Guatemala
The NPH Honduras volunteers got the first week of January off because of all the extra activities in December. When we found out about this “bonus” time a few months ago, Allen and I decided to go to Guatemala. One of the volunteers had just returned from vacation there and his description was all we needed to add it to our list of places we needed to visit. We made flight arrangements in October to fly out on January 1 and return January 7 making the most of our free time. Avianca air cancelled our outgoing flight a few weeks later and the next best arrangement was to fly out early a day later. This flight also got cancelled and we were left with a flight out late on January 2. In our normal retired life, we would not be too unhappy with the cancellations, but now with our limited vacation, a lost day seemed like a lot. With only 4 full days, we decided to spend the entire time at Lake Atitlan.
We arrived to Guatemala City late the first night and stayed by the airport. The next day we commissioned a private driver to take us to Panajachel on Lake Atitlan with a stop at NPH Guatemala on the way. Another volunteer, Iris, traveled with us to Guatemala and arranged a tour of NPH Guatemala as she knew someone there. Another volunteer, Sanne, who was traveling with a friend of hers from the Netherlands joined us at Lake Atitlan. NPH Guatemala is much smaller in size and population than NPH Honduras and Al noticed that it appeared to be better maintained which is not surprising as the Honduras site covers several square miles. The grounds were well-manicured, the buildings freshly painted, and roads/walkways without ruts and cracks. We were given a wonderful tour by the Visitor Coordinator who is also a former pequeño.
We arrived at Panajachel on Lake Atitlan mid-afternoon and checked into the Porta del Lago Hotel which is a beautiful resort-like hotel with a great view of the volcanoes that surround the lake. Allen and I splurged on this lodging that has a pool and a hot tub in addition to the wonderful view and is probably triple or more the cost of other nearby lodging without these amenities, but still pretty inexpensive compared to US standards.
The next few days we took a water taxi to some of the small towns around the lake. We went to San Juan which has a mirador (view point) and lots of fun little tourist shops.
We also went to
Santiago Atitlan where a friend of Iris who drives a tuk tuk gave us a tour and
historic perspective of Santiago. Elmer, the driver, told us that Santiago is
90% Tz'utujil which is an indigenous Mayan people. He gave us an
example of his native language and told us that there were at least 3 different
Mayan languages just around Lake Atitlan. The tour included a historical perspective
of the area and visits to view points and parks, the church, and a clothing
coop where we were dressed in native clothing.
Our last full day at the Lake we took advantage of the pool, hot tub, and view at the hotel and just relaxed for a day. It was a good first visit, but I know that there is a lot more to see here at Lake Atitlan and in other parts of Guatemala so we hope to come back.
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