Christmas eve… this is now the 5th year since I was last home for Christmas.
The bus journey last night was pretty good and I slept very well.
It was 6am in Guatemala city that is apparently not a good place to hang out because of crime and theft, we had to get a taxi to another bus station to depart to Panajachel which is the biggest town surrounding the Atitlan Lake. The bus station here in Guatemala city hadn’t opened yet and we didn’t want to hang on the streets where the buildings were filthy and rough looking but we were let in the station before it opened and waited for the next bus.
Edwin and I were happy to do this journey because it was so cheap but the catch was that it was very cramped, it was chock of block with more than double people than the bus should carry and it lasted 4 hours in total, it’s a good thing when the bus is over crowded because any mountain road where you would normally slide along the bench seat was prevented by some passenger no matter where you sat.
We were very hungry this morning because of not grabbing breakfast we left GC but thankfully for us people board the bus to sell their goods; like in mexico but unlike Mexico the food here way better – baked mixed fruit pie for only Q5 ($0.75) – so tasty!
The Lake was huge with surrounding volcanoes in the distance, very beautiful.
Seeing all this from the boat ride from Pana to San Pedro (where we wanted to stay) was fantastic and when we arrived there we found some cheap accommodation for only Q25 ($3) a night each.
There were a lot of foreigners here to study Spanish and I think this is the perfect place to do it albeit a little cold in the evenings.
Edwin and I met a German girl (Nika) and a French Canadian guy (Sebastian) who had both been here for a while studying Spanish who also gave me some good advice on where to study. We then wondered around the small market and got some food at one of the traveler’s bars on the main street.
The food there was again fantastic with decent tasting Guacamole and the fajitas I ordered were delicious and to price that is equivalent to $3, I’m certainly not going to complain.
Nika and Sebastian showed me their school that was very tranquil and all the sessions are one on one. This is where I bumped into Andrew who at first I didn’t recognize, I first met him in Tignes, France 3 years ago!… a good friend of friends.
We briefly caught up before I needed to go back to the guesthouse to have a nap before celebrating Christmas later in the evening.
I bought a bottle of rum after napping for a good three hours or so and drank a fair bit of it with some German and Israeli language students whilst watching fireworks around the lake.
The bar was good and I met some cool people there…I don’t remember much of the evening because i got very drunk.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Back in the chicken buses like those in India
Like India, Guatemala city is pretty disgusting (is that toilet water he is mopping out of the toilet?)
The day before xmas – is that Santa?
When we reached Panajachel
The views surrounding the lake
When we reached San Pedro
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