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Dear all,
What a great birthday!!
After a little cumbersome ride to Lago Atitlan, we arrived at 11am. Maarten had a destination in mind and directed us towards there upon arrival. How surprised was I when I found myself in a shop arranging paraglide flights over the lake. That was my birthday surprise - Maarten let me know. What a cool idea!! I have been saying for some time that I wanted to try paragliding before. Unfortunately it was not possible the same day because of unfavorable winds.
We had decided to make it a great day - so we continued on to an internet café to have a birthday chat with the family back home. The next stop was by boat to our great hotel in Jaibalito, a tiny village at the side of the lake. We moved into the nice room with beautiful view over a large garden with hummingbirds, salamanders, cats and dogs (and many large spiders as we found out during the night). The rest of the afternoon we spent at the pool and whirpool, just hanging out and having drinks with a great view over the lake. At night we had booked a meal with the hotel's restaurant. We were a bit surprised to find that the dinner took place together with the other guests. But soon we enjoyed their company. And when they found out it was my birthday they sang "Happy birthday" for me. For desert I received a cake with a candle in it so I could make a wish. We spent the rest of the evening with some good wine the guests, managers and owner of the hotel. It really had been a special day. Thank you all also for your numerous birthday greetings and emails!!
The following days at the lake we spent touring around. We did a trekking around the lake and to a little waterfall. The waterfall was hidden in the skirts of the mountain surrounding the lake - we would have never found it without our guide. The place seemed to host some god because local people had put down flowers there. The next day we visited some other places around the lake. All small villages are very different, but what they have in common is that a lost of indigenous people live there. Most people wear their traditional dresses every day so streets and markets appear colorful from the people. From the towns we saw we liked San Juan most - here we had lunch at a fabulous little restaurant run by a Jewish couple. They offer surprisingly good cheese platters with real (!) cheese, which you hardly receive here anywhere. So we sat in their backyard with good cheese, enjoying the nice climate of the lake.
Today, the last day at the lake, we just hung out at the hotel, the garden, the pool and had a good time. We had reserved it for the paragliding, but the wind had not changed - we will make up for it at another place. Fotos of our days at the lake will follow soon.
Its time to get going again. Tomorrow we will continue on to Honduras - first to the Maya ruins of Copan and then on to the Bay Islands.
Thinking about you all & thank you for your emails and comments!!
Yours,
Maarten & Anna
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