Lake Atitlan

Thursday, September 27^th

We got picked up by our shuttle at 5:30am for a two and a half hour ride to Lake Atitlan. Once we got to Panajachel (the entrance town to the lake), we walked around for awhile before heading to the docks to catch our boat tour. The lake is actually just a huge volcano crater and is about 1000 feet deep. It is a huge and gorgeous lake. 

 The dock at Panajachel

 A view of San Pedro from the boat

 

On our tour, we first went to the town of San Juan de la Laguna. It was a cute, quiet, and small town. Right when we got off the boat, we noticed that a bunch of the buildings were flooded. I guess a tropical storm hit Guatemala a couple years ago and the water level rose dramatically. We spent our hour in town walking around and going into a bunch of the weaving shops hoping to catch a glimpse of a demonstration. We didn’t get a demonstration, but we were able to look at the equipment and materials that they use to make the natural tinted dye. We also bought the best tortillas I have had down here. We wanted a snack, so we stopped into a small shop where a woman was making some. They were fresh, thick, and absolutely tasty.

 One of the flooded houses

The next town we visited was San Pedro. It was much bigger and had more of a touristy feel. We stopped at Café Las Cristillinas, so that Jordan could have some coffee. A guide said it was the best coffee in Guatemala, so he had to stop and try it. Afterwards, we walked into some shops to look at the brightly colored paintings that are unique to this region. Jordan got a small painting for his mom and I got a small painting of a Quetzal (the national bird) for myself.

The last town we visited was Santiago. It was the biggest of all, but felt less touristy than San Pedro. We took a tuk-tuk to the restaurant El Pescador for lunch. I ate a cheeseburger and Jordan got fried black bass in a white wine sauce. Our tuk-tuk driver offered to give us a tour of the major points of interest in Santiago, so we accepted. We got to see Maximon, who is the Mayan trickster god. Every year he is moved to a different house and people go to that house to pray to him and offer him gifts of money, cigars, and whiskey. Next, we went to the lookout point of Santiago and got a nice view of the town as well as the lake. Finally, we went to the local church. It was kind of plain compared to the churches in Antigua, but it was still nice.

Maximon himself

On the boat ride back to Panajachel, we drove right into a storm. Jordan and I were the only ones smart enough to bring our raincoats. The storm made for a wet, bumpy ride. It was fun though especially because lightning was striking all around us. When we got back to Antigua, we ate dinner at Café No Se. We at pizza and tried the local moonshine, Quetzaltecal. It was better than I thought it would be! Later, we headed to the nightclub, Sal, to dance for a little bit. It was a fun night out! I haven’t had a night like that since being back in the States.

Walking Tour

Wednesday, September 26^th

We slept in a little bit this morning to recover from all the mornings of getting up early. We went to Rainbow Café and ate their chapino (Guatemalan) breakfast, which was beans, eggs, tortillas, cream, and plantains. I LOVE Guatemalan breakfasts. 

After breakfast, we started our own little walking tour of the different churches and ruins around Antigua. We first hiked to Cerro de la Cruz, which is at the north end of Antigua and has a great viewpoint of the city. After taking some pictures, we hiked back down and looked at a bunch of different churches. We took a break and got some ice cream at Sarita. I got a cookie sundae and Jordan got a milk shake. We went back to the hotel for a nap and then we resumed our walking tour. 

Cerro de la Cruz

 One of the many ruins we saw

 

We actually went inside the Convento de Santa Clara and Iglesia de San Francisco (which is still a functioning monastery) got a tour of both buildings. They both were very pretty! It was nice to have the guide because Santa Clara is in ruins and if he wasn’t there we wouldn’t know what we were looking at most of the time. He definitely gave us the tourist price for the tour, but I’m still glad we got the it. 

 Overlooking the courtyard of Convento de Santa Clara

For dinner, we walked over to Café Sky. I got a chicken quesadilla and Jordan got chicken fajitas. They both were really good and the restaurant had a wonderful view of Volcano Agua. When we got back to the hotel, we took a dip in the Jacuzzi before going to bed.

Tour of Hawaii

Tuesday, September 25^th

In the morning, I took Jordan on crawl counts and we actually saw a turtle when it was light! Jordan got a picture with it and then we bought the nest from the parlamero who found it. Later in the morning, we planted the mangrove seeds that we had collected yesterday. After lunch, we headed to Pierre’s pool to cool off. It hasn’t been raining, so it has been much hotter than usual.

After playing in the pool, I showed Jordan the town of Hawaii and we got fries and a soda at my favorite stand. We went to Alice’s house and socialized with her while we ate. We headed back to the parque around 1:30pm to get ready to catch the 2:30pm chicken bus. It was extremely bumpy this time! We also stopped about 3x due to engine trouble. I’m not sure how much longer this bus is going to last haha.

We got into Antigua just in time for dinner. We were kind of dirty and tired so we decided to have Pollo Campero. Jordan got a little taste for what Guatemalan fast food is like. Once we got back to the hotel, we crashed!

Jordan in Hawaii

Monday, September 24^th

In the morning, we took the tourist shuttle to Hawaii. Once we got to Hawaii, I gave Jordan a tour of the parque and I showed him how to feed the animals and take temperatures in the hatchery. Later in the afternoon, we went to the mangroves and released two turtles as well as collected mangrove seeds. I was happy Jordan was able to see the mangroves because they are so beautiful. We also made a side trip to the field that we reforested. We saw that about 75% of the trees were dead because the locals came with a machine and uprooted all the corn that was still left over, which smashed all of the baby trees. We were all upset, but Glenda took it especially hard. It is one thing to not participate in the reforestation, but it is another to purposefully sabotage it. Glenda and Colum might have to have a talk with the cocode. 

 Paco decided to join us on the boat

 

 

 Releasing one of the turtles

Jordan and I helped Riikka with nest excavations and he was able to see the process as well as a live hatchling! We found one on the bottom a nest, so we released it together at sunset. It was a nice moment to share. 

Jordan and Riikka excavating two nests 

 

 

Jordan and a hatchling

For dinner, we all ate at Myra’s. I wanted Jordan to experience what home cooking is like in Guatemala. It was delicious as usual. After dinner, I took Jordan on patrol. It was a pretty quiet night, but about 5 minutes before we got back to the parque we came across 3 parlameros with a turtle. We waited FOREVER because the turtle kept moving around looking for a good spot to nest. Once she laid her eggs, we bought the nest for 8Q per dozen. I’m happy that the price is dropping so that our money can go a little bit further. I showed Jordan how to bury the eggs and then we headed to bed.

Volcano Pacaya

Sunday, September 23^rd

We got up at 5:20am and got picked up by our shuttle around 6:00am. Our tour was completely full. There were some people from Germany, England, Austria, and Israel. It took about an hour to drive to the volcano. Once we got to the volcano, we saw tons of locals with horses that we were there to give people rides up the volcano if it was too hard. There were also lots of little boys trying to sell walking sticks to everyone.

The hike itself was actually not that hard, but many of the people in our group had a hard time making it up. One girl even used one of the horses. The views were amazing. We got a really good look at the three volcanos by Antigua: Fuego, Agua, and Acatenango. We hiked to the lava flow area near the summit. I loved seeing all of the lava rock, which was pretty recent because the volcano had erupted two years ago. The guide brought marshmallows and we roasted them over a couple of steaming vents. It was a fun treat. Another guide brought hot dogs for herself and had them for lunch. I liked that idea much more than marshmallows! I, of course, was the only person that fell down during the trip. The guide specifically said to be careful towards the end because the lava rock is sharp and about twenty minutes later I fell in front of half our tour. 

A view of the 3 other volcanos (L to R: Fuego, Acatenago, Agua)

Jordan roasting his marshmellow

At the highest point we were allowed to climb

We were dropped off by the shuttle in Parque Central, so we decided to walk around. We found a small street where Maya women had laid out their wares. We looked at them for awhile and then we went in search of granizadas and a snack. We found them at La Merced. We split a strawberry and pina granizada and a pollo sandwich. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel for a nap. 

 A random dog we saw running around Parque Central

 

For dinner, we went to a cool little Salvadorian restaurant called El Papaturra. We got a cheese and chorizo appetizer. It was AMAZING. For our entrees, I had pupusas and Jordan had Chile Rellanos. Both were so good. For dessert, we stopped at Café Condessa for some REAL cheesecake. Guatemalans really like custard cheesecake, which is more like the no-bake cheesecake. That kind of cheesecake is all I have been able to get a hold of, so I was dying for some NY-style cheesecake.