Finishing up Antigua and Lake Atitlan - more of a picture story...

Once again, I have gotten a bit behind on the blog so I will give a brief synopsis of the remainder of our short time in Antigua and day tour of Lake Atitlan...

We chose to spend one day walking around Antigua... Of course shopping a little...not for these...although we enjoyed the colorful toilets... AND matching clothes washing tubs.....Beautiful old buildings...Roads of cobblestone and women in their traditional dress...And all surrounded by volcanos...Looking in off the street at a restaurant/hotel entrance...More old buildings...And then off to Lake Atitlan by shuttle van...one hour approximately...the road to Lake Atitlan is very windy...very bumpy...and where in Mexico they call them topes...here they call them tumulos (I think - close to that anyway - Paul calls then "enterprise" bumbs because at just about every one there is a small tienda)...they are huge here, everywhere and the van driver was in a hurry. Did I mention the road was windy and rough?? Not so much for me (I was in the mid-back behind three Costa Rican girls) but for Paul who took the front seat!Lake Atitlan too, is surrounded by volcanos.This is downtown Panajachel... Melinda, this is you and me...if we are lucky!!! Ha ha ha...
One of the young Mayan girls selling her sister's wares...Then we hopped on the lancha with the three young ladies from Costa Rica and traveled to three different towns...each one unique.Oh dear...I need to straighten this picture!! But you get the idea...The Mayans still farm on these hillsides...This hillside was planted in corn...Back to the volcanos...Paul and Pablo...our guide for the three town tour...yes, Mayan's are very short...remember Paul is not that tall!! Pablo told us there are 12 Mayan villages around Lake Atitlan and different dilects of Mayan spoken. San Marco was the first and my thoughts on it were...from St John, USVI's...to get even further away...this is where all the American hippy health fanatic ex-pats go...massage places...natural health...ergo/eco stuff...This was the local school in San Marco where they had taken a theme of recycling and made the wall out of plastic bottles and stucco...the kids are raised with their Mayan language and learn spanish and english in the schools...Back to the launcha....And to San Pedro....It was a hike up the hill...so Paul and I went up in one of the Tuk Tuk's and then walked the market..Some of the BEST produce we have seen in all of Guatemala...tomatoes, papaya, melons, brocolli...and then....there were all the greens for sale.....and live chickens.....We walked up to a church. From the steps this is the view...of a person's face lying down! It was/is a place where Mayans go to pray for good harvest before planting...and various other ritual stuff...up the mountain and somewhere on the guys nose!Another look at it.....And then to our last Lake stop...Santiago Atitlan...you just have to like all of these Cayuco's...looking at them it is amazing that they don't sink!The fountain at the water entrance to town... And the merchantile market... A man in traditional Mayan dress... Beautiful colors....
Back to the lake...
Young man fishing...
Think his feet are wet??
Back the windy bumby road to Antigua...and the next morning the shuttle back to Guat City and bus to the Rio.
This is Paul as we waited for the shuttle in Antigua...not sure if he is thinking that the bike rider was nuts...or wishing he could do that...BUT up and down the hilly roads on Lake Atitlan and Antigua we saw bikes on the road...horses on the road...what we saw...well, is/was amazing and gives us more pictures and commentary for another blog...as do the chairs here in Guatemala...