Jan 21, 2006 - Panajachel, Guatemala

Yesterday we crossed the very chatoic Mexico-Guatemala border and arrived at Panajachel at night. Panajachel is a small village next to Lake Atitlan, which was formed some 85,000 years ago due to volcanic action. Several small villages dot along the lake, separated by three dormant volcanoes. Our guide told us that Guatemala is full of organized crime, especially robberies and theft, so we have to be extra careful, especially after dark. Sandy and I walked along the main street to the lake last night after dinner, but halfway through we...

Dec 4, 2005 - GUATEMALA - Panajachel & San Pedro (Lake Atitlan)

Hello everybody! Long time no write! This will be a long one, so go get a cuppa and put your feet up. Well, on Sunday 4th December we left San Cristobal De Las Casas early, for our journey to Guatemala. We took a bus ride for around 4 hours to the Mexican border destination of Ciudad Cuauhtemoc. It was hot and there wasn't much happening (except for mangy street dogs and dodgy taxis hanging about). We got our passports stamped and jumped into took one of these taxis (a rather fetching huge bright orange station wagon / estate car, that had...

Nov 27, 2005 - Lago Atitlan

I feel so blessed that so many people have been able to come visit us and share in our incredible experience. Our good friends Robin and Jeff Goldberg and their 4 month old Ray were just here for a week. Once again we took them to all of our favourite ruins, churches, markets and restaurants. Unlike other visitors, I was able to go with them on a new adventure, to Lago Atitlan. It is a magnificent lake surrounded by volcanoes and tiny villages of Mayan people. The photo opportunities were abundant, especially at the Thursday market in a...

Sep 15, 2005 - Panajachel, Lago De Atitlan

Mark - Came down from Flores for a few days rest by a lake in the Guatemalan highlands. Caught an overnight bus down to Guatemala City and then changed onto a`chicken` bus (these are often colorfully repainted former US school buses with a liberal "bring on what you want" policy, ie chickens are fair game) - see photo. Which was a real experience squashed together, the best thing was watching the conductor/porter climb onto the roof from the front door whilst the bus was doing 40mph round a mountain bend, in order to retrieve luggage from...

Aug 23, 2005 - A weekend of contrasts

Wow, what a weekend of contrasts! Saturday (Aug 20), the school arranged for us to go to one of the camps the guerillas used during the Guatemalan civil war. Ronaldo, a Guatemalan man who has guided most of the trips we've taken, fought in the civil war, and it was his camp we went to. Getting there required a 20-minute drive and an hour of rapid walking, mostly downhill, through the Guatemalan jungle. Since the end of the war in 1996, a water pipe has been installed in the area, so a network of trails--along which we walked--now...

Aug 7, 2005 - Weekend trip - Chichicastenango

Although I didn't much feel like exploring Antigua during the week I did take a day excursion with the girls to the town of Chichicastengo. The key attraction is the local markets that happen on Thursdays and Sundays. We took a shuttle - the luxury way to travel. It was crowded with crafts, brightly coloured textiles, masks, pottery.... The markets were incredibly crowded and it was a fight to move. Although its a tourist attraction it was mostly busy with the locals - usually carting produce on their head or with a baby strapped to their...

Aug 5, 2005 - Solola, Panajachel, San Marcos, San Pedro (Laguna Atitlan)

05.08 We caught the 7am bus to Panajachel but got of early at Soloa to browse through their huge local market. It was so busy! It was really difficult to walk around with our daypacks strapped to our fronts. We often found ourselves being pushed by numerous traditionally dressed women in the direction they wanted to go. The paths between stalls were narrow. However, the local women managed to get where they wanted to go quite quickly. Here, practically everyone was dressed in local traditional attire. The men were fantastic. They wear 3/4...

Jun 11, 2005 - Pana and Lake Atitlan

Well, I ended up going to Pana (Panajachel or something like that) this morning on the bus...it is right on Lake Atitlan...I think i was wrong about the lake being in a caved in volcano, but the lake is surrounded by 3 volcanos and the scenery is stunning. It was actually kinda cool last night to look through my guide book and decide where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do... but its been it has been really relaxing to only have to consider myself and not worry about what anyone else wants to do... However, I still think sharing cool...

May 17, 2005 - Lake Atitlan

Yeah, its great to finally have the web site up to date, and get some more pics up there! We still have a few things to add to a couple of entries, but the basics are there. We loved Antigua - the colourful buildings, cobblestone streets, old crumbling 16th century churches, great cheap food (and booze) etc. We are now in Panajachel on the shore of Lake Atitlan, 3 hours to the west of Antigua. Good bus trip this morning, and we have been relaxing after finding some really good digs, and will take a boat ride in the morning around the lake...

May 15, 2005 - Chichicastenango Markets

A 7am crowded minibus to Chichicastenango for the colourful markets - safely arriving at 9:30am after a fairly hairy journey up and down mountainsides contesting with oncoming trucks and chicken buses. A colourful scene of market stalls lining streets as far as the eye could see, plus the usual market hussle and bussle met us on our arrival. Disembarked with the instructions to be back at the bus by 1:50pm, then joined the fray. Where to start..... just followed our noses, haggled for any purchases and generally enjoyed the scene. 'Chichi'...

May 10, 2005 - Panajachel and Lake Atitlan

Okay so to sum up Antigua. It's a pretty little place; a colonial town that is struggling with itself because it is such a tour place the modren world in coming through a colonial shell. It's really beautiful and I think it will remain that way because there are restictions on the building and what not for new developers and investors. I spent my last night in the area at a place called The Earth Lodge which was really great, really quiet and very friendly. They have limited accomidations and it's outside of Antigua so you basically call...

Apr 23, 2005 - Chichi et toutes ses couleurs

Le celebre marche de Chichicastenango... beaucoup plus touristique que San Francisco Al Alto mais tres sympas pour apprecier les tissus brodes a la main des differentes communautes indigenes qui viennent vendre ici leurs productions artisanales pour me regaler a prendre des photos, assister a des processions religieuses ou se melangent le catholicisme et les croyances indigenes et pour craquer (j'avoue) sur une jupe et quelques foulards (entre autres !!!) Derriere ces etalages de couleurs, c'est curieux de decouvrir comme un arriere scene,...