Monday 27th 4am.
Woke at 2am and couldn’t get back to sleep. Persevered until 4am but we went to bed at 8.30pm and there is a Rooster next door that has been crowing for quite a while and doesn’t sound like he’s going to shut up any time soon. There are a few around the town and they are taking it in turns. Took over from the dogs a little after midnight….

So we got up at 6am on Sunday morning to finish packing our bags in Xela. Left our little apartment for the last time at 7am and walked to Parque Central to McDonalds for breakfast. The breakfast burritos are surprisingly good and we also needed to split a 100 Quetzal note for the bus trip. Took a taxi to the bus station “Terminal Minerva” on the outskirts of town and got on a bus. The bus was one of the “Pullman” buses which are more expensive than the standard “Chicken buses” but the seats were more comfortable and the trip was quite fast as it wasn’t stopping at every little town to pick up and drop off people. The bus was headed to Guatemala City along the Introamericano Highway so we got off at a junction after a couple of hours and took another bus heading south to Panajachel on the shore of Lake Atitlan. After half an hour we came into the town and everyone got off and so did we, not realising that it was the town of Salcaja and we still had 8 km to go to Panajachel! Realising our mistake we took a break in the nearby Pollo Campero (KFC clone, didn‘t eat there just bought a drink to use their loos.) Consulting our trusty “Lonely Planet” we discovered that there wasn’t much to see in the town although the nearby Cathedral which we could see across the town square had a procession of priests attending on Sunday mornings. We walked across the square but found our way blocked by market stalls and decided it wasn’t worth the difficulty negotiating the crowded market with our backpacks on. Found another bus on the other side of the square and departed for Panajachel.



Shortly after leaving town we came of the top of the ridge and while descending the steep road down the side of the cliff (!) had an incredible view of Lake Atitlan. It’s quite large with little towns dotted around the edge and several volcanos dominating the skyline.




Arriving in Pana we had a 20 minute walk from the bus stop to the lakeside where we planned to catch a boat to San Pedro on the other side of the lake. Found someone who would take us and took a seat in the boat after being told it would be 25 minute wait.



The boat was a reasonable size with a dozen comfortable car seats strapped in so we weren’t optimistic that the boat would be leaving before finding a few more passengers. We were entertained by some children who had been swimming in the lake who kept climbing onto the front of the boat to stare at us. Half an hour later the boat guy came back with a couple of American guys who were heading to another lakeside village. He asked us again to pay (we said no when he asked earlier as we didn’t want to be waiting hours for the boat to fill. Once you hand over the money there’s no backing out.) and assured us the boat was leaving right now before heading back up the hill with our money to tout for more passengers. 15 minutes later we were finally underway after being asked to move to a less glamorous boat with hard wooden seats for the journey.


The trip across the lake was spectacular. The land beside the lake was steep slopes running up to high ridges and these slopes were dotted with houses and corn fields. There were some quite luxurious houses on the waters edge and we passed a couple of cute villages accessible only by boat. The Americans were dropped off at their village and a short time later we arrived in San Pedro.



We were greeted on the dock by a tout who said he worked for the municipality and offered to take us to some nearby hotels. He told us about three different ones and quoted rates which seemed quite high and when he started on some pressure tactics (“we had better go now because they will get booked out” Yeah right, on a Sunday afternoon in low season!) we ditched him and walked up the hill alone.
After a while we came to the San Francisco Hotel which was in Lonely Planet as having a great view of the lake. Francisco the owner showed us a few rooms and we took one on the top floor. The rates were 50% less than what the tout had claimed and we got a discount for two nights so it was only 50Q (about $8AUD) a night for a room with bathroom and the most incredible view .







The dawn is coming and the lake is silver with twinkling lights of the villages around the edge. The sky is clear but the tops of the volcanos and ridges have caught some wisps of cloud in places. I can see a small boat heading across the lake from the dock below and the hear the sounds of the town waking and birds are twittering in the trees. (and the roosters are still going too) Very peaceful.



Heaps more photos on Facebook.