The next morning we're up and ready to go by 7:30am and head down to where the buses are suppose to be. We had a flier that says we can get a coach bus to Lake Atitlan for about $5. Of course there is no coach bus, but there is a chicken bus. We hop on board and take off down the road stopping constantly along the way. Lake Atitlan is in the highlands and the landscape continues to become more mountainous. Three and a half hours later we arrive in Panachel which is the main transit city on the lake. We've heard San Pedro La Laguna is the place to be so we get into a boat for another 45 minutes across the lake. Lake Atitlan is something out of a dream. An enormous fresh water late that is completely surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. Clouds linger on the peaks and at times the lake seems to be in the clouds too. All along the lake there are tons of little villages all named after saints: San Pedro, San Juan, San Marcos, etc. The villages and the area are populated by the Mayan people. The women all wear the colorful traditional clothing and some of the men do too. The people seem traditional, but I can catch of glint of curiosity and laughter in many of their eyes. We pull up to San Pedro and its kind of a back packer type of town.
Meaning there are quite a few small budget type hotels, restaurants and bars, tour and travel agencies, and shops lining the road immediately off the dock. Right away a guy named Juan is offering us tours around the area, kayak rental, hotels recommendations, etc. I have no problems with guys helping me, but please let me eat some breakfast and get my bearings first. We tell him we'll come down later and talk to him. Right away we see Chris and Simon, the two British guys that we see every two days where ever we go. It's hilarious, because they are going on virtually the exact same trip as us. We've seen them in Caye Caulker, San Ignacio in the ATM cave, Flores, and now here. And we even happen to be one room away at the hotel now. I expect we'll be seeing more of them along the way too. This is pretty common since many people are following the Lonely Planet guide books and most people want to see the same things when they come to Central America.
We're staying at Mansion De Lago and we're on the 3rd floor with a good view of the lake and the mountains. After settling in Cramer and I go down to the Lake and rent two kayaks. Juan our buddy from before now has a new deal for us. We can use the kayaks for 2 hours each and do a tour up the mountain called Indian Nose for $18/ each. So we accept the offer and cruise out on the lake in kayaks. It's an absolutely beautiful day and the water is great. The scenery is out of this world. We paddle to one of the other villages and start to turn around. Cramer decide to go in for a swim and says the water is amazing. Suddenly the wind begins to pick up and the waves get bigger and storm clouds roll in. It seems that in Lake Atitlan, the mornings are usually pretty nice and sunny, but in the afternoons clouds roll in and they get rain. At least now during the rainy season. Just as we get back and head back to the room the rain begins to pour down. What's great about being in Antigua and Lake Atitlan is that their both in higher elevations so the temperature in both places is usually around 75 to 80 with not too much humidity. Later we walk across the street to an English Pub called the Allegre with our British chums. We pound back some Bhrava Extra (beer) and we're even treated to a local power outage as the whole town goes dark. All the bar patrons just keep drinking and the owner puts our some candles to provide some light. About an hour later the power comes back on, but soon the bar closes, because apparently they have an 11pm curfew. It turns out to be a good thing, because we have to be up early to climb at 8am.
The British guys are trying to out do us so they're starting to climb at 6am. I'm on vacation, I'm not waking up at 5:30am! We meet Juan at 8am and we jump in a tuk tuk over to the next village called San Juan (Saint John). Juan's son, Nicholas, who is 17 will be our guide up the mountain. The trail proves to be quite challenging and steep. Cramer has a bad knee so he's hobbled slightly, and I'm sweating buckets. Our lack of physical fitness and the high altitude is having an impact as we huff and puff up the trail. After two and half hours of hard work we reach the peak on Indian Nose. It's like being on top of the world, looking out across the lake and seeing all the villages way down below. Some Mayan women are also on the peak doing some kind of prayers and chants. A few hours later we make it back to the hotel exhausted and famished.
The whole way back all we could think about is the huge meal we're going to have. After devouring a large English style breakfast we instantly pass out from the climb. One complaint about San Pedro is that it's quite noisy. Our hotel happens to be right on the main intersection as you get off the dock and the city is very hilly. Tuk tuks taxi people around but they sound like semi trucks as they try to get up the hill right next to our hotel. The sound of cars, trucks, tuk tuks, scooters, motorcycles and their fumes seem to diminish the serenity of many of the beautiful places over here. San Pedro is definitely no exception! That night we get another great meal from an Italian guy with a tiny little restaurant that serves rotisserie chicken dinners and chicken sandwiches. Exhausted, we call it a night and try to fall asleep with the sounds of music blaring and tuk tuks revving. The next morning we decide to go over to the village of San Marcos for a night before we leave. San Marcos is the opposite of San Pedro. While all the party backpacker head for San Pedro, all the chilled out heady people go to San Marcos. It's made up of many hotels and places that specialize in meditation, yoga, message, healing, and other forms of spiritual practice. It's not nearly as built up and the places are spaced out more hidden in among the trees. Plus there are some cool restaurants/bars too. Later that night we venture out to grab some dinner. One of the places in the Lonely planet is called Blind Lemon's Restaurant. We walk over and have dinner. The place is really cool and pretty new. There isn't many people there,
but we get a good dinner and start putting back some brews. Soon the owner comes out, a guy named Carlos Funk. Turns out Carlos is from somewhere near Pennsylvania and came to Guatemala 15 or so years ago. Being in the right place at the right time, he bought a bunch of land for dirt cheap (a few hundred to a few thousand). He built his restaurant and a house for himself. We start talking and Carlos is a huge fan of the blues. That's what his restaurant is named after, a guy name Blind Lemon Jefferson. He happens to be an amazing acoustic blues guitar player himself and loves playing. So Carlos pretty much plays a private concert for us and a few others. He busts out 3 different guitars and plays for nearly an hour and a half. It turns out to be a great night of music and then he has movie night too and we stay with a hand full of people and watch a movie. The next day we decide to go to Copan, Honduras. Unfortunately we didn't get up early enough for the shuttle that goes straight through. Instead we have to go back to Antigua for the night, then we can catch another bus the next day.
There are a bunch of little travel agencies that operate out of peoples homes and we end up talking to a guy named Edwin. He sets us up with a ride to Antigua and lets us come into his house and watch tv with him, his wife, and daughter. (The little Mayan girls have to be some of the cutest kids in the world) We're watching all kinds of action movies from the 80's. His family also has a little restaurant too and his wife cooks us some food. We thank them for their generous hospitality and Cramer even gives Edwin his sunglasses as a gift before we leave. The crowded little mini van picks us up at 3pm and we stuff ourselves in. After 3 great days on Lake Atitlan we slowly wind ourselves up over the mountains and back down to Antigua 4 hours later.
The next morning we're up and ready to go by 7:30am and head down to where the buses are suppose to be. We had a flier that says we can get a coach bus to Lake Atitlan for about $5. Of course there is no coach bus, but there is a chicken bus. We hop on board and take off down the road stopping constantly along the way. Lake Atitlan is in the highlands and the landscape continues to become more mountainous. Three and a half hours later we arrive in Panachel which is the main transit city on the lake. We've heard San Pedro La Laguna is the place to be so we get into a boat for another 45 minutes across the lake. Lake Atitlan is something out of a dream. An enormous fresh water late that is completely surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. Clouds linger on the peaks and at times the lake seems to be in the clouds too. All along the lake there are tons of little villages all named after saints: San Pedro, San Juan, San Marcos, etc. The villages and the area are populated by the Mayan people. The women all wear the colorful traditional clothing and some of the men do too. The people seem traditional, but I can catch of glint of curiosity and laughter in many of their eyes. We pull up to San Pedro and its kind of a back packer type of town.
Meaning there are quite a few small budget type hotels, restaurants and bars, tour and travel agencies, and shops lining the road immediately off the dock. Right away a guy named Juan is offering us tours around the area, kayak rental, hotels recommendations, etc. I have no problems with guys helping me, but please let me eat some breakfast and get my bearings first. We tell him we'll come down later and talk to him. Right away we see Chris and Simon, the two British guys that we see every two days where ever we go. It's hilarious, because they are going on virtually the exact same trip as us. We've seen them in Caye Caulker, San Ignacio in the ATM cave, Flores, and now here. And we even happen to be one room away at the hotel now. I expect we'll be seeing more of them along the way too. This is pretty common since many people are following the Lonely Planet guide books and most people want to see the same things when they come to Central America.
We're staying at Mansion De Lago and we're on the 3rd floor with a good view of the lake and the mountains. After settling in Cramer and I go down to the Lake and rent two kayaks. Juan our buddy from before now has a new deal for us. We can use the kayaks for 2 hours each and do a tour up the mountain called Indian Nose for $18/ each. So we accept the offer and cruise out on the lake in kayaks. It's an absolutely beautiful day and the water is great. The scenery is out of this world. We paddle to one of the other villages and start to turn around. Cramer decide to go in for a swim and says the water is amazing. Suddenly the wind begins to pick up and the waves get bigger and storm clouds roll in. It seems that in Lake Atitlan, the mornings are usually pretty nice and sunny, but in the afternoons clouds roll in and they get rain. At least now during the rainy season. Just as we get back and head back to the room the rain begins to pour down. What's great about being in Antigua and Lake Atitlan is that their both in higher elevations so the temperature in both places is usually around 75 to 80 with not too much humidity. Later we walk across the street to an English Pub called the Allegre with our British chums. We pound back some Bhrava Extra (beer) and we're even treated to a local power outage as the whole town goes dark. All the bar patrons just keep drinking and the owner puts our some candles to provide some light. About an hour later the power comes back on, but soon the bar closes, because apparently they have an 11pm curfew. It turns out to be a good thing, because we have to be up early to climb at 8am. 
The British guys are trying to out do us so they're starting to climb at 6am. I'm on vacation, I'm not waking up at 5:30am! We meet Juan at 8am and we jump in a tuk tuk over to the next village called San Juan (Saint John). Juan's son, Nicholas, who is 17 will be our guide up the mountain. The trail proves to be quite challenging and steep. Cramer has a bad knee so he's hobbled slightly, and I'm sweating buckets. Our lack of physical fitness and the high altitude is having an impact as we huff and puff up the trail. After two and half hours of hard work we reach the peak on Indian Nose. It's like being on top of the world, looking out across the lake and seeing all the villages way down below. Some Mayan women are also on the peak doing some kind of prayers and chants. A few hours later we make it back to the hotel exhausted and famished. 
The whole way back all we could think about is the huge meal we're going to have. After devouring a large English style breakfast we instantly pass out from the climb. One complaint about San Pedro is that it's quite noisy. Our hotel happens to be right on the main intersection as you get off the dock and the city is very hilly. Tuk tuks taxi people around but they sound like semi trucks as they try to get up the hill right next to our hotel. The sound of cars, trucks, tuk tuks, scooters, motorcycles and their fumes seem to diminish the serenity of many of the beautiful places over here. San Pedro is definitely no exception! That night we get another great meal from an Italian guy with a tiny little restaurant that serves rotisserie chicken dinners and chicken sandwiches. Exhausted, we call it a night and try to fall asleep with the sounds of music blaring and tuk tuks revving. The next morning we decide to go over to the village of San Marcos for a night before we leave. San Marcos is the opposite of San Pedro. While all the party backpacker head for San Pedro, all the chilled out heady people go to San Marcos. It's made up of many hotels and places that specialize in meditation, yoga, message, healing, and other forms of spiritual practice. It's not nearly as built up and the places are spaced out more hidden in among the trees. Plus there are some cool restaurants/bars too. Later that night we venture out to grab some dinner. One of the places in the Lonely planet is called Blind Lemon's Restaurant. We walk over and have dinner. The place is really cool and pretty new. There isn't many people there, 
but we get a good dinner and start putting back some brews. Soon the owner comes out, a guy named Carlos Funk. Turns out Carlos is from somewhere near Pennsylvania and came to Guatemala 15 or so years ago. Being in the right place at the right time, he bought a bunch of land for dirt cheap (a few hundred to a few thousand). He built his restaurant and a house for himself. We start talking and Carlos is a huge fan of the blues. That's what his restaurant is named after, a guy name Blind Lemon Jefferson. He happens to be an amazing acoustic blues guitar player himself and loves playing. So Carlos pretty much plays a private concert for us and a few others. He busts out 3 different guitars and plays for nearly an hour and a half. It turns out to be a great night of music and then he has movie night too and we stay with a hand full of people and watch a movie. The next day we decide to go to Copan, Honduras. Unfortunately we didn't get up early enough for the shuttle that goes straight through. Instead we have to go back to Antigua for the night, then we can catch another bus the next day. 
There are a bunch of little travel agencies that operate out of peoples homes and we end up talking to a guy named Edwin. He sets us up with a ride to Antigua and lets us come into his house and watch tv with him, his wife, and daughter. (The little Mayan girls have to be some of the cutest kids in the world) We're watching all kinds of action movies from the 80's. His family also has a little restaurant too and his wife cooks us some food. We thank them for their generous hospitality and Cramer even gives Edwin his sunglasses as a gift before we leave. The crowded little mini van picks us up at 3pm and we stuff ourselves in. After 3 great days on Lake Atitlan we slowly wind ourselves up over the mountains and back down to Antigua 4 hours later.
No comments:
Post a Comment