El Lago y La Mujer

:: Day 49 in Guatemala ::

Keeping up with a blog can be hard work. Kudos to those of you that do this every day. I’m not sure how you constantly come up with new things to write about. Meanwhile, I am out trying to do new and exciting things to write about… and that of course gets in the way of actually writing. So much happens so quickly… now its Saturday and its time to play catch-up.

:: Lago de Atitlan ::

As I mentioned previously, this was Rachel’s last week in Guatemala. So we had scheduled some travelling last weekend. We didn’t get to go to Rio Dulce like we had wanted, but instead opted for Lago de Atitlan which is much closer. Saturday morning I took a tourist shuttle (more expensive but more comfortable and less risky than chicken buses) from Guatemala City to Antigua to Panajachel. Sounds boring to take a bus by yourself for 2-3 hrs, but of course I ended up sitting next to and talking to a guy who lives in Solola, which is the town right before Panajachel, the whole way there. Turns out that he runs repatriation programs for Guatemalan refugees who are just now returning to Guatemala after the armed conflict, and he used to sell toys so he as travelled to the US and China quite a bit (same line of work Hannover is in now).


So, like last time, we left the hotel booking until the last minute. So much so, that I went door to door to some of the hotels until finding one with an available room. The first two were BOOKED SOLID. The third one, El Chaparral, was also full. As I inisisted, “are you sure you don’t have any rooms left?” the manager kind of hesitated and said, “well, we are setting up one room on the third floor as we speak”. After determining that the room would fit five people, I asked if I could see it. It was a meeting room – like the type they use for conferences because the 3^rd floor of this little hotel is their “conference center”. There were two queen sized beds and two guys who were starting to put blankets on those beds. No other furniture whatsoever. The manager assured me they could put one more bed in since there were 5 of us. Q&A: Is there a bathroom? Yes. Hot water? Yes. Can I see it? Sure, wait, we don’t know where the key is. But we’ll find it. Good enough. I called to double check that everyone would be okay with this set up although I suspected that at Q375 a night ($49) split by five, there would be no complaints... I'm not sure why all the hotels were booked this weekend. There were no special events. Even the hotel staff said that they were surprised that everywhere was booked. But apparently, we came on the weekend that all the tourists decided to visit Panajachel. 

Giulia, Rachel, Juan, Me, Irene

Saturday night was predictable: dinner, drinks, live music. Fun, but nothing crazy. Sunday morning we all just kind of rolled out of bed at whatever time we naturally woke up, or in Juan's case - whatever time everyone else naturally woke up. Just as we were leaving the hotel a guy approached us offering a tour of the lake. After a little back and forth on our part, we went for it. We started with a trip across the lake and breakfast in the little pueblo of Santa Catarina Palopó. It was very cute. There was a basketball court and a soccer field right on the edge of the lake. There were women weaving scarves and table runners, and of course selling other typical art and clothes on the side of the road. Of course the fact that they were weaving right there immediately convinced me to buy something. At least I feel like my money is going to the person who actually did the work, rather than a middle man. 


After breakfast we continued on our boat tour. Lago de Atitlan has some hot springs in the lake. So our tour guide basically took us out to another part of the lake and asked us if we'd like to swim. Although we all came prepared with bathing suits, only Rachel and Juan actually jumped in. I'm still glad I didn't go in the water because judging by Rachel's scream - that water was not warm. They later told us that it shifted between hot and cold water, which I guess doesn't seem that bad. I imagine it was like sitting in a hot bath tub and running the cold water - you get those sudden waves of hot and cold. 

Lago de Atitlan - San Antonio

The lake itself is gorgeous! It is huge and it is surrounded by three volcanoes. All around the edges of the lake there are either little pueblos like the ones we visited, Santa Catarina, San Antonio, and San Pedro, or gorgeous houses that are mostly owned by foreigners - apparently many of them are writers. I can see how living on this lake can be a source of inspiration. Our tour came to an end around 2pm. By this time the lake was pretty choppy and there were a lot of waves. As I stepped off the boat and nearly lost my balance I said, "Whoa, estoy mareada" and suddenly the meaning and origin of the word "mareada" made sense to me. Mar = sea, marear = to get dizzy, or in this case - seasick. Its funny how you don't really think about those things sometimes.

Lago de Atitlan - Panajachel

By 2pm last night's shenanigans were catching up with me. I was ready for a nap! But.... naps aren't really an option when you are traveling in a group, right? So after changing our clothes and having ice cream for lunch - this is typically what Irene and Giulia want to have for lunch, we headed for Panajachel's Nature Reserve. For $25 we could take a tour of the nature reserve, which requires climbing quite a bit, and then ride down on the Zip-Lines. We were all kind of split on this one - because you could also take the tour without the Zip-Line for about $7. Now, if you know me - its obvious that I was pushing for the Zip-Line tour. After a bit of convincing Rachel, Juan and I did the Zip-Line, and Irene and Giulia did the walking tour. We actually all started together on the tour. The only wildlife we really saw were birds and spider monkeys. But it was a great hike - complete with scary rope bridges and a waterfall!

At the end of the hiking tour the zipline began. There are eight ziplines ranging from 90 meters (295 ft.)  to 320 meters (1050 ft.) along waterfalls, canyons, the valley and the coffee grove forest. And of course with a beautiful view of Lago de Atitlan. I would have taken pictures - but they recommended that we hold on with both hands. 

In the end our trip to Lago de Atitlan was well worth it. The lake is beautiful, the Nature Reserve was so much fun! The only thing missing was a hike up one of the volcanoes - but that will have to wait for next time.


:: Dia de La Mujer ::

Tuesday, March 8th, was International Women's Day. So Rachel and I joined MTM at the demonstration for el Dia de la Mujer in Guatemala City. It started at the Municipal building and ended at the Palacio Nacional. It was hard to tell how many people participated - but my guess would be that it was in the hundreds. It was really awesome to see so many groups on the streets for this event. Women, men, and children. In some ways it was more like a parade than a march. In front of us there was a big truck with music blasting. Behind us there were some kids on stilts dressed like clowns and a guy who was fire swinging. The march lasted about 3  hours or so. Perhaps the thing I enjoyed the most, was the fact that we were stopping traffic in the middle of downtown. I probably would have been pissed if I was driving anywhere at that time.

      

:: El Aquario ::

Since this was Rachel's last day in Guatemala, Tuesday afternoon we followed up the march with some shopping at the Mercado Central. Then we joined Juan, his dad, his sister Deisy, and his adorable four year old niece, Yulisa, for dinner at Pizza Hut. I know, I know, sounds lame, right? This was the best Pizza Hut I've ever been to. The pizza was really good. It was a two-story sit-down restaurant with a huge playplace (like in McDonalds). And for drinks they served pitchers of Horchata! I had been avoiding the American restaurants whenever possible - but I might just have to order from Pizza Hut more often while I'm in Guatemala.

As we were eating our pizza, somehow we started talking about Aquariums. Rachel immediately became excited to find out there was an Aquarium in Guatemala City. Since Juan and his family didn't seem to be in a rush - we all took a trip to the Aquarium.

Just so we are clear, this is not your typical aquarium. This aquarium is located inside the Oakland Mall in Zone 10 of the City. It is not only inside the mall, it is inside of some restaurants! On one side there is a family-friendly restaurant, on another side there is a bar (adult-friendly restaurant), and on the other side there is a couple-friendly restaurant. We just wanted coffee - so we opted for Nais Aquarium - the romantic couple-friendly restaurant. Every table has a view of the aquarium. Inside there are blacktip sharks, eels, mantarays, and all sorts of fish. Perhaps the best part is... the little tube in the middle where you are literally surrounded by fish. I think that if anyone is looking for a cool restaurant idea... this is one to steal!

So that just about wraps up my week. Wednesday and Thursday I attended a workshop hosted by MTM and three other women's rights organization. The topic: feminism and discrimination. Very interesting to hear the Guatemalan perspective on these issues. But that may just have to wait for another blog post.