Lake Atitlan

It takes a bit of time to get used to the roads and driving habits in a new country. Whilst generally the traffic so far seemed a little slower and less aggressive than Mexico, it became apparent that the large coloured and decorated buses loaded with passengers, commonly known as chicken buses, rule the roads. 

On three occasions I was forced off the road by them coming head on towards me while they were overtaking. No apology, no trying to avoid me, just flashing high beam and loud horns telling me to get the fuck out of their way. Hmmm lesson learned. Ironically I was the one stopped by the police at a random licence check. All was ok and I mentioned how dangerous the buses were driving and yes, they agreed they are dangerous. Thanks guys.

The ride to Lake Atitlan the next day was a downhill winding road with a few photo opportunities and spectacular views of the surrounding volcanoes. 

I wound my way to a town called Panajachel on the northern side of the lake. A popular tourist spot it was fairly quiet with a lot of hotels that appeared empty. I managed to negotiate a room for two nights for 100 Quetzales ($13) a night with a nice hidden spot for Ziggy and killer views of the lake from a special open room on the second floor. Intuition working well!

I stayed for three nights. On my second day I took one of the public boats straight across the lake to a little town called Santiago nestled between the two volcanoes. There was some week long festival happening and it was a lot more crowded with a labyrinth of markets selling food, clothes, art and everything else. 

The people here are very small with most not reaching my shoulders so it was easy to see my way ahead through the crowded mayhem amongst boisterous haggling, spruking vendors and background explosions of fireworks. Twice I was blocked up by a small group of people, both times a man and three or four women and I could feel hands searching for my pockets. I knocked the hands away when I realised what they were doing then barged my way through them to break their blocking of my passage. Fortunately I have zippers on my pockets and they only managed to partly open them and nothing was stolen.

 After finding some good coffee and knocking back another 150 requests to buy things, I walked through the steep residential area and took in more views of the lake and volcanoes. 

After five hours of wandering I made my way back to the boat, returned to Panajachel walked another lap of the main street to find dinner then headed back to the hotel.

 The next day I rode up to the highlands and half way around the lake, visiting a number of small towns and taking in the scenery. The roads were rough and potholed for much of the ride so I was on my guard but travelling without luggage makes it easy. It was nice to have a day exploring but there were some serious storm clouds looming so I didn’t go as far as I would have liked. 

I stopped in a small steep town for some lunch and watched the boats bringing tourists to the town where they had fifteen minutes to come and have a look before being herded back to continue to the next town. When I returned to the hotel I knew it was time to leave the next morning.