Hi again. I’ve been hanging out in San Pedro since last writing, just living cheap and waiting for Myung. We’re meeting up next Thursday in Guadalajara. My flight from Tuxtla Gutierrez is on Tuesday, so I’ll leave here on Monday, as it will take a full day to get to there. I checked out taking regular buses, but it’s really better and nearly as cheap to take the tourist minivan shuttle to the southernmost major tourist destination in Mexico, San Cristobal, then take the 45 km regular bus from there to Tuxtla.
Here’s a nice view from the bus coming down toward Pana from Solala.
It’s lovely around here. Even Pana itself is not half bad except for the one main tourist street. You can eat or buy just about anything you need there. The restaurants are good. The lodging is cheap. Here’s the courtyard from my chair in front of my of my 8 dollar room in Pana.
One could hang out in Pana. I only did for three days, including the day I went to Chichi. Here are some scenes around town.
Pana sits on Lake Atitlan which, as I have said before, is lovely. There are three extinct volcanoes on the other side. It looks like two because there is another one behind the one on the left.
Along the lakefront is nice. One thing about this area, it clouds up and generally thunderstorms every evening around sundown. It gives photos character. Just stay dry, man.
Pana, though a major tourist destination by Guatemala standards, has little to offer the high-end traveler. I’m sure it’s fun for them to “slum it” along the waterfront where the cheap, good fish dinners with a view are served. Sorry about the dark pictures. It was getting dark quickly the evening I was walking along there with my camera.
At least as popular and more mellow is San Pedro, on the other side of the lake. With 14,000 people, it’s no village. The main part of town is regular Guatemala. Here’s the market street and an eatery I had lunch in several times. The proprietor here has rice, white or black beans, lake fish fillets, beef, chicken, veggies and spaghetti in those pots. The ladies behind make the tortillas. Lunch with 4 tortillas is 1-1.50 dollars, depending if you get one of the meat/fish things.
The tourist drag is along the water. Here’s looking up from the dock and down toward the dock. The main tourist street goes off mostly to the right and a little way to the left.
The place I’ve been staying for a couple of weeks is away from the water. It’s quiet up here and only 5 dollars a night. There’s even a view.
Also from my terrace, off to the left of that last one, is a popular place to climb called Indian Nose. You can see how it got that name. It looks like a profile.
And here are a few random photos.
I have a friend here, Sandra. She’s long-term resident, teaching English. Mostly, as is usually the case, I spend time alone. It’s been nice to hang out with her a few times.
One noteworthy thing occurred. One of her student’s mother was gravely ill. The family didn’t know what to expect or what to do. Sandra asked me if I would go look at her, which I did. There was nothing to be done at that stage but keep her comfortable and have friends and family come if they wanted to see her one last time. She passed away about four days later. Sandra told me the family felt like they benefited from my visit and would like it if I went to the funeral. We went. So, that all was a bit of cultural experience I got while I was here.
Traditionally in Guatemala, there is a procession to the church for the funeral, then a procession to the cemetery. I couldn’t bring myself to take but this one zoom picture of the procession as it started down the street. We joined and went the rest of the way with them to the church.
Here’s the Catholic church, by the way. The funeral was the day before yesterday, but I took this several days ago.
There are many activities for tourists here, hiking through the coffee plantations, up the peaks and volcanoes, horseback riding, kayaking and so on. I haven’t done any of it. I figure Myung and I can do that together if we want when we come here. I definitely want to show it to her. This has been a good place. There are many villages and towns around this lake. Besides the next village over, about a 15 minute walk, the only one I went to was another one popular with tourists, San Marcos. From there, you can look back toward the San Pedro side of the lake. San Pedro is down the right slope of the volcano on the right.
I thought about going to stay there or some other place, just to break it up while waiting, but decided to just bide my time here. I did, after all, travel fairly steadily for months before getting to Guatemala. Foreigners mostly go to San Marcos for self-improvement. There is a lot of meditation, yoga, massage and new age fluff. It’d be nice enough. I even checked out a couple places, but all in all, I’m fine here. San Marcos is cute, though, down in the tourist area near the water. Serene little lanes, plenty of shade, nice restaurants, massage etc, mellow people not into partying like in San Pedro
That’s about it for now. I seriously doubt anything will happen between now and when I head back to Mexico. Be well, all of you.