Final days; Panajachel to Antigua and going home

Pictures/videos can be found at the end of this post.

On our final morning in Panajachel (also Pana) we did indeed went souvenir shopping, most shops/stalls were closed though. So we went back to the hotel for breakfast before heading out for our 2nd attempt. Not everything was open but enough for us to get what we wanted. 

We then went back to pack, repack, repeat. and checked out while the bus was waiting for us. Just like the 'collectivo' boat and trucks we used before, we have used shared shuttles to get from city to city and today was no exception. It took us a few hours to get to Antigua, our final destination on this trip. The hotel we picked out was great! We both had our own room to relax in for our final days here. The hotel had an open courtyard with a fountain, lots of plants and also a rooftop. From the rooftop I could see the same fountain and my friends door. 

Antigua was different from what we had seen before, a real city and a lot of Spanish influences. It also looked like a city locals too visited a lot. Antigua used to be the capital and was called Santiago something, but because of the earthquakes it was moved to Guatemala City and Santiago became Antigua Guatemala, the "old Guatemala". We explored the city, alone and together and soon knew our way around. 

We also went on a volcano hike, Pacaya, my friends idea and I didn't know for sure if I wanted to go or not, but why not. And I remember thinking, it can't be worse than the first hike in Madagascar haha. And it wasn't but it was still tough and I think everyone in the group didn't expect it to be hard! We went up about 500m over 3,5km and it was only up up up up! There were no steps or anything and if you wanted, you could borrow a stick or get on a horse (and of course you paid a fee). Nobody in our group used a stick and two went up by horse. It was a lot colder up the volcano but I was still in a short dress with shorts. Everyone around me had long pants, jackets, scarfs, etc. haha, a few made a remark or asked me if I wasn't cold. And I thought of my brother, because I dont't remember when I last saw him with long pants.

Anyways, once all the way up it looked like that part of the land in Lion King where Simba is not allowed in. We had a few lava roasted marshmallows and then made our way down. We then bought a beer, since we felt we had earned it and drank it on the bus back. When we got back we changed clothes and went out for dinner. There were a few street food stalls near by and so I had a tostado and an enchillada! Local food on our final night. 

And there it was, our final morning. We went for a walk and had breakfast. I then went back to the hotel and finished reading a Travel magazine I brought with me on the rooftop to catch the last bit of sunshine! 

We then grabbed our bags and my cuba libre to go and got on our last shared shuttle bus to the airport! It took us about 24 hours and, beside that shared shuttle bus, 3 flights, 1 bus (to change terminals) and 2 trains before we got to Arnhem Central Station and our Guatemala adventure was official over. I was still in a dress and flipflops even though it was about 5°c outside, I always try to hang on until the very end!

Guatemala has been quite the adventure, my first introduction to a new part of the world! I don't know why I wanted to go to Guatemala, just a feeling, a connection I felt, just as with Madagascar. In my mind, Guatemala was full of color and still authentic. It was exactly that. We did and saw a lot, talked and laughed with eachother and with a few locals. We learned new Spanish words each and every day. And it was so so so colorful, I loved the fabrics, the people, the culture! 

There's a few quotes I copied out of books I read on this trip; 

Original

"Ik was in die staat van genade die met recht geluk genoemd kan worden, wanneer lichaam en geest zich als één gehee overgeven aan genot. Dit overkomt je bij wijze van goddelijke verassing tijdens het reizen, daarom zal ik nooit ophouden met reizen. De tijd was stilgevallen en ik wilde dat hij nooit meer op gang zou komen, ..." 

"...ongeneeslijk gelukkig..." 

English

"I was in that state of grace that can rightly be called happiness, when body and mind surrender to pleasure as one whole. This happens to you by divine surprise while traveling, which is why I will never stop traveling. Time had stopped and I wanted it never to start again,...."

"...incurably happy...."

- Echte vrouwen reizen anders.

Original

"There's now and theres too late"
- The happiest refugee written by Anh Do.

And also a few lines from a song;

"When the world becomes a fantasyA
And you're more than you could ever be

'Cause you're dreaming with your eyes wide open"
- Come Alive, The greatest showman

Back to work tomorrow!

Adios Guatemala, you have been amazing!

T.

Landed - sad airplane face 

2nd and final train home, 5°c outside hihi!

Home!

Lanquín to Lake Atitlán (Panajachel and San Juan)

 Pictures can be found at the end of this post.

After I finally fell asleep and had an okay night, we left to pay our bills and check out. I replied to a few Whatsapp messages and told my family we were waiting for our ride to the busstation. My mom asked me how much longer we had to wait and I said -9 haha. We had to be there at 7:45, but it was already 7:54. We eventually left around 8am but it turned out that we were already in the bus that was taking us all the way to to Lake Atitlán. There were others at the busstation that were joining us but we only had room for about 8 more and there were about 20 people waiting. It turned out they overbooked the trip but it didn't take long to arrange another bus and off we all went on a 10 hour ride to our next destination.

We're 3hours in as I'm writing this and we alreay had a 30+ min break. It was suppose to be 20 but the driver had to change buses, why? No idea, but we kept our front row seats and my friend could open the window in this bus (was broken on the last) so we didn't care haha. We're passing a lot of villages on the way, and so there's a lot to look at! But it also means the driver is limited in his speed. It's hard to imagine there's not a highway to take us to the other side of the country. But mañana mañana, we'll get there and to be fair, most of the road look very new and they are in good shape. All he windows are open, so there's a nice breeze. And I've got my puzzle book (wordfinder) to keep me busy in between looking at the views.

Right after typing this, we left the villages and are driving through green landscapes again. Lots of green hills and mountains. The road seems pretty new but with 100 turns to get up and down the hills, the driver is still limited in his speed. I think the speed limit is 30-40 anyways. We saw our first 'chicken buses' on the way! They are old American school buses that had a make over, a shiny, colorful, make over! We took another break a few hours later and got to Lake Atitlán around 630pm. All in all it was a very doable 10hour ride! After we got off the bus, we got to go on our first tuktuk ride here (and for my friend her first ever) to get to the hotel! 

We checked in and ordered pizza (on-site restaurant was closed). A real wood fired oven pizza though, with blue cheese and figs! We ate it while watching America's got Talent All stars or something and I finally had a cup of hot tea again! Can't wait to see this place during the day, it should have direct access to the lake! Night night!

The place is beautiful during the day. During breakfast we looked out onto the lake and volcanos and a bunch of hummingbirds! We went to a nearby village San Juan. We took a small motorboat there, and again they took there time. We stopped at a few of the other villages on the way so people could get on our off on the way. San Juan is beautiful, very colorful! The streets were decorated and there is a lot of street art and 'chicken buses' and tuk tuks. It was exactly what I had in mind when I first thought of Guatemala. Also lots of markets where we finally found our first souvenirs. We then returned to the city, by boat again, we waites for a while though for the boat to fill up. And because of that, I think they wanted to make up for lost time so the went back triple spees haha. We flew in the air a few times but again, fun ride!

We had Indian dinner, which is a bit more expensive here but still cheap compared to home. A curry and some naan was about €10. It was delicious and too much, so we took about half of it home for lunch the next day. The pool at our hotel was great, a little cold but no too much and the views are amazing. Also during sunset! We also slept like babies, it was so quiet! No animals, no babies, no traffic, no nothing!

After we checked out, we went Ziplining down the road. It was my friends idea as she had never done it before and so we took the 'easier' route. It was just the two of us, the rest of the visitors went for the other option, ultra extrema. Before ziplining, we went to a butterflt garden and I finally learned the Spanish word for butterfly, 'mariposa'. Since Madagascar, I discovered I know the word for butterfly in a lot of languages and so I wanted to learn the Spanish one as well. Ziplining was fun to do again, but as it was just the two of us and it was the 'easier' one, we got through it pretty quick. We did have to walk up up up and up some more, hot but fun! We crossed a few hanging bridges and climbed up a few fun steps!

For our last night here we are staying in the centre of Panajachel, since we have to take the bus from here to get to Antigua. Our final stop :-(! The place is great though, with pool and quiet, even though we are right on the main street! We also had a bit of rain while we were at the pool but only for a minute or so. The main street is full of restaurants, shops and markets. And so hopefully we'll find a few more souvenirs here before we take the 12 o'clock bus to Antigua!

Hasta la vista,

T.