Odds and ends
On our way back to Guatemala city and then everyone´s going home tomorrow except Nate and I. It´s nice for me because I´ve done the crazy tourist travelling buying spree for the past week, now I have a week to chill out and relax. Our plan is to head to Tikal for new years and then to the Caribbean coast for the rest of the week.
So here´s a little of this and that.
So the Pana Rock café was fun. Typical beachside bar packed from wall to wall with people, loud music and Shakira singing about her hips. Got the chance to do tequila shots with my siblings and discovered that there isn´t a standard recipe for the michelada. The one I had was lemon juice, Tabasco, worchestershire sauce, salt and beer over ice and Bet´s had tomato juice also. Either way, it is a great tropical alternative to the standard umbrella drink.
Chichicastenango. Geez, I´m still recovering from that place. The only reason to go is the market, which covers many many square blocks, enough blocks that you never see all of it. And it´s PACKED with people and goods in every square inch. Sensory overload big time. See my post about the market in Guatemala city and quadruple that on every level. You can stay overnight but mostly people bus in and out from neighboring cities like Panajachel. So at 8AM, you and 11 other people cram into a van built for 6 and drive over the steepest twistiest longest mountain road where buses pass semis on the curves and the cars coming down the mountain automatically hug the edge of the road anticipating 2 or more vehicles coming at them at any given point. At this point you hope you don´t get carsick (we discovered that Pippa gets carsick…) and that your driver hasn´t been drinking (like our drivers in Guatemala city…) An hour and a half later you arrive in chichi with a thousand other travellers and natives, as there are only 2 market days a week and every surrounding town depends on them for goods. Then not only is it crazy and huge and crowded and overwhelming but it closes at 2PM so you are constantly conscious of the fact that you are on a time schedule. Then you pile back into the van and repeat the whole experience in reverse. Then you crawl back to your hotel, collapse on top of your purchases and take a well deserved nap. And that´s chichi!
Panajachel is on the shore of Lake Atitatlan. very touristy, lots of vendors and tons of expats, everyone from the hippies hanging out playing their bongos and selling homemade jewelry to the adorable couple who run the Crossroads café, roast their own coffee and know everyone in town by name. It feels like many other beach towns but without the age and personality of Antigua. I could live in Antigua. I don´t know that I would come back to Panajachel…
overall this trip has been an amazing. A blend of memories and new experiences. Now we´re trying to talk mom and dad into going to Colombia for a Christmas vacation. they are resistent, but we have a couple years to work on them ;)
So here´s a little of this and that.
So the Pana Rock café was fun. Typical beachside bar packed from wall to wall with people, loud music and Shakira singing about her hips. Got the chance to do tequila shots with my siblings and discovered that there isn´t a standard recipe for the michelada. The one I had was lemon juice, Tabasco, worchestershire sauce, salt and beer over ice and Bet´s had tomato juice also. Either way, it is a great tropical alternative to the standard umbrella drink.
Chichicastenango. Geez, I´m still recovering from that place. The only reason to go is the market, which covers many many square blocks, enough blocks that you never see all of it. And it´s PACKED with people and goods in every square inch. Sensory overload big time. See my post about the market in Guatemala city and quadruple that on every level. You can stay overnight but mostly people bus in and out from neighboring cities like Panajachel. So at 8AM, you and 11 other people cram into a van built for 6 and drive over the steepest twistiest longest mountain road where buses pass semis on the curves and the cars coming down the mountain automatically hug the edge of the road anticipating 2 or more vehicles coming at them at any given point. At this point you hope you don´t get carsick (we discovered that Pippa gets carsick…) and that your driver hasn´t been drinking (like our drivers in Guatemala city…) An hour and a half later you arrive in chichi with a thousand other travellers and natives, as there are only 2 market days a week and every surrounding town depends on them for goods. Then not only is it crazy and huge and crowded and overwhelming but it closes at 2PM so you are constantly conscious of the fact that you are on a time schedule. Then you pile back into the van and repeat the whole experience in reverse. Then you crawl back to your hotel, collapse on top of your purchases and take a well deserved nap. And that´s chichi!
Panajachel is on the shore of Lake Atitatlan. very touristy, lots of vendors and tons of expats, everyone from the hippies hanging out playing their bongos and selling homemade jewelry to the adorable couple who run the Crossroads café, roast their own coffee and know everyone in town by name. It feels like many other beach towns but without the age and personality of Antigua. I could live in Antigua. I don´t know that I would come back to Panajachel…
overall this trip has been an amazing. A blend of memories and new experiences. Now we´re trying to talk mom and dad into going to Colombia for a Christmas vacation. they are resistent, but we have a couple years to work on them ;)
posted by KBARRETT at 12:07 PM
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