San Pedro La Laguna
After Xela we made it to San Pedro La Laguna, set on Lake Atitlán, with amazing views over the lake. It´s a little town and what one might call a backpacker hotspot. It´s loaded with travellers, and it´s very easy to get stuck here for weeks or even months. Our hotel costs about 2 Euros a night for a private room with bathroom and shower, and free use of the kitchen and a roof with a great view. The prices aren´t bad around here I must say.
The tranquilo atmosphere is probably what makes a lot of people hang around. The town is full of lovely places to eat, sleep and relax. In the weekends there´s live music in a few pubs and the Cuba Libres (Rum ´n Coke) are cheap. San Pedro makes a great base camp to regain some strength for further travel or to explore the surroundings of the lake.
In the neighbourhood one can find loads of nice villages: Santiago La Laguna, San Marcos, Panajachel… Activitywise there´s kayaking on the lake, horse back riding through the green hilly surroundings, trekking, swimming, cliff diving, you name it. And only 2 hours away by chicken bus is Chichicastenango (usually referred to as Chichi), where on Sundays and Thursdays there´s an enormous colourful market filled to the top with artesan crafts (plus the usual amount of tourist crap of course) which is quite nice to see.
My trip in Central America is coming to an end though. Today is Sunday, and my flight back to Europe is on Thursday afternoon from Guatemala City (man oh man, how time flies!!). So, only a few more days and I´ll be back in The Netherlands, which is a very very weird idea. I wrote before about how one really becomes used to life on the road, and the thought of having to go back to university, work, etcetera, is double-sided. I mean: these two months have been absolutely amazing, but in Central and South America there´s just so much to see and discover and enjoy that one could easily travel around for up to a year without being bored for a moment! But it might also be nice to go back home again and see some familiar faces, not moving around every few days.
Either way, my coming home is a reality soon so I guess I´d better get used to the idea. Tomorrow morning I´m taking a boat to Panajachel, from where I´ll catch a chicken bus to Antigua. I´ll spend my last few days there, explore the city and climb one of the volcanoes that surround the place. Then it´s to Guatemala City Airport by shuttle, check in, survive the flight´s stop-over in the USA, and head back to Amsterdam, which I´ll reach on Friday afternoon if all goes well.
Hasta pronto!
James
