Lago de Atitlán
GUATEMALA
I Just Might Move Here
By AARON
Sunday, June 15, 2008
After a long, sad goodbye to Ronnie, Lily and the rest of our live-in family in Xela; Ronnie, Mario, and Sofie gave Lyndi and I a ride to Terminal Minerva, where all the chicken buses leave for their respective destinations near Xela.
Boarding the chicken bus around 10am that morning, we rode for about 2 hours to a small town outside of the lake (whose name escapes me), then boarded another bus to Solola, which sits at the top of one of the mountains surrounding the lake. From there it was a 15 min. bus ride down the hill to the town of Panajachel, on the lake.
Again, once we got off the bus, we were instantly surrounded by “touts”, which are the hagglers that want you to stay in their hotel, or their friend’s hotel, or the garage of their cousin’s house… you get the point. We settled on a place almost right on the lake from a little indigenous Mayan man who offered us a private room, complete with bathroom and shower, for 100Q a night. I actually realized that up to this point, neither Lyndi nor I had really seen an indigenous Mayan man wearing the traditional clothing. We saw hundreds of the women, in the marketplaces in Chichicastenango, on the streets of Antigua selling their blankets, walking down a cobblestone or dirt street with their babies strapped to their backs, but never had seen a male in the traditional Mayan clothes. Just a thought I had.
Anyway, after settling in, we decided to scope out the city and the market . The main marketplace runs along the main road in Pana, and again, you can buy anything ranging from pipes to traditional Mayan masks (made in China). We decided for lunch to settle for some street food and plantain potato chips (which Lyndi has become hopelessly addicted to), and spent some time on the internet.
Panajachel is a quaint little town, with enough restaurants and bars to keep you occupied; but after a night of trying to watch game 4 of the Celtics/Lakers NBA Final (all the TVs in Pana had trouble with ABC), and having some beers at Pana Rock- a very fun bar with live music every night, we had reservations at a much better place than our current residence in Pana…
The next morning, Lyndi and I needed to haggle with the Lancha captains for a ride no more than 15min. to Jaibalito, a really small town, which next to it resides the beautiful “La Casa del Mundo” hotel. Unfortunately, the lancheros were trying to tell us that it was the same price (25Quetzals/person) to go everywhere on the lake. That didn’t make much sense considering San Pedro was 25Q, and it took close to 45 min. to get there. After many arguments, and Lyndi and I using our wickedly awesome newfound Spanish skills, we talked them down to 15Q- a respectable rate even among the locals (come to think of it, I was getting tanner…).
As some of you may have read in the previous blog by Lyndi, my 30th birthday was spent in pouring rain, on top of Tajumulco, the highest point in Central America, and apparently the wettest as well. So as a wonderful gift, Lyndi decided to get us 2 nights at this “never would come here on a backpacker’s budget” hotel. The place was absolutely beautiful, with multilevel terraces right on the lake for you to sunbathe and swim, and numerous rooms built right into the side of the mountain, each with its own open lake view. Lyndi went the extra mile and got us a suite, complete with a private balcony and panoramic windows that allowed you to see the entire lake, and background as well. Although the majority of the places we’ve stayed have been nothing short of great, this was taking it to another level, one that budget travelers rarely get to enjoy. For the next 2 days we swam, relaxed, and even visited the 2 nearby villages of Santa Cruz and Jaibalito, which had great, cheap places to eat breakfast and lunch, since we were splurging and spending 80Q each on our dinner at the hotel.
Unfortunately, we had to leave the morning of our third day there, and after swimming one more time, we packed up our things and headed to the next major city on the lake: San Marcos. Now most of the main cities on the lake each carry their own vibe to them – Panajachel is the laid back lake town with good markets and a lot of ex-pats who came here many years ago. San Pedro is the fun party town, with cheap food, cheap beers, and great people. San Marcos, as we soon found out, is the place you go if you want to “strengthen your inner chi”, or “take a 4 week course on the healing powers of the moon”. Now my old roommates in Dallas, Jarrod and Chad, used to poke fun at Lyndi calling her “hippie”, pretty much because she was from Oregon, and likes to recycle. But after visiting San Marcos, these people make Lyndi look like right-wing conservative Rush Limbaugh’s more right-wing conservative sister Lyndi Limbaugh. I was kind of freaked out from the get-go, but I had more reason to panic, when my “hippie” girlfriend was freaked out too. We didn’t hate the town, or not have open minds about the whole thing – I mean, don’t get me wrong, if your idea of fun or relaxing is a class to “discover the true power of star crystals and their relation with the moon cycles (must have good positive energy to join)”, have at it. There were just a few things that I wondered, while we were in San Marcos for less than 20 hours.
- Why is this one of the most expensive cities on the lake?
- If this truly is a mecca for peace, good energy and love for one another, why is there a sign posted to all travelers warning them “for your safety, do NOT go out at night, and if they see a local to turn and head the opposite direction”?
- Does everyone here own a guitar or hand flute?
- Is it normal for a guy to play the hand flute?
- Do they give you these instruments when you get off the boat? If so, where were ours?
- Why does everyone here chant mantras at night? I’m talking real weird chants, like if you were possessed by the Hippie Holy Spirit and started speaking in tongues.
Anyway, Lyndi and I decided that this city was not for us, so early the next morning, we packed up and harnessed all our good energy, put on our healing crystals, and headed for the town of San Pedro.
Now while we were in Jaibalito, we ran into a couple who had gone to San Pedro, and likened it to Tijuana, Mexico. Now those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of visiting the illustrious party town known as Tijuana, think of bars so dirty, that there is a 1/2 inch thick coat of black grime on the floor from years of God knows what, where if you happened to fall, it would look like you landed in a tar pit. A place where hand sanitizer will do no good, and daily tetanus shots are a must. San Pedro was anything but this place. We pulled up to the dock and headed down the main street looking for a hostel. The first thing we noticed, was that all the hostels and hotels were dirt cheap, but actually very nice! We found our best deal yet on this trip, running into Gladys, the owner and operator of Hotel Villa del Lago. Located where the main road dead ends to the left of the Panajachel Dock (not in Pana, that’s just the name of the dock), we got one of 3 lakeside rooms, complete with 2 beds, private bathroom w/ hot water, cable T.V., and hammocks out front with a beautiful view of Lago de Atitlan. Final asking price per night: $2.50US each. Oh, and did I mention it had a communal kitchen and laundry? (Big plus among travelers).
San Pedro was Lyndi’s and my personal mecca. Good bars, cheap beer, places showing pirated movies nightly (we watched Ironman one night), friendly locals, and great food – and all at extremely cheap prices. One night, Lyndi and I headed out, got our own pizzas at Fata Morgana (made from an Italian who’s lived there for years), watched “The Departed”, had drinks at Allegre Pub, then finished off the night with a couple rounds of Beer Pong at Amadeus Bar, and combined, spent about $20 for the evening. And best of all, no mantra chanting at night, just the sound of the lake lapping up against the rocks below our hotel in a slow, methodical beat, as if keeping time with a metronome. (Although, on a quiet night, if you listened closely, you could hear the chanting from San Marcos across the lake. I’m not kidding.)
On our last full day at San Pedro, and also our last full day to be spent in Guatemala, Lyndi and I rented a 2 person kayak and headed across the lake to one of the small beaches for some relaxation. Clear water, clean beach, and a nice grove of trees behind us made for a great couple hours as we laid out, read, and enjoyed the beautiful view of Lago de Atitlan. We returned early afternoon, and enjoyed some beers on a lakeside restaurant, and waxed nostalgic about our past 2 months in Guatemala.
The time flew by so fast, it seems like ages ago we arrived in Antigua, Guatemala (even though it’s 5 blogs up on the list), and upon reminiscing, we realized we had done so much in those 2 months, there was no way to remember it all by memory. Thank God for blogs, diaries, and pictures.
Next stop, San Salvador – because if we don’t renew our visas by July 1st, we both get fined $140US, which is like, one whole week of traveling! So for that exciting story of renewing our visas at the Government Building in San Salvador, I will hand the torch to Lyndi. Hopefully she can make it exciting, because it was about as fun as waiting in line at the DMV…
