First Full Day in Guatemala

A Stinky Start

I wake with a start, thinking we missed the alarm but my Fitbit is still on Ontario time.

I head to our washroom, eyes adverted from inside the toilet and try flushing to no avail. No water from sink or shower either.

I stink, my hair looks greasy and I regret making the lazy decision not to shave my legs before our flight. John says it will look like I’m wearing black leggings.

I inform John that I am going to go to the front desk and tell them “Yo necesito ducho” ” yo necesito correr agua”. John replies”I’d like to see the guy’s face when you tell him that!”

I put on some clothes and in friendly spanish inform the staff of my predicament. A nice German man at one of the tables saiys he had some water earlier and he was checking out at  7am and we could use his shower. I am thankful.

He goes to check and comes back with bad news. No running water in his room. He says, “Don’t worry, your hair will look fine once you comb it”.

“I did comb it”, I reply.

I wash up as best I can with wet wipes and filtered drinking water. There is nothing to do about the legs except hope that someone doesn’t mistake me for some humungous, new species of tarantula.

Breakfast is enjoyable. The hotel has a lovely garden.

Shuttle to Panajachel

John and I now sit waiting for our shuttle bus  to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan. The bus is 45 minutes late.

There are ten people on our bus which should take five hours. We stop briefly at a Burger King to switch to a larger bus and notice a guard armed with a shotgun and rounds of ammunition around his waist patrolling the parking lot. We pass through Guatemala City driving up and up into the lush mountains.

We stop in the beautiful town of Antigua after 2.5 hours. Many of the shuttle passengers are staying here but John and I wait to catch our next shuttle to Panajachel. We are told we have 40 minutes for a lunch break before our shuttle leaves. We eat in a cute little bakery/restaurant, decorated with old bikes on the wall.

I will not say much about the town now because we will be staying there for four nights.

Our shuttle is over 30 minutes late due to traffic.

We wind our way up and up on a serpentine road with steep drops below and above the slopes are reinforced against landslides.

Finally we see Lake Atitlan in the distance surrounded by numerous tall volcanoes, most (but not all) of which are dormant. The air is a bit smoky.

Although it is bright and sunny, it is surprisingly cool due to the altitude.

Arrival to Lake Atitlan

We descend into the valley around the lake. The views are gorgeous.

The shuttle drives up and down the streets of Panajachel and through a central gas station dropping off people. We are the last ones on the bus and they drop John and I back off at the  first stop where they switch us to a third shuttle to take us to our accommodationsjust outside of the town.

Hotel Atitlan Reserva Naturale

We pass some beautiful resorts before stopping at our accommodation, the Hotel Atitlan Reserva Naturale, which is set in a nature reserve.

I love this place. We are in a cabin on the reserve. A coati (like a racoon)  is walking around the main complex like he owns the place.

Our cabin is lovely with a king size bed and beautiful shower with hot running water.

We grab a tuk-tuk into town which costs 10 Guatemalan quetzals for locals or 20 for tourists. That is just the way it is.

Sad Truth of the TukTuks

We just miss the sunset when we get to the waterfront but enjoy the afterglow behind the volcanos.

There are tons of restaurants in town, half of them pizza. We choose one that offers soup starters and a main course. So much food comes that I can only finish a third of it. John can’t finish his either.

We head back for an early night