Journey to Lago Atitlan

After a full two days in Antigua, I was ready to head to Lago Atitlan. Created by the 3 volcanoes surrounding it, it is supposed to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. So I hustled back to my hotel from my morning of touring with Guy in order to make sure I didn´t miss my 12:30 shuttle.

I needn´t have worried. The shuttle arrived about 10 past 1, and after negotiating my mucho stuff into the back I climbed in, and then held on for dear life. We rattled through the streets in a tin can. It looked ok from the outside, really . . . but I seriously wondered if parts were going to fall off as it squeaked and rattled. It appears I wasn´t too far off. About 20 minutes outside town we broke down. Fortunately, I already had friends in the shuttle to chat with while we waited by the side of the road for a new bus to be sent for us. One of them was Alexandra, who I had met at the airport in Guat City and chatted with into Antigua. It was lovely to see her again. I also got chatting with the couple beside me and the woman behind us - all Gringos from the US.

After about a half hour wait, with children peering in, trying to sell us firewood, (what did they think a shuttle of tourists would do with it???) we were on our way again. The next two hours were a bit harrowing, but absolutely stunning. The grades on the roads are unbelievable. The shuttle we were in looked and sounded much newer when it picked us up, but it was sounding pretty rough a couple of hours later as we laboured up and down hills, and back and forth around hairpin turns. There were more than a few hold-on-and-pray moments . . . but at least this shuttle had seatbelts, for which I was quite grateful!

About 2 hours into the trip (and about 20 minutes from Panajachel, our destination), we blew a flat. So we had another 20 minutes to hang-out while the driver changed the tire. We were all quite pleasantly surprised (and deeply grateful) that he had a spare. Morale boosting was required at this point, so I pulled out my hoops, which had been the subject of some conversation en route, and a bunch of us hung out on the grass and hooped. I was informed that if I ran short on cash this trip, I should consider giving hoop lessons. We´ll see what happens!

After our brief stretch and shimmy break, we resumed our journey to Pana, continuing through hairpin turns, on immense grades, over single lane bridges, above an incredible canyon of trees and rocks and wow. I wish I could have taken pictures of this journey, but it just wasn´t possible through the windows of our little shuttle van. Finally we arrived in Pana and negotiated our way slowly through the market streets. Vendors everywhere . . . beautiful cloths and wares and stuff. I definitely want to go spend a day in Pana just wandering . . . but with my packs, this wasn´t the day.

At the bottom of the street, we were let off just above the docks where we were guided down to the launchas to take us to our respective towns on the lake. Some of the troops were heading for San Marcos, some for San Pedro; I and my new friend Rita headed for Santa Cruz La Laguna to check out the Iguana.