Antigua y Lake Atitlan

Leaving Copan

I showed up for my 12 o´clock shuttle to find that it wasn´t there. They told me that at 3 we might leave, but when I returned, there was still no shuttle. Then they said that there would be a shuttle at 9am.
Eventually I left Copan at 12 the next day. While it sucked to basically waste a day, it wasn´t that big of deal. I went out to the bars in Copan and had some awesome Thai curry. Plus, I got a free night in a hostel for the ordeal. Keeping me company during our wait was a retired nurse from Idaho who was in the midst of a four month trip through Central America.

Antigua

Antigua used to be the capital city a few hundred years ago, but was abandoned after getting rocked by some earthquakes. They didn´t pick up the rubble, so what´s left is a city full of old ruined churches and buildings, making it a great city to spend a day walking through.

I stayed in Hostel Gato Negro, which was a pricey 7 dollars per night. I specifically chose the place for the free breakfast, and it was worth it. I shared a room with a couple girls from Sweden, and a few other guys (also from Sweden, I believe). It was nice to be in a town with a lot of travellers, and I got to meet a lot more people here.

My first full day I explored the city for a few hours, checked out an old church, and had 3 ice cream cones, for a quarter each. At 2pm I left on a shuttle with 12 other people for Volcan Papaya, one of a few active volcanoes in Guatemala. It was about a 90 minute trek in the shuttle before we met up with our guide, a woman who spoke Spanish so slow and curtailed for a Gringo´s ear, I understood almost everything she said. One of the highlights for me was when she said a fairly obscure word, cangrejal, that a few others didn´t understand. I acted as translator, since I recently rafted Rio Cangrejal (River of Crabs!). It took our group four hours to get to the top, where we were greeted by an unpredictable lava flow that had forced earlier groups to take an alternate route. You could hear the creaking of volcanic rocks being pushed by the lava. Along the route there were a few dogs that followed us all the way up, and down. Also, there were locals charging five dollars for taxis naturales (horses). I included some pictures, but since we reached the lava at dusk, it was a little hard to capure.

My other full day in Antigua was spent studying Spanish in a cafe, wandering about the city, looking at ruins, and hiking to the cross outside of town. The cross-walk was decent, and I was pleased to find some tourist police there. I got a great view of the city, and could here a wedding in the distance.

Lake Atitlan and San Pedro La Laguna

I ended up shuttling out at noon the next day to go to Lake Atitlan. While my shuttle was a little pricey (8$), it saved me from having to make two exchanges and was only a couple dollars more expensive. Joining me on the bus were the two girls from Sweden I had met in Gato Negro. Since we had the same (very common) travel itinerary, we joined up for the trip to San Pedro and the next day´s volcano hike. After travelling solo for awhile, it was nice to have a couple people to travel with.

When we arrived in the main tourist city of Lake Atitlan, Panajachal, we were steered directly to the port, since the city wasn´t completely safe at the moment. I changed plans, and took the boat to San Pedro. We arrived at our hostel, Jarachi´k a little later, and I booked a very reasonably priced (5$) private room with a private bath and double bed. The hostel is also home to an amazing and cheap restaurant.

I booked a guide, Caesar, to take us up Volcan San Pedro. Joining us were three guys from Switzerland. We also met some Canadians on the trail, who were driving from Vancouver to Brazil, for Carnaval. We took a tuk-tuk up to the visitors center, which saved us a couple hundred meters of climbing, and an hour or walking. The trek took us all the way up to 3,020 meters from a starting point of approximately 1800 meters. It basically went straight up, with very few switchbacks or flat spots, so it only took three hours to reach the peak. The clear day gave us some great views of the lake and surrounding villages. We got back at about 3, and I went on a nice, relaxed six mile run to the neighboring village.

Today, I attempted to run to Panajachal, where I could take a boat back to San Pedro. Unfortunately, my not-so-detailed map made it seem a lot closer than it actually was. Also, I may have missed a turn. I ran for about 13 miles, and then walked for 3 hours, and still hadn´t made it. After running through three of the towns, the road turned to trail, which ended up turning into a trail that was impossible to run on. I decided to just go to the next city and get a ride on a boat back to San Pedro. Even though I didn´t make it, it was a good run; I had great views of the lake, and got to see a few of the surrounding Mayan villages. I succeeded, and made it back to eat a giant lunch.

Manaña

Tomorrow I hope to leave very early for a bus to Guatemala City, where I will change buses to Coban, where I will take one more bus to Lenquin. There, I will be doing some spelunking, tubing, and swimming. Info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semuc_Champey

From there, I will be going to Flores, the main tourist town outside of Tikal. I will stay there for a night, and then camp in Tikal, so I can see sunrise and sunset near the ruins and surrounding jungle. After that, I hope to have at least three days to leisurely bus back to La Ceiba, Honduras. The one stop I hope to make is in Rio Dulce.