Panajachel, Lago Atitlan

Take a breath- this is a long one. Grab a cup of coffee or something. Sorry!

Since the weekend in Monterrico, a few other volunteers and I had been pretty antsy to take another trip and see some more of Guatemala. This past weekend, I had the great fortune of finally being able to do just that! We went to the town of Lago Atitlan (Lake Atitlan), which is a must-see if you find yourself in Guatemala. It's a beautiful lake up high in the mountains. Some parts are touristy, but the Mayan culture is still present- it's a good balance. There are a bunch of little towns around the lake, and we decided to stay in Panajachel. Panajachel definitely has a reputation for being a gringo-town and more touristy, but it's a great starting point for exploring the lake. Including myself, there are 4 girl volunteers my age and we all just graduated college in May; two of us work in the clinic, the other two work in the schools. And so, it was with this group of lovely ladies that I took my half day on Friday (we get one Friday afternoon free a month) and headed off to Lago Atitlan!

As I mentioned, we all just graduated. The whole student loans and service stipend thing kind of puts a dent in our travel budgets. Thus, we were all about doing this weekend cheap. Instead of a fancy (read: expensive) tourist shuttle, this meant traveling with public buses (las camionetas) to the lake. The thing with the camionetas is that only Guatemalans take them. Being white and blonde, I really stand out on them. However, camionetas are a way of life here, and we take them all the time to places around NPHG. Lago Atitlan was a lot further than Antigua though, and I couldn't help but be a little nervous heading into unknown camioneta territory with a group of white girls who are obviously foreign and traveling. Lucky, all the girls were on the same page with safety. Sexy money belts were put on, money was divided and put in separate places, cell phones were charged, valuables were generally left behind, and the bare minimum was packed. I was pretty proud of myself for getting everything into my little Jansport backpack, and I had room to spare! (It helps when your two packing rules are "SIMPLE!" and "Boys don't matter.") This picture was taken at the end of the weekend right before we headed home, but as you can see by my mace and Kyra's rape whistle, we were ready to take on and any all shenanigans we might have encountered on the journey.

DON'T MESS.

Five buses and three hours later, I found myself stepping off the camioneta alive and well in Panajachel, Lago Atitlan. I couldn't believe I got there by paying only about $4 USD- INCREDIBLE. My wallet was very happy, and I got to fulfill my wish of authentically traveling like a real Guatemalan at least one time. We spent the few hours of daylight left wandering around and getting our barrings. In the evening, we grabbed dinner in a super quaint Chinese restaurant called Las Chinitas and passed several hours chatting and enjoying each others company.

The lake, dock view.

On Saturday morning, we headed off to Reserva Natural Atitlan (Nature Reserve Atitlan). It's located a few minutes outside of town, which meant I had an excuse to finally experience riding in a little Guatemalan taxi called a tuk tuk. The tuk tuk was like a cross between a golf cart and an ATV, and I felt like I was on a ride at Disneyland. During the short drive, our driver was nice enough to pull over to let us snap a few pictures of the lake.

Lago Atitlan, Guatemala. It speaks for itself.

First tuk tuk experience. Faster, faster, faster!

We spent the morning hiking around the Reserva Natural taking all the natural beauty in. Before we even left the visitor center, I couldn't help but snap a million photos of these gorgeous hanging flowers over some tables.

flowerrrr powerrrr

Almost immediately after we started hiking on the trail, we stumbled on the monkeys! They were acting exactly like monkeys should, hanging from their tails and eating bananas. Once they started fighting and jumping from branch to branch, I felt like I was watching a scene from Planet Earth

   

There were several suspension bridges, which we all had a lot of fun crossing...

Fearless Jess.

It was a little sad to still see trash along the river banks even in the nature reserve, but I guess when you're in a developing country you have to address some other concerns like food and health for people before you can start to focus on the environment. Overall though, it was still really beautiful to walk through the jungle! Here are some of the highlights:

Big waterfall, probably my favorite part.

Rushing river rapids below...

HUGE leaves. Probably twice as long as I am tall.

Vines vines vines.

Nature getting out of hand. "Why yes Kyra, you do have something in your eye..."

During the afternoon on Saturday, we wandered around the market and some different parts of town. My favorite scene was probably the Catholic church. It looked very Mayan, there were all these gorgeous green mountains around the valley, and kids were playing soccer in front of it. Totally Guatemala.

The Catholic church...

...with kiddos playing some fútbol in front of the hills!

I had to laugh when I stumbled on the Nevada street sign- you're never too far from home! ;)

  

As night began to fall, we wandered into a popular bar called Pana Rock to enjoy some pre-dinner drinks during happy hour. Don't ask me why or how, but there was a little 8 year old blonde boy named Aaron sitting at the bar who was very talkative. As I sipped my strawberry margarita, I discussed life with him. My favorite quote from the night... Me: "We're in Guatemala for a year." Aaron, eyes huge: "WOOOOW, that's long enough for a BIKE!" Ahhh to be 8. After Pana Rock, Saturday evening with filled with delicious food, great conversation with the girls, and even a splurge purchase of ice cream. (It was so worth it.) I don't think we walked anywhere as fast as we did when we were heading to the ice cream parlor haha.

The happiest of happy hours with 8 year old Aaron.

On Sunday, we had to head back to NPH but we still got to have some fun kayaking on the lake in the morning. ($4.50 USD for an hour? Don't mind if I do!) I don't know what the deal was with my kayak, but Emily and I could not go straight to save our lives. I wasn't even mad though. Just floating on the water, listening to the rain fall on the lake, and taking in the scenery was great! On one side of me, there were gorgeous, lush green hills. On the other side, the huge, dark, ominous volcanoes rose into the clouds and loomed over the lake. Really, really cool.

Gorgeous greens on one side of me...

...and volcano action on the other. Loved it.

As you might have guessed by the fact that I'm alive to write this blog post, we made it back to NPHG using the camionetas without any problems. Overall, it was incredible weekend. As cool as it was to see a new part of Guatemala, I also really enjoyed just shooting the breeze with the 3 incredible young ladies I was lucky enough to have in my company. I can't wait to travel in Guatemala with other great people again!