Lago Atitlan

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  San Marcos, Guatemala
Friday, June 22, 2007

Last weekend my Spanish school took an overnight trip to Lake Atitlan.  It is a huge lake with 2 volcanoes towering on each side.  I couldnīt see the whole lake with my own eyes.  I would have loved a helicopter view of the whole lake.  It is listed in the book of 1,000 places to see before you die as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world so I couldnīt pass up this trip.

We left Xela at 7am on Saturday morning in a private minibus with 15 of us students.  En route we encountered a lot of contstruction.  The roads into and out of Xela are in the mountains so lots of blind curves.  We were stopped for some time near one area of construction where there was only a one lane road, just like back home.  In those areas local people carried baskets with food and drinks to sell to the passengers stopped in the buses on the road.

Hotel in Paradise

Most of the time we were making good time.  Although it was rather scary when people would pass, especially the chicken buses that are the size of regular school buses back home.  Many people pass in areas that are near blind curves.  I saw lots of accidents waiting to happen.  After seeing this I donīt think Iīll be riding any chicken buses.  I was happy to be on a tour with a school who is concerned for our safety.

We arrived in Panajachel one of the major tourist towns along the lake.  We arrived just in time since I was getting carsick and had forgotten my motion sickness pills at my apartment.  The sun was out and it was much warmer than it is in Xela during the day.  It felt tropical. 

We boarded a boat that was just for us to cross the lake to San Marcos.  It took probably a good 30 minutes or more to cross the lake.  We enjoyed the sunshine and cool breeze while enjoying the scenery of blue skies and green hillsides sloping into the lake.  We arrived in San Marcos to drop off our luggage and then we were off to Santiago to see the church there and walk through the market street to buy souvenirs.  We were told we would have a tour, but we soon laughed about the misunderstanding of this one word because our guide, a teacher from the school thought tour meant just walking around and seeing the town

Lake and Volcano

.  All of us expected a formal tour telling us the history, etc.  Walking past the market stalls children begged us to buy the little crafts they were selling.  They would come down in price to make a sale.  It was heart renching to tell them no.

I hate bartering and being pestered by the salespeople.  But I was in desperate need of a coin purse.  I looked at one stall and the lady gave a great price.  5 Quetzales which is less than one US dollar.  I was very happy about my first purchase of a handmade item here in Guatemala.  We only had 30 minutes in Santiago and it was late.  Many of us were hungry and we had to travel by boat 20 minutes before we could eat.  A few people werenīt back to the boat on time so we had to wait for them.  While we waited two little boys boarded our boat and begged for money from all of us.  They used English American phrases they had learned to appeal to us.  It was very sad to watch.

We ate in San Pedro at a cafe called Freedom.  It was a cafe owned by a hippie couple who spoke English.  I donīt know why we didnīt eat somewhere more traditional, but it was the choice of the guide.  It was pouring down rain the whole time we were there and it took 2 hours to get our food.  We were finally eating lunch at 5pm. 

After lunch\dinner we took the boat to San Marcos

Santiago Cathedral with Kelly

.  A few of us explored the small town.  San Marcos is a small town where dirt and cement paths are the roads connecting all the businesses and hotels.  It is an area around the lake where many hippies from Europe and the USA have settled.  It is a tourist town known for massages and meditation techniques.  Many of us were disappointed to stay in this type of town because there wasnīt a lot to see or do.  However it was still raining when we arrived so we couldnīt do much anyway.  They had a restaurant that served as their movie theater.  They had a tv and they were showing Shrek 3.  I was too tired to sit through a movie so a friend and I went to the hotel restaurant and had a small bite to eat around 8pm. 

The hotel where we stayed was a cluster of cabanas.  They were built of tropical woods and had tropical style thatched roofs.  They were fabulous and very authentic.  They even came with the hugest spiders I have ever seen in my life in the wild!  The hotel owner informed us they werenīt poisonous, but I didnīt care.  I scoured every corner of my room and pulled back all the covers on my bed to make sure I didnīt have any unwanted guests in my room!  I was thankful my mission is in Xela where there arenīt a lot of bugs, just flies.

The hotel had a traditional sauna so some of us girls tried it out that night to get warm

View from San Marcos

.  I donīt really like sitting in a room to be intentionally hot, but I tried it.  You duck down into a little round room of stones and sit in the dark, although we took in a candle.  I was a bit claustraphobic at first but I got used to it.  After the sauna it was time for a good nights sleep.

Sunday morning we had breakfast with a beautiful view of the lake and a volcano.  Then I walked around and got some great pictures!  Hopefully here soon I will be able to download some of my photos onto my blog for everyone to see.  Iīm not sure how it works so I donīt know for sure.

Soon it was time to drive back to Xela.  We drove around hairpin curves where the back of the bus drug on the pavement.  I couldnīt look down over the cliffs to one side.  It was a beautiful view but I was feeling very carsick by the time we were in a relatively flat area.  We drove through some towns on the way back to Xela where you could see the real poverty of Guatemala.  I knew it existed but hadnīt laid eyes on it until then.

20 minutes away from Xela we stopped at the oldest church in Central America and took a group photo.  One girl didnīt make it in the photo since she was throwing up in the bushes by the bus.  I was feeling quite nauseous myself by the time we got back to the school.  But the trip was worth the whole experience.  It is much safer to travel with a group and much cheaper than doing it alone.  If I would have gone alone I would have had to take the lanchers, basically buses that are boats, and I was told they are very unsafe because they flip over a lot and people get trapped inside and drown.

The bad thing about traveling like this is that I spoke English the whole weekend.  When you are alone you are forced to communicate in Spanish which helps you learn.  I also disliked being with some of the students because they feel the need to discuss everything they hate about the USA.  Over breakfast one girl with us was saying all the things wrong with our culture, government and country.  I agree we have problems that need fixed and I donīt like the current administration, but I think we have a lot more going for us than most people in the rest of the world.  What she was saying and how she was saying really bothered me especially when other Americans and Europeans were sitting at tables around us.  I donīt think you can say I was worried about īīairing our dirst laundry Ļ I think it had more to do with the fact that I am positive and optimistic that people are good in general and that we can make a difference and changes things for the better in the future for both our own country and around the world.  I was irritated because she couldnīt see how blessed we are to have what we have and that itīs just a matter of making others see that and that maybe we donīt need all the material items we think we do.  I think in the future we will take better care of our environment and have a better healthcare system.  I am proud of my country and I was very proud of my state!  She lives in Arizona and is a teacher.  She had lots of complaints about the education system there.  I was proud that I grew up in Iowa and that I received a good education.  I was proud that I learned values and the importance of family, friends, the environment and faith rather than learning that material things are more important.

I miss all of you and wish you could be here!  Have a great weekend!

dianaj25

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