Hotel El Chaparral Panajachel

... was full of green, slimey and to put explicitly; ****. <br>Our Swedish friend Erick is fluent in Spanish and read an article in a local newspaper which I don't think any of the inhabitants of San Pedro actually knew the potential danger of going into the lake. The newspaper article read that a hospital<br>(not sure of it's whereabouts in Atitlan) normally dumps it's treated waste right into the middle and right at the bottom (it's a very deep lake) of the lake but that ...

... here, spent time cooking, hanging out, dancing, hiking, exploring, swimming, kayaking, pilates-ing, practicing poi (fire spinning), speaking Spanish, and reading. Katherine visited me in mid-August too so we spent a night in a Nature Reserve past San Lucas Toliman, and an evening in Antigua! <br><br>Since I have been here, I have visited the three women's cooperatives--Ana with the group Ajbatz'Bal' in San Juan la Laguna; Julia with the group ...

... Toilman before moving into a home stay for the week and he then joined Dave and me to travel to Antigua.<br><br>Monday and Tuesday were very chilled as San Pedro calmed down after the weekend and I tried to recuperate and shake my cold which is still a week later hanging around like an unwanted guest that has definitely outstayed its welcome. On Wednesday I travelled over to San Marcos with the idea, that if I like it, of staying there for a couple of nights ...

... to get to Panajachel. Each time we got off there was another bus waiting who confirmed &#8216;Panajachel&#8217; quickly and then tossed our bags up onto the roof and quickly departed! At around 3:30ish we arrived in Panajachel &#8211; on Lake Aititlan, We intend to spend the rest of this week on the Lake &#8211; which is a beautiful and tranquil volcanic lake set in the highlands in Western Guatamala. &#8216;Pana&#8217; is known locally as Gringo town &#8211 ...

... which from where we (meaning me; Kate - obviously - was a natural) marked a significant improvement. Definitely something to try more of when we get back to London. We then had a lovely meal and headed back to the hotel for the night. The tummy bug that seems to have effected half of the group seems to be wearing off, which is good news. At the moment I feel a bit odd being the only one at dinner on the beers. This morning we drove across the mountains to ...

... were there so we went to go to the other place &amp; met up with others on the way who told us the cops were at that one too. We returned to the first place to find the cops gone so we snuck inside. It was a small courtyard with a bar up the back. Our entry fee got us a free vodka so a few more drinks later, and after chatting to the locals it was late and Teryn and I were done so we crept home and crashed out...

... s la messe on visite 7 églises dans toute la ville. Facile, la ville en est remplie. La plupart sont en ruines à cause d'un grand tremblement de terre en 1773. Avant ça, la ville s'appelait Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala et était la capitale du pays. Après le tremblement, la décision a été prise de déplacer la capitale à l'endroit où est maintenant Guatemala City puis la ville a été renommée Antigua Guatemala (Antique Guatemala).

Ok its been a while. We tried to leave san pedro but were hasseled by the local taxi guys for taking a private bus a few tense moments and we were on the way. Xela pronounced shala is a working class town that does not feel to touristy. we hooked up with a tour guy to climb santa maria volcano and now I can say volcanos 2 andrew 0. The purpose of the climb was to see into an active volcano but when we reached the top it ...

The food here is pretty good - much like Mexican food. And I´m not one of those weirdo travellers with long hair and a beard who says that all 3rd world food is good; all Western food is bad. If the food is bad, like it is in China, I´ll say it´s bad. I have had one nasty eperience though. The chicken fajitas that I had on my last night in Antigua gave me food poisoning. When I woke up on Monday, it was with the ...

... extended stay and put down some shallow roots. This is my favorite part of &#8216;traveling,&#8217; really, finding a place I like and hanging there a while, just like I did twenty-five years ago, in that house above the hot springs. The springs are still there, of course, but it&#8217;s no longer open to casual visitors.<br><br>So I look for old friends, locals I used to do business with. Many of them are still there. Small towns are the same the ...