30 Jan--Antigua to Panajachel

Mon, 30 Jan - Guatemala Guatemala is bordered by Mexico, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, the Caribbean Sea, and the Pacific Ocean. here is a map that shows Belmopan, Belize in the upper right corner, which is the capital cty of Belize and the city that i travelled through on this trip. you can follow on the map to Santa Elena, and then to Guatemala City, Antigua, and Lake Atitlan, and Panajachel Guatemala City is the largest city in Guatemala with 3 million people, and became independent from Spain in 1821. it was dark of course, as we traveled toward the City, but the roads felt very bumpy and curvy and i could tell we were going up and down steep grades .... i hadn't given the geography of Guatemala much thought before this trip. i found this map, which shows just how 'mountainous' Guatemala is ! i was very surprised ! that's what you get when you are 'too busy' to do your homework before you leave :) we arrived pretty much on schedule at 5:30-6am. we got off the bus, collected our luggage, and went inside. there was a guy there with a sign "Shuttle to Antigua". he was leaving in 20min and we signed up. we left Guatemala City just as the sun was rising. the part of the city we saw, wasn't pretty, and traffic was horrible. we finally got out of the city, and headed for Antigua. we arrived in Antigua around 8am and the next shuttle to Panajachel left at 12:30. so we had a few hours to walk around Antigua and explore. the office for the shuttle was in a hostel and they had this great Golden Retriever-mix dog with a huge head and Basset Hound eyes Antigua Guatemala means Antique Guatemala, and was the 3rd capital of Guatemala. it is famous for its well-preserved Spanish-Baroque architecture as well as a number of spectacular ruins of colonial churches. it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Antigua is a 'colonial' city, and was very nice and quiet to walk around with cobble stone streets and many women walking around with baskets on their heads ... and this one with a chair to sit on ! this is Central Park, the heart of the city with an interesting sculpture of a woman in the center of the fountain the Arco de Santa Catalina is one of the notable architectural landmarks lots of churches, this is the La Merced Church, parts of which date to the 17th century. for those of you familiar with the Catholic faith ... they had strange confessionals here ... kind of out in the open :( flowers in windows we supported the local economy buying nuts there are several old monasteries lots of arches, coves, and walkways, and beautiful flowering trees all with a backdrop of 3 huge volcanos dominating the horizon. Volcan de Agua (Volcano of Water) is 12,356 ft high. so named after a 'mud flow' from the volcano buried the city. the other 2 volcanos are Acatenango (13,045 ft) last eruped in 1972, and Volcan de Fuego (Volcano of Fire), 12,346ft. Fuego is famous for being almost constantly active at a low level; as smokes streams from it's top daily. Antigua is also known for it's chocolate makers .. will definitely have to check this out ! it was a fun couple of hours. in the morning it was chilly, but warmed up later as the sun came out; bringing more people, cars, and noise. so much for the quiet part :) of course, i am always interested in the local trees and flowers. walking down a street, i see what i recognize as a tropical milkweed. there are hundreds of types of milkweed, and this summer i bought a tropical one, even though i knew it wouldn't live through the winter. i recognized the flower and leaf so i start to tell Eddi that this was a milkweed plant, about the time my eyes rested on this Monarch Caterpillar ! i could not believe it ... i was so excited! naturally i started turning over leaves looking for eggs. the 3rd leaf i turned over ... yes ... a Monarch Egg how cool was that ????????????? i felt so 'connected' ... this had to be a good sign :) WoW !! we passed a restaurant that featured Ceviche and decided to eat before we got on the bus again. Eddi ordered this drink called Michelino, or something like that, ... it was like a bloody mary made with beer instead of vodka. i tried it, and it was pretty good, even though i don't care for the taste of beer. i ordered a vodka bloody mary. we ordered our Ceviche with shrimp, conch, and fish. it was very different from other Ceviches that i've had. i'll bet it was made with a worcheshire sauce. it was very good and loaded with shrimp, conch, and something other than fish ... we think maybe octupus or snails or something that neither of us particularly liked. but we decided we'd like to come back again on our return. the plan is to spend some time in Panajachel (Pana-ha-chel) on Lake Atitlan (At-it-lan), then return to Antigua for a day or so, and then part ways; as Eddi will return to Belize, and i will continue on to Honduras. so there will, no doubt, be more on Antigua later. with some difficulty, we found our way back to the place where our bus departed, and we left around 1pm. Eddi and i got stuck sitting in the 'jump seats'. it was an uncomfortable fast and harrowing ride up and down and around mountains, being tossed from side to side, back and forth, with no support, and nothing really to hang on to :( 3 hours of this brought us to the top of a volcano and a pit stop for a bathroom ... a main intersection with lots of the 'chicken' buses here ... then down a bit to a town called Solala, where the bus driver informed us we may have to walk to Panajachel because the roads were closed. he didn't speak much English, a few of the kids on the bus spoke Spanish. first we understood that a guy robbed a jewelery store and set it on fire. after several minutes of conversation and looking words up in a dictionary, ... we understood that a guy robbed a jewelery store, and the people of the village blocked all the streets, with tires and rocks and logs, caught him, and set HIM on fire ! we eventually learned that the crisis was over and the streets were open, and we would be able to continue to Panajachel IN the bus. a short fast switchback trip down the volcano gave me my first glimpses of Lake Atitlan ... it was breathtaking as we rounded the turns and bends in the road i took some pics out the window and we arrived ! .... got off the bus, grabbed our luggage, started walking down the street and immediately saw Lonnie and Jolene. Lonnie and Jolene are good friends from Kalamazoo. Jolene and i have previously vacationed with a group of girlfriends to Belize and St Johns. they have spent some time the last 2 winters in Panajachel and had invited me to come visit them last year. but last year i had already made commitments and couldn't make the trip. but i decided that is what i would do this year. so, now, here we are ! a day and a half journey with little sleep; but ready to explore! it was around 4pm and seemed a bit chilly compared to our 85-90F temps on Caye Caulker :( ...but, it was NOT snowing and it was party sunny. Jolene told us that Panajachel was at 5,000 feet ... a mile high city .... like Denver, with a population of 11,000. they took us to our hotel, La Chapparel, which is right in town, and just a few minutes walk from their villa. we got checked in, showered, grabbed my camera, checked the battery and discovered i had left my camera battery charger at Madi's. i was devastated. totally disgusted and discouraged with myself. we headed out to Lonnie and Jolene's wonderful little villa for guacamole and cocktails on their patio. they have these absolutely beautiful climbing hanging flowers here we met Bill, who owns and lives in the main part of the villa, and also owns a hotel and restaurant across the lake, .... and not only owns them, but BUILT them into the side of the volcano on the water's edge. more on this later. incredibly interesting and amazing couple. Bill is from the US and met Rosie who is Guatemalan, while working together in Alaska. then we made a quick walk through the main street lined with vendors, restaurants, and shops. notice they have little 3-wheeled motorcycles called Tuc-Tuck, as taxis up and down the street and it was time to go to the Sunset Bar (apty named) ... to watch the sunset over the lake. Lake Atitlan is a Culdera ... a lake that formed when the volcano erupted and literally blew it's top off, leaving an empty space, now filled with water. the lake is about 17 miles by 8 miles ... a large lake and 1,000 ft deep. the water temp is about 65F and is a well-know lake for divers who want to get their high-altitude certification. i don't think i'll be diving here. it is reputed to be one of the most beautiful lakes on the planet. i would have a hard time arguing that opinion! it reminds me of Crater Lake in the US ... on the shores of the lake are a dozen indigenous villages of prehistoric origins. it is these people who give the life and spirit to Lake Atitlan. there are 3 volcanos that surrouond the lake: Atitlan, Tolman, and San Pedro, towering to 10,000 ft over the lake. temps hover around 72F year around, ....except Dec-Feb when they may drop to the 40s at night. another disadvantage of not doing my homework before coming here :( .....but it is a beautiful beautiful setting that welcomed us with a wonderful ever-changing sunset and has already won my heart over, despite it's moderate temperatures the specialty drink of the evening was Mojitos and they were good, and FILLED full of mint. we met some of Lonnie and Jolene's friends as we continued to watch the 'show' and the last one of the day after drinks, we returned to the streets, to see if i could find a battery charger to fit my camera battery ... i was not hopeful :( there are only 2 camera stores and both of them looked at me hopelessly. but, the last one suggested i try the phone company store across the street. i was TOTALLY surprised when the guy pulled out a 'universal' charger that fit my battery!!!!!!!! i'm happy again, i could not imagine a vacation without my camera, ... seriously! we walked quite awhile, Eddi and i were getting pretty tired. it had been a long 2 days with little sleep, but we were hungry. we settled on one of the many restaurants. i had a pounded breaded chicken breast that was very good and flavorful, with a huge side of bruschetta, served quite differently from what we're used to. there were huge chunks of wonderfully red ripe tomatoes and large croutons mixed together in a parmesan, basil, garlic oil. i couldn't eat it all, mostly because i was so tired. we called it a night around 8:30pm. i was exhausted and fell fast asleep. Wow, that was a long day with an abundance of visual stimulation ! ...and a very long blog posting as well :)