on a roll) and headed out to explore. That evening, we met up with Kira, a friend we met in Antigua, and her friend who had come to visit and volunteer her vetranarian skillset to a non-profit that works with the homeless animal population. After a good dinner, we hung out at their apartment with Smokey, a mutt recovering from surgery after being hit by a car. If only we weren't traveling, and if they didn't cost money or require responsiblilty, I'd adopt that cute dog in a heartbeat.

On Thursday, we headed up to Chichicastenango for one of the largest markets in all of Guatemala. The ride up the mountain provided some spectacular views of the lake on one of the clearest days we'd seen yet. Chichi is overwhelming for about 27 seconds before you realize the majority of vendors are selling the same things. If you like table runners, blankets, placemats, miniatures of chicken buses, or machetes, this is the market for you! Unfortunately, we were stuck there until the bus left at 2pm, so we walked up and down every side street exploring the actual town of Chichi outside of the market limits. We stumbled across the cheapest supermarket to date! Our idea of exciting may be slightly different than yours, but we lived it UP - we both drank sodas to commemorate 31 days of travel! Some call us party animals, call us what you like. Another celebratory move was buying four "helado pops" (a little ice cream in between to round cookies, then dipped into chocolate in its entireity)...to make it less obvious that we were eating our way through Chichi, we made passes by the helado-pop guy, who probably recognized us by the second round. So two rules for Chichi: go on a chicken bus so you can leave when you feel like doing so AND don't feel bad about haggling. Here is one example during the day...
Hannah: "Cuanto cuesta?" (regarding a pair of earrings)
Vendor: "Q75"
Hannah: "Gracias" while walking away
Vendor: "Cual es su precio?"
Hannah: "Q20"
Vendor: "Q30"
Hannah: "Q25"
Vendor: "Esta bien!"
They overcharge expecting you to barter because the shop down the street sells the same for Q20. In less than about 10 seconds, the price was a third of its original. These guys are good! And the other tourists that fall for it and don't barter...thank you for supporting Chichi's economy. On the way out of town, a man on the street asked the driver if he was going to Antigua. Seeing as we were headed to Antigua, I waited until the man in the street has passed before confirming with the driver "we are going to Antigua, right?" A huge grin formed on his face as he gave an emphatical "Si!" Classic! The ride back to our home away from home Antigua allowed us to create a new game called "drive-by shootings," in which we snag the best possible photos of people on bikes, chicken buses, and daily life while going 50mph. A less "Grand Theft Auto" title for the game is in the works. In Antigua, we caught up with friends, family, and loved ones and spent the remainder of the evening decompressing in our own private dorm room!

On Friday, EL SALVADOR...and our first border crossing!!! Let's see how this goes! Miss and love everyone!