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Leaving Guatemala
Tam: We said goodbye to Antigua at 7am on Sunday morning and set off by shuttlebus to the biggest local markets in the whole of the country, Chichicastenango, almost two hours away. The bus ride was a bumpy one as we wound round and round the guatemalan highlands. As we approached the markets I expected to see a church perched up on a hill ( i eventually saw at least two) with dozens and dozens of brightly dressed locals and goods spread out on blankets on the floor, but allIi could see was a sprawling city, hotels and traffic. We fought our way to tha main strip and the markets resembled more like Malaysia's Jalan Petaling than local village markets. Still a girl has to shop! So we worked our way through the labyrinth of stalls and found the churches where locals buy flowers and burn candles and incense. We also stumbled upon the local foodcourt on our way to buy a hammock, the tent dark, smoky and full of simple mess tables outlined with local vendors selling fried chicken and hand made tortillas frying on huge paella style fry pans. After a couple of hours we needed to eat and rest so settled on a touristy cafe in the middle of an intersection , we sat high above on the balcony where i could see all what was going on below, ladies selling blankets with babies strapped to their backs, little kids selling bookmarks, locals selling shoes and underwear, although mainly women where out as about we did see the odd "cowboy" selling knives or leather belts. The competition is fierce, so fierce that even high up eating a hamburger you still get approached. This didn't bother me, when in Rome and all that! I managed to get hand delivered a beauitul ornamental huipil delivered from across the street and also bought a gorgeous hand woven tablecloth for 150 q each ( thats quetzales).
With heavy bags we met our shuttle bus back at the drop off point and walked past a Pollo Campero trailer sellig their famour fried chicken. We spied what the other tourists bought and thwn changed buses to get on the road again this time to Panajachel a small town situated right on Lake Atitlan.
Another bumpy and windy ride through more mountains until we reached the lake. The lake is huge and about 4 metres deep. We had two nights accomodation at Casa Ramos ( as part of our transport ). The hotel was basic but very close to the lake. For dinner we had some beers and fried chicken after watching yet another beautiful sunset.
The next morning we set off a tour of the lake by boat, we had 3 local towns to visit, San Marcos , San Pedro and Santiago. The bpat ride is relatively calm and it took about 30 mins to reach our first town. The small town was beautiful, a real retreat complete with yoga, meditation and relaxation centres. We walked a little way and took some beautiful photos of the lake and surrounding mountains. The second town was bigger and had a definite hippy vibe, again we walked around and almost got lost getting back to the dock, but it was an interesting walk up to the local barrios. The last town was again bustling, a bit more industrial, here we had lunch as recommended my an elderly local with a big cowboy hat. Interestingly the men wore traditional clothes too here, short cullottes and colourful cowboystyle shirts sometimes wearing a small blanket as a skirt around theie pants. Some women also wrapped embroidered belts around their heads, something i hadnt seen before. For lunh we ate on the terrace and dined on fried chicken, salad and rice with chips with beer.
The boatride back was quiet and calming. We had more beers at the cafe near our hotel and then set off into town, catching a tuk tuk to the post office to post aome postcards. The tuk tuks ate similar to those in India or Philippines and make for a zippy fun ride.
We hung out in town for the rest of the night, Coxy grabbing a bargain here and there amd had pasta for dinner enjoying two for 1 mojitos at a lovely family restaurant on the main street. Tomorrow we were tp head off to cooler climates, to San Cristobal, possible fitting in more shopping before we took the afternoon shuttle bus. Or so we thought....
Ps on the boat tour we got glimpses of Volcan Pacaya erupting, the very volcano we climbed only a few days prior!
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