San Pedro, una joya de Guatemala

It's Anna writing now!

We arrived to San Pedro a few days ago via boat from Panajachel and immediately fell in love with this little town.  Amazing views of Lake Atitlan, quaint, rustic, and charming.  In order to get to the center of the town you have to walk up an enormous hill that leaves you out of breath even for the fittest of people

View of lake from the beach on San Pedro

One of our favorite things in traveling together thus far is comparing what I notice that Hailee doesn't, she's already accustomed too.  For instance, yesterday we are sharing a plate for lunch and there is an old dog that came close to our table and Hailee starts going "ssstt, ssssttt, ssssttt" to the dog.  I look at her and she goes: "I don't know, it's just what all the people do around here to get the dogs to leave."  I look over and the dog is just staring at her, so either her technique needs some improvement or the people here need a new way to try to ward off the street animals.  However, please take note that this noise "ssssttt, ssstt" is not just for dogs, it is used to get anyone and anything's attention here.  Speaking of street animals, last night we witnessed some serious territory control for a pack of dogs on the street.  Hailee and I sat on the street while 4 puppies tried to ward off a newcomer while eating ice cream and that was our entertainment for the night.  That's about all that happens at night.

I have grown to appreciate a lot of little details here, one being how they protect their property.  Why only use barbed wire when you can stick pieces of jagged glass bottles on the top?






The style of clothing here.  Women, men, and children all wear the same style outfit every single day.

Now that's talent

The sun is much stronger here, please take note of my legs, yikes!!!  For those of you who know my style versus Hailee's style, I have been forced to wear her clothing due to the sunburns I have so I look like a school girl, no offense Hails.

Transportation differences.  There is no departure or arrival time, you get there when you get there and you are happy if you get there in one piece!  Running with your backpack on to an old school bus packed full of people, a guy takes your bag and throws it on top of the bus as you jump on while the bus never stops moving.  No idea if my bag is on the top of the bus or taken, just hoping it is there when I have to jump off to run to the next bus.  Boats: we wait until the boat is full of people that all want to go to the same place, not a specific time.  

Sending our love!!

 

Buses. Panajachel. Kayaking. San Pedro la Laguna

Who knew it could possibly get better!

We left Antigua via buses.  4 to be exact.  Anna's expressions were amazing.  Not sure if she was expecting to share a seat with two men.  Or to have 6 people in one row, one balancing off of both seats.  Or to be swaying side to side along the jagged mountain roads.  Or to see her bag get thrown on top of the bus then wonder the entire time if it was still there.  For one that needs excitement always, she loved the buses.

We landed in Panajachel.  A town that borders Lake Atitlan.  The lake, well it's beautiful.  Surrounded by volcanoes and mountains, its something out of a fairy tale.  The town on the other hand, has over 220 hostals/hotels/live-in houses.  And its touristy.  Not our kind of place.  We actually checked into one hotel and after going by our gut instincts and checking the beds, finding reminants of bed bugs, we checked out.  Fyi to other backpackers, don't stay in Panajachel.

 

 

Went kayaking.  Anna took the back, so she could steer, annoy me and drench me all at once.  Got the warning from everyone "don't stay on the lake after 1pm."  We're always being told something so we didn't know what to believe.  But after 4 hours paddling in the morning, we didn't feel like trying the 'big waves.'  Instead, we moved locations to San Pedro, falling in love with the volcano town as soon as we docked.

It's real.  Cultural.  The women all wear long skirts, touching their ankles.  Having the shirt tucked in high.  They dress colorful.  Other than tourist restaurants, we found 1 local comedor, Pacha Mama.  We ate there, they used a wood fire to make us chicken, fries, rice and guacamole.  A must stop in San Pedro!

 

And today we bought a papaya, pineapple and 7 mandarins for $1.50.  Ahhhh awesomeness.

Volcao Pacaya

We didn't know what we signed up for.  All I had heard was that Volcano Pacaya might be the coolest thing I'll ever see/do.

Shuttle bus on the bumpiest cobble streets ever in Antigua.  A stop over at the park enterance where kids were sticking walking sticks in the windows screaming the prices at us.  We opted not to buy one.  Then we parked at the trail.  Along with 4 other vans and groups behind us.  This is a tourist must.

Then the kids started in again.  "You want to buy my stick, it's necessario."  We said no, then changed our minds.  They attacked Anna.  Wanting......no, NEEDING her business.  It was the proper welcoming for her into a 3rd world country.

 

 

 

We walked and walked and walked.  Through the clouds and over old dried lava.  The tour guide spoke fast and only in Spanish.  People stood on the side of the trail offering 'natural taxi's' aka horses for the rest of the ride up.  

As we were hiking up the lava and by lava, its the ONLY thing that is around.  Black.  Lava.  Sharp edges keep you from wanting to ever imagine falling.  So as we were hiking up Anna says "this is legit dude."  And by that, I think she meant it was real and really amazing!

 

We see this patch of lava and about fall over.  But no, wait.  Theres more.  And don't worry there are no rules or people enforcing any kind of guidlines as to how close you can get to the lava.  It's your life, you risk what you want.

 

It's hot.  I was soaked from the rain and was dry again once we were ON the lava in less than 5 minutes.  More like 2 minutes.  My feet could feel the heat, they started to burn.  A guys shoes started to melt.  Another fell over and cut his leg.  Anna and I proceed on.  Walking over cracks filled with the bright red molten.  

 

This poured out.  My thoughts were that we'd see a little lava just chilling, but no people this lava was FLOWING.  The black parts would crack against the rain and as we were making s'mores, it begun to pour and they made us head out.  Wondering if its a hazard to have rain hit the lava, all I do know was that it was crazy cool.  The rain came, left everything steaming.  It was a sauna, but only one that they'd have on Armageddon.  

 

 

We got close.  Close enough to freak a lot of people out.  Close enough where I ddin't want to go closer.

 

Might be the coolest thing I HAVE ever seen or done.  Definitely ranks up there as VERY REAL!

 

Bienvenido a Guatemala!

(This is Anna)

Hola!  My first day in Guatemala was QUITE a success!  Hailee picked me up from the airport in Guatemala City and the adventures began right away.  Flying in to Guatemala I was taken back by the mountains everywhere, what a gorgeous view!  I was a little apprehensive when I arrived on the landing strip in my plane because there was no site of any additional planes, except for old beat up plans with propellers!  We took a taxi for $8 each to a town called Antigua which is surrounded by the mountains.  We did a hostel search when we got there and found a completely originally named hostel to stay in: Casa Amarillo.  Yep, it's a yellow hostel but very cute and the people are friendly.  Hailee said she is treating me to luxury since our hostel is $5.50/night instead of the normal price of $3!  When searching for a hostel for the night, it is important to check on the following items:

tour of the bedrooms
all you can drink clean water
breakfast inclusion
free wi-fi
if they have showers

Pretty basic needs right?  Things as an American you don't even think twice about having on a daily basis which I find interesting.

We hit up the market to get some fresh food....or ANY thing you could possibly need.  The markets here are like your one stop shop in the states such as a Target or Wal-Mart.  Anything you could possibly need they sell there.  Beware though, once you go into it, it's not easy to find your way back out of it!  For entertainment purposes we tested out the machetes and had a sword fight.

The streets are all made of uneven stone and people ride around on bikes which I would assume makes for a bumpy ride.  Just walking in the streets today I see a motorcycle WHIZ by with 4 people on it....two of them being a women feeding her baby a bottle!  Talk about multi-tasking, these people have it down. 

Had breakfast this morning that included eggs, black beans, fresh fruit, bread, potatoes, and cofee, SO GOOD!  Best thing is that it came included with our hostel stay for free.  This afternoon we are going to hike up Volcana Pacaya and roast marshmallows from the lava to make smores so stayed tuned for some exciting pictures!

It feels like Christmas!

Waking up early usually means the room is hot, bed is uncomfortable or the roommates are catching an early bus.  None of that woke me today in the wee hours, what was it?  Excitement!

Heading to Guatemala City to pick up Anna today!  (if you don't know who she is, you don't know me very well, she's my bestie since Freshman year at ISU)  From there, who knows what will happen.  We've got 2 weeks in Guatemala, her return ticket is already booked.  Anyone want to start placing bets if she actually returns when she's supposed to???

 

(pretty good description of our friendship)