Refusing Complacency: Pana-rama

Xela’s chicken bus station is crowded, unorganized, and busy. There were four or five rows of buses, no order that we could see. We walked down each row searching for the right bus, in between tons of people carrying sacks of produce, children selling gum, fruit, and sodas, and men hawking bus rides. We were told twice by different hawkers that there is no direct bus to Panajachel, and we should take the route through their city, but we had read about one so we ignored their lies and kept searching! At last, we found it!

We took a half-full (YAY!) chicken bus to Panajachel (Pan-ah-ha-shell), a short and easy two hour ride. Pana is on the northern shore of Lago de Atitlan or Lake Atitlan. The lake is surrounded by three volcanoes. It is absolutely stunning. The elevation here is about a mile high, but it was still relatively warm. In Pana, we grabbed a tuk-tuk to the hostel we had chosen. Tuk-tuk’s are tiny taxi’s that can fit three people (barely) and has a structure similar to a golf cart. The hostel we had chosen was called El Sol (The Sun), it was run by a Japanese family and claimed to have traditional Japanese baths. The owner wasn’t too excited about us having Oscar, but showed us around anyway. When we made it back to the desk three Japanese travelers walked in. The owner made it clear he would rather rent to them instead. Fine, we grabbed a passing pick-up back to the center of town. We spotted Mario’s Rooms on the way, which was a recommendation from the book. It included breakfast, but after we checked in and were settled into the room, they told us there would be another charge added because of Oscar. Geez, we were bummed! Q300 ($38) per night was way out of our budget. As soon we were up and fed, we hightailed it out of that place!

Someone on the street said they knew of a place that was quiet and clean for Q35 ($4) per person per night, we decided it was worth checking out. WOW! What a find! This place was awesome. A small place with about 10 clean, well furnished rooms with TV’s. The courtyard was closed from the street, perfect for Oscar. Orange and lime trees grew down the middle; hammocks were hung in front of the doors. We asked our guide the name of this cool place we had found, we were informed it didn’t have one. Posada Sin Nombre (Inn Without Name) we decided.

The lake has a huge indigenous Mayan population, mostly Q’eqchi (Kek-chee), Kaqchiquel(Kack-chee-kell), and Tz’utuhil. We visited a huge artisan market here, and bought presents to send home for Christmas. The Mayan women are expert weavers. The designs on their clothing, tapestries, and accessories are intricate and colorful. Guatemala is a rainbow. The women wear such brightly colored clothes. Stitched flowers, people, animals, and Mayan symbols appear on skirts, blouses, belts, headbands, jewelry. We had heard of some hot springs in the area, in a teeny tiny town called Santa Catarina. Jason woke up feeling terrible that day, but hot springs are usually therapeutic for ailments like his. We took a tuk-tuk the short drive and sadly found out that the hot springs no longer exist! The lake has no natural drainage. There are no rivers or streams to empty the lake. This past rainy season was the worst they have seen. Torrential rains have filled the lake to the point of flooding homes, businesses, Mayan ruins, and the hot springs. We met a European woman who had bought a fancy house on the lake with 28 meters of beach and yard, she now has one meter because of the rain. Lago de Atitlan is proof of global warming! Jason grabbed the first tuk-tuk back since he was feeling so terrible. Jay and I wondered around the small town, I got to take a picture of a woman weaving, though I did have to pay her. I guess when money is involved, the soul stays put! There was a dark storm rolling down the mountain, so we hopped in the back of a pick-up for Pana.

We soon departed Panajachel and took a boat to San Marcos La Laguna, one of our favorite spots of the trip! The lanchas(boats) were long and narrow; four rows of benches made up the hull. Probably not US Coast Guard approved, but efficient! Next blog on San Marcos!