View on the Way Back to the City

Love this picture of dad and I with the Lake and volcano behind us!




Miles and miles of people using very crude and BACK BREAKING tools to farm their land.




At times we were going so slow even the bikers were passing us.




I have seen landslides and roads washed out before but never like this and for miles and miles.

Those are volcanoes you are looking at.

One more quick word on the Lake; It is surrounded by 12 villages named after the twelve saints. We stayed at Panajchel as it was the closest and easiest to get to. Each village has it's own personality from New Age with tons of spa and yoga, to hippie, to party, to traditional. I can not wait to take the boats across to visit more of the villages.

We left at 6am to try and avoid traffic on the way home, esp. since it took us 5 hours to get there the day before. The roads were ofcourse still in really bad shape but it only took us about 2 1/2 this time. All along the way there are volcanoes and beautiful crop fields where they are farming EVERYTHING. We stopped at Chichoy and had the most amazing breakfast with homemade (right in front of us) tortillas and fresh orange juice. The drive to and from the lake is almost as beautiful as the lake itself. If it had not been for half the road being washed away it would have been great!

Tuk Tuks

A very common mode of transportation around the lake. They are from India and thus their name. We took one up the Mountian to the reserve and it was quite funny. I swear we could have walked faster, ofcourse we didn't. By the way, dad was squezed in their with us, he got out to take the picture.

Dogs

Dogs are everywhere around here. They are fun to watch with there own little social class. It is obvious who belong to which street or group. The ones at the lake were extra sweet and I would have brought several of them home. Ofcourse, Evita was having a heart attack.

Hotel Atitlan

This hotel has to be one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. It sits on a quiet cove of the lake and the spanish-style of the building is so quaint but it is the grounds that make this place so amazing. I saw every tpye of flower there is here. I swear. And some of the most unusual. Everywhere you looked were little nooks and crannies filled with little treasures. Birds, water fountains, hidden benches, pools, and amazing views of the lake and surrounding volcanoes. I have to bring Bill here some day. Very Romantic!

Ziplines

Our guide went tandom with me one time so I could take pictures. Wonder if his wife scrapbooks? hee hee hee

At Lake Atatlin they have a wonderful Nature Reserve. Its main focus is to educate people on conservation. They have a beautiful butterfly atrium that, unfortunately, we could not see because of all the damage the storm had done to it. BUT what we could still do is the Ziplines through the jungle.

Even though we did eight ziplines at a height of a 50-story building,it was not quite as adventures as the one in Bolivia because this time we actually used safety equipment. But we were so proud of mom because despite her total fear of heights, she did it. Although, she claims to never have opened her eyes. But really, she did not have a choice after hiking straight up for over 30 minutes, that really was the only way down.

I would not have missed it. That was the perfect way to see the Lake. The view was so beautiful, truly one of God's better works!

Lake Atitlan

Surrounded by three massive dormant volcanoes... Lake Atitlan has been called the most beautiful lake in the world. The minute the lake came into view, I understood why.

Landslides

The storm did a number on the roads and villages around Guatemala city. We decided to drive up to lake Atitlan for the night. What is usually a 2 hour drive took us over 5 hours because of the roads being literally washed away. Miles and miles of mountain slides.

On the left is the other side of the road... yes under the mountain.

Old Town

Palacio Nacional de La Cultura built in 1937.


Mom and dad laughing at me doing exactly what the guide books say NOT to do. Stand on the corner looking at a map and completly lost.


Walking down the street a door was cracked open so we looked in and saw all these boys practicing their break dancing.


Plaza Mayor main plaza in old town.

Catedral Santiago de Guatemala. Built between 1778 and 1867, it is one of the city's most enduring landmarks, having survived the capital's numerous 20th century earthquakes.

Old Town City Market

Markets are always interesting but this one was extra interesting... it was underground! Crazy.

A Picture Can Say A 1000 Words

Wonderful Food

We have had some wonderful food here. I was not thrilled with the food in Bolivia but I we are finding lots of great places to eat here.
This one served us a wonderful chicken broth with a ton of flavor. It was so hot and it was freezing out side so it was perfect.

Clean up

The schools were shut down for a week and everyone was told to clean up the ash/sand as soon as possible. You were supposed to sweep it up and pile it in bags on the side of the road. Everywhere you look there are piles and piles of bags on the side of the road. I feel so sorry for this country; it will be forever before this is all cleaned up.

Volcano

Our taxi driver and the B&B's daughter playing with my sand.

3 inches of sand fell. Enough for me to collect a bunch to bring back to the kids. Everything that you see that is black was grass!

I was able to write my name in the sand.

We were driving home from Antigua and the bus got all this black stuff on the windows and we going SUPER slow. We thought that the engine blew. When we got off we were hit with black sand/gravel. We made it RUNNING into the B&B and found out that after 40 years of laying dormant the volcano had blown. I have never seen anything like it before. It rained Lava for almost 24 hours after that it rained harder than I had ever seen. Shutting down airports, roads, and much of the city.

Wedding Cake Church

So mom and I have dubbed this the Wedding Cake Church. It was the most amazing yellow with this scroll work that looked just like piped frosting. Very beautiful. The arch way in the above picture was so the nuns could cross the street from the convent to the church without being seen. As we entered the church a funeral procession was leaving. The church was filled with a type of chant as the people followed the coffin out with rings of flowers. Very surreal moment.

The markets here are pretty much the same as in Bolivia. Small, crowded and FULL of everything you could ever want from fruit, meat, dog food, traditional items, clothing, etc. It is here.

Antigua

As you wander the city of Antigua, through it’s cobblestone streets you see remnants of a time before. A time before the earth has tried and tried to take back what was first hers. I loved finding these little tastes and then ponder “where did that go”, “who had once lived there”, I love to imagine the building whole again. Candles at the alters and nuns praying in the gardens. These remains almost make me feel closer to God than in a new church. Something about the way the building is trying so hard to remain a temple for Him. And then the determination of the people to build and rebuild, without today’s technology, to work so hard and be so committed to building something they believe in. Makes me feel humbled and ashamed in my own commitment to my church and faith. To walk these grounds is not only beautiful and an architectual history, book but a peak into the hearts of man.

So what if we are a little stupid... We always have fun

So we had read in the guidebook and been told by several people to say within block of the main square. It was safe for tourists and had many police officers patrolling the area… but under no circumstances to go beyond that. Well, mom and I got to wandering and next thing we knew we were in front of some great ruins. I looked on the map and realized it was Inglesia de La Recolecion. A monastery built in 1717 but destroyed the same year by an earthquake, rebuilt and then destroyed again in 1773. BUT I remember the name because two guides had told us not to go there it was not safe. But we were already there so of course it looked ok and was so pretty we had to go in. And like mom said there was NO ONE around. Hee hee hee we soon were wishing there was.

So we go in and out of literally nowhere a man appears and says he will guide us through the ruins. I notice something behind his back immediately but think it is a spade (It looked as if they were working on the ruins at one point, so it made sense). But he keeps it behind his back, which starts to make me uncomfortable…. But you know mom and I we are just talking and taking pictures. I ask him to take our picture together and that is when I see what is behind his back, a VERY large machete. So I ask him what it is for and he says to protect us. So off mom and I go through this very deserted ruin, that by the way, backed up to the jungle.

We obviously survived… but I can tell you, I did feel uncomfortable several times and did not like to have my back to him. Mom and I just kept saying this was not smart but you know…. The ruins were beautiful and he was an excellent tour guide. Through his very broken English we were able to figure out what everything had been. Although, mom says the height of her nervousness was when we were in the far back of the ruins and he was showing us the entrance to the catacombs, but like mom says we had an umbrella to take him with.

The front of the monastery, see no one around, safe RIGHT?


Exhibit one: a machete.

This was actually the long dining hall. Love the way mom is standing in the light.

These huge "rocks" are actually part of the building that has fallen.

It truly was amazing how huge this place was. And then to imagine it complete. WOW

I had to climb this wall to get up here but the view was totally worth it! Machete Man was actually quite the gentleman and helped me down.