Our taxi driver was scheduled to arrive at 6:15 a.m., which he did, so that we could get to the parqueo (parking lot) where the pullman to Panajachel would be loading in plenty of time. The pullman usually arrives around 6:50 a.m. for a departure around 7:00 a.m. While we were waiting, a strange man came up to those of us who were waiting and told us that the pullman was not coming. Most of them left to find alternative transportation, probably chicken buses. One of the individuals waiting, however, told us that a backup bus would be coming soon, so we decided to wait. We needed (stress needed) some snacks for the trip, so I walked over to the Bodegona, which had just opened. In addition to the snacks, I stopped at the cell phone booth and asked if today was triple saldo (triple minute) day for Tigo. It was, so I loaded Q100 into my account, which gives me 300 minutes.
When I returned to where Linda was waiting with the luggage, she told me that she had been told that no bus would be going to Panajachel today. It was time to put our Guatemala survival skills into action and find alternative transportation. I started walking towards the center of town, but only found closed travel agencies. At the first intersection, for some reason unknown to me, I decided to turn right. Within a half block I found a travel agency that was open and discovered that they had a tourist bus heading for Panajachel at 8:00 a.m. I quickly purchased two tickets for Q100 ($12.00) each, quite a bit more than the Q36 ($3.60) we had planned to spend, but definitely not out of our budget. The travel agent asked me to stay at the office until a bus arrived to take me to pick up Linda and the baggage. Soon a small bus appeared and I was taken to where Linda and the luggage was patiently waiting. We then went to pick up more passengers and their luggage before returning to the travel agency, where a much larger bus was waiting to load.
It was about 8:20 a.m. when we finally were on the road, but at least we were moving in the right direction. The scenery on the route was breathtaking. We finally arrived in Panajachel at about 11:30 a.m. and called Joan to let here know where we were. She found us with two tuk-tuks, which proceeded to take all of us and our luggage from Panajachel to San Antonio Palopo (accent). The trip took about 30-45 minutes, but the views were awesome. All the roads around Lake Atitlan hug the side of the mountains that surround it. We soon arrived at the gate to Casa Sonrisa, the B&B that we're staying at for the next four days.
Casa Sonrisa is right on the lake and is really very lovely. We have a lovely bedroom with private bath (Guatemalan showerhead). The dining area is open air, as is another deck. The B&B hugs the side of the mountain from the road through town to the lake. A hotel up the street quotes a price of $150 per night for their rooms. Joan, who owns Casa Sonrisa, quoted me a price of Q100 ($12.00) per night, although I insisted on paying Q150 ($18.00) per night. She only has two rooms for rent and I suspect that she does it as much for the company as for any thought of profit.
Soon after we arrived, we had lunch. In addition to a juice (much too sweet) made of hyasinths (???) and mineral water, we had puppessas (spelling), an El Salvadoran dish which included a fried cheese-filed quesadilla with a type of cole slaw on top. I've had it before in Ottumwa at an El Salvadoran restaurant. We also had sliced papaya.
Looking out over the lake, I saw a women doing laundry
And a man out in the unique type of boat used on Lake Atitlán.
After lunch, Joan insisted that we walk up the road
to meet Ken Edwards, an award winning ceramicist (http://www.kentonala.com/quienes.htm), who lives and works here. He's from the United States, but has worked professionally in a number of countries, including Mexico and Guatemala. He's also 85 years old. We had an interesting conversation in which he explained the different motivations of gringos and Guatemalans.
We finally returned to the B&B, so that Joan and Linda could nap and I could work on my blog entry for the day surrounded by beautiful flowers.
We had a late dinner with Joan and soon returned to our room where we got to bed early since we were exhausted.
