Antigua - Lake Atitlan

 I had to get up very early this morning. The shuttle van to go from Antigua to Lake Atitlan picked me up at 5:30 at my hostel.

It was a 2 hour plus ride through other small towns and into the mountains.

When we got to Panachejel, one of the small communities on the lake. The van stopped at restaurant and everyone got off except for me. The driver and the waiter at the restaurant had a conversation. Apparently I signed up with a different travel agency and would be let off at the next stop.

So the next stop was just an intersection in this small community. The driver told me this was where I should get out. He told me just walk down to the bend in the street and someone would meet me. I am a bit confused. I paid for the tour at the hostel, had no receipt, I am in a small unfamiliar town and the driver is getting ready to drop me off without handing me off to anyone. 

After a few Google translate messages, and him talking to someone on the phone, he walked me down the street a ways and told me to wait by 3 orange cones and someone would meet me. The driver leaves me there.

So I at the 3 orange cones. A waiter from a restaurant there wants me to eat his restaurant. I explained to him I am supposted to meet a tour guide. He tells me that guides to meet people at this locations. He points to a your lady leaning against the rock wall by the 3 cones. I walk over and ask if she is a guide, yes she is. Checking her phone, I am on her list. Great! Back in a comfort zone.

I follow her down the street a bit, then into side alleys, down rickty steps ending at a restuarant. It is a good size restaurant with about 25 or 30 tables. I am the first one there so I got a table right next to the railing overlooking the lake and boat docks. (Much better than the others others on the van that have a great view of the busy street.) Spanish ballads playing add a nice touch to add to the ambiance.

The terrace here provides a full view of the lake and the surrounding volcanos. Picture postcard perfect.

My breakfast arrives. Scrambled eggs, fried plantains, tortias, black beans, cheese,  slices of watermelon, mango and orange. Coffee and a cookie. Very nice.

Because I am sitting at a table by myself, I was able to get my table out and do all this journaling. So much inspiration this morning, I didn't want to wait until later to write.

Now it is time to board the boat to visit other villages around the lake. As you can see from the picture, the lake is quite large.

We our group of about 16 engllish speakers boarded a boat with an english speaking Mayan guide. The spanish speakers boarded a seperate boat with their own guide. The boat trip to the first city to visite is about 24 minutes.

All the villages surrounding the lake are of Mayan ancestry and still speak Mayan as their first language. Spanish came later when they start schooling. 

We arrive at San Juan still in the cool of the morning. We willl stop at 2 shops here of demonstrations. The first is a chocolate shop demonstrating the evolution from cacoa tree to what well all know as chocolate. The second will be visting a weaving cooperative.

Before that we have to walk up a shop lined, very colorful lane, with brightly colored umbrellas hanging overhead. Definitely geared to tourism.

 

We arrived for the chocolate demonstration. This is not a home grown operation, it is the shop a major chocolate maker whose motivation is to sell you chocolate and a palethera of chocolate related products after the demonstration. Chocolates from white to 100%, creams, salves, oils and get this, rum, all made from the cocoa bean as a whole or the oil extracted from the beans.

The cacoa tree bears large pods. In each pod are 60 to 80 cacoa beans. The beans are skinned, processed and roasted on the way to you chocolate bar.

After we walked futher up the steep hill the the weavers where they demonstated the weaving process all the way from the raw cotton. Spinning, dying and weaving on a back strap loom.

After that was the option to self guide walk to see the rest of the village. Because I live in Oaxaca, I am pretty familier this type of village, I opted to go back the pier and wait for the group there. 

Although my knee is feeling pretty good having had my platlette rich plasma injections. I still limit my walking. I want it to continue to feel good for the whole of my 4 months travel.

I enjoyed my time back at the pier, sitting in the shade taking in the village life. Boats coming and going with tourists and local residents. The boats are also the main source of transportation for the villagers. I was also enjoying hearing a group of teen trinket sellers having a lively conversation in Mayan. Very interesting.

After a couple hours here in San Juan, we re boarded the boat to head to the next village. This was a short stop, I again opted out of strolling the village. The streets were even steeper than San Juan. We stayed in the village less than an hour.

The boat ride to our final village visit was about 10 minutes. Our first stop here was a lunch break. Unlike breakfast, we had to pay for lunch. It wasn't expensive though, $3 to $6 for lunch. I had a pretty good fish taco and a local Guatemalan beer.

After lunch, there was the option to do a walking tour with the guide or pay for tuktuk tour for another hour around the village. And again, I chose to head back to the pier.

The clouds started to roll in with occasional lightning creating a little anxiety about the boat ride back. It did start raining about the time we boarded. The boat has a roof, so we didn't get wet on the ride back, except for unfortunate few that opted to sit in the front seats. The ride back was choppy, but not dangerously so. After about 20 minutes we were back in...................... and the end of the tour.

From there we were all directed to either hotels or the meeting spot to reconnect with our vans to head back to Antigua. My van departed a little before 5 and I arrived back at my accomodates about 8:30. A long ride, much of it through winding mountain roads. I was more than reading to get back at my place. A very long day, but totally worth the time and money.