Our bus to Panajachel, the town we were staying in on Lake Atitlan, left at seven in the morning, so it was early rise for us. We had bought tickets for a nice direct bus to Pana and went to the place they told us to wait. We had some time to eat breakfast while we waited and right on time, this guy about our age comes us and asks us if we’re going to Pana. We say yes and make sure it’s direct and show him our tickets and he takes us to the station. We get there and there’s this normal chicken bus (a school bus). I had a bad feeling about this situation and kept trying to talk to the head guy, asking him if he worked for this company we bought the tickets from, if it was direct, if it was going to Pana. I was trying to be tough and stand firm in the Spanish I knew, but he finally was like, ‘Girl, get on the bus, stop asking about it,’ which ticked me off even more. I swore up and down we had just been taken and I was livid. I hate being taken advantage of because I’m a foreigner, even though I speak pretty good Spanish and can pull the look off, too, as well as the fact that I’ve lived in Honduras for the past ten months. By the time it was all said and done, it took us three and a half hours to get to Pana instead of two and a half because we stopped frequently. We didn’t have to pay, meaning either the ticket seller took us for a ride or the bus owners; I couldn’t figure out which.
We finally arrived in Pana late morning and got a moto to help us find which hotel we wanted to stay at. There was no lack of places to stay and we finally settled on one; the owners were really nice, it had free internet and water, and a view of the lake. We were starving, so we grabbed some lunch and enjoyed the view of Lake Atitlan. This lake is a collapsed volcano filled with water, surrounded by three volcanoes that loom above it. Absolutely gorgeous. We went back to our hotel and laid down and were knocked out for two hours after being on the go for the last four or five days. When we finally woke up, Tad and I checked out the restaurants and shops along the boardwalk as well as the markets.
Dinner time came and it started raining hard so we went to the nearest restaurant, which turned out to be a great choice. There were other gringos there, too, and the food was awesome; it was an Argentinian grill. An old woman tried selling us some bracelets which we kindly refused, but afterwards I felt bad and it got me pondering about the way of life here for people like that. Like what’s a dollar to me, really? I just wish I could help all these people who are selling things and buy everything, but that wouldn’t work either. I felt bad for saying no, but there was nothing I could do after I said it. Since it was raining and we had music to listen to, Tad and I stayed for a while and relaxed before heading back to our hotel and hitting the sack early.
Wednesday, June 16th
Our second day in Pana we hit up a small pastry/coffee shop for breakfast called Mayan pan. Our plan for the day was to head down to the public docks and catch a boat across the lake to see some of the small towns around the lake. We had to call our hotel in Roatan to confirm we were coming the week before and there was a slight problem. They said they didn’t have the room we had requested a few weeks ago and a lady had promised us over the phone! We were frustrated; Tad worked his magic and tried to figure out what the problem was and made sure we secured a room after the miscommunication. By the time we took care of that, we had to head down to find a boat to Santiago, the first town we wanted to see. I had looked in the Lonely Planet book to decide what small towns had more to do and offer and Santiago and San Pedro were the ones I chose. Our boat to Santiago turned out to be another small world meeting place. Tad and I met a family from Milwaukee as well as an aunt and her niece from Atlanta. We were all going to the same towns, not necessarily on the same time frame that day, but close enough that we saw them numerous times throughout the day. The boat ride across was fairly smooth; it was amazing to look in all directions and see mountains surrounding you on a lake. I don’t think there’s many places like that in the world.
Arrival in Santiago began our day of market shopping and seeing old colonial churches. We meandered through the town and made our way to the central square at the top of the hill just in time to see this crazy parade going on for the school there. There were people dressed up like the Backyardigans and another group that was dressed in Halloween costumes dancing to ‘Thriller.’ It was quite a sight to see; the residents thought so as well as everyone was crowded around the parade route.
One thing I’ve noticed is that most of the women in Guatemala all wear the traditional Mayan clothing of a colorful wrap around skirt and short sleeve type blouse. Very much a contrast to what you see in Honduras. I had heard the Guatemalans were either more proud, aware, or honoring of their heritage and I saw that everywhere I went via the clothing and worship. We toured a church there whose original pastor was from Oklahoma and came as a missionary. He ended up being a martyr for his faith and the community of Santiago when there was some government disturbance in the area.
On our way down, I saw a nativity scene and remembered that Laura Beth had wanted a nativity scene and decided to see how much they were. I’m not so good at bartering and walking away if I don’t get the price I want; Tad on the other hand is. So I let him take the lead and we got it for a decent price! Onto San Pedro where we met the Milwaukee family again and got some great pics on our ride around the lake. San Pedro was a really cute town; I think a lot of people studying Spanish, ex-pats and hippies live there among the locals. I had heard there were these thermal hot-tubs you could rent for an hour for pretty cheap so we went in search of those first. We found the place, got the tour and were a little skeptical at first. The reason was that these tubs looked like concrete bathtubs and the water had to be heated for an hour by solar panels, hence the reservation an hour ahead. We decided to take the chance and come back in an hour. Meanwhile it started to rain, pour actually, and we hurried to find some lunch. Lunch was good, but it took forever to prepare; we almost missed our hot-tub appointment. Our skepticism was un warranted when we arrived and saw our tub filled up with umbrellas up to keep away rain; it was right on the shore of Lake Atitlan as well, giving us a beautiful view while we relaxed.
Afterwards, we found a boat back to Pana after walking on random paths to find the boat dock. Our boat sputtered a few times on the way back, mainly thought because of the trash in the lake. We arrived in Pana later afternoon and needed to buy tickets for our next day’s excursion to Chichicastenango; one of Guatemala’s largest outdoor markets is there. Many travel agencies offered van services; we found a few that would take us to Chichi and then bring us back to Antigua, where we’d be spending the night Thursday night. The first place we tried ending up being a huge fiasco. It was a great price, the cheapest of all we found, but the credit card machine kept denying my card and/or not connecting with the server to charge things. We didn’t have a ton of quetzals at this point and needed to save our cash for the market the next day. Eventually we had to say thanks, but no thanks, and found another reliable agency at a decent price to take us there and then to Antigua.
Finally after that we headed back to our hotel and Tad called the Roatan hotel again. This time they said we needed to make an official reservation via their website AND put a deposit down. Well why hadn’t they said this BEFORE? Our other problem in the midst of this was that neither of our cell phones had money left on them, so I had to buy money through Skype to keep trying to call this hotel. The phone number wouldn’t work, because, oh, the lines were down for a bit. Oh the joys of traveling in developing countries. Before we headed out for dinner, I paid our money due; unfortunately they didn’t take cards, which I wasn’t planning on, so I had few quetzals left after I paid. I was extremely worried because we didn’t even have enough for dinner that night, much less meals and shopping for tomorrow. We tried to think of all these ways to get cash and I realized I could get some from my credit card. We went all the way to where and ATM was and I realized I had forgotten my password for that card. We trekked all the way back to the hotel, called my mom on Skype (thank God for internet) for the password, and went ALL the way back to get quetzals out of the ATM. By this time it was evening, time for dinner and it was pouring rain outside. We walked down the street in the pouring rain, looking for somewhere to eat dinner, and finally found a little café where we had vegetarian lasagna for dinner. Another taxi to our hotel afterwards and I was absolutely done and ready for bed and a new day. That was the closest I had come to panic on that vacation so far and it sucked. Thankfully God provided yet again, even if it was through a cash advance in an ATM and my mom remembering the password.
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