Lago Atitlan, Guatemala
Mik
Lago de Atitlan is in the highlands of Guatemala and is a stunning site. It is formed from a caldera, a collapsed volcanic cone filled with blue waters, edged by 3 volcanoes. My friend Anna had spent many months of her travels here and had recommended a place to stay which she called her favourite place on earth. We had high hopes. And we weren't disappointed.La Casa del Mundo is an amazing hotel built right on the cliff side on the lake with magnificent views of the surrounding volcanoes. It is very pricey by Guatemalan standards and so we took the cheapest room they had. It was still one of the nicest we have had on our travels and even had a new and firm mattress and crisp sheets. Made a nice change! We stayed for just three nights as they were full the rest of the time. We spent our time there chilling in hammocks, sunbathing on the verandas overlooking the lake and eating good food. As there was nothing else around, dinner was served in the hotel 'family style' which meant all guests sat at the same big table. It was nice to chat to people but I have to say that we were there at the same time as some of the most miserable and rude people we have encountered so far. It amazes me how someone can sit next to someone else in that environment and totally ignore them, to the point of turning their back on them. Weird. Mik claims he hadn't farted so we don't know why the woman wouldn't at least acknowledge his presence. (She was intimidated by my latent manliness - Mik)
One night wasn't quite as peaceful as a stomach bug kept me awake. The following day it kept me in bed, apart from trips to the toilet or bin, depending which end it was affecting at the time! Nice! Typically this was the first time in a long time that we didn't have a private bathroom. So all the other guests got to share my misery. Still I can think of worse places to be ill. Nice views, nice room and a very comfy bed. Until.....Lying there feeling sorry for myself I felt something touch my leg. I assumed it was one of the flies I had seen in the room. I lifted the covers to help it escape only to discover that it was in fact a frigging scorpion walking on my thigh!!! As you can imagine my first thoughts weren't 'oh thank goodness the scorpions round here aren't poisonous', but more like 'MIKKKK come and get this thing away from me'. I jumped out of bed shouting for Mik. Seeing the look on my face I think he realised fairly quickly that I hadn't merely been sick again and wanted some sympathy. The scorpion had of course made it's escape by this point and after Mik turned the room upside down we still couldn't find it. He did however find a spider and asked if I was sure it wasn't that I had seen. Charming. I assured him I knew what a big, disgusting scorpion looked like. By this stage I was desperate to lie down again and so had no choice but to go back into the room, having thoroughly checked the bedding! I wasn't having a good day.
About an hour later the scorpion showed up again, luckily he was on the wall and so I got the chance to prove to Mik I hadn't been seeing things. He then very bravely managed to get it into a glass where he examined it for quite some time! I just wanted it out of my way! Later that evening as I turned over to go to sleep I had to exclaim again as right in front of my face was another strange looking spider. For heavens sake. Despite it being such a beautiful place I couldn't say that I was going to be sad to get away from the creepy crawlies!We stayed around the beautiful the lake for another few days. Took a boat tour across the lake and visited some of the other towns, some of which you could only get to by boat. One of the towns, San Marcos, has become renowned for it's 'spiritual vibe' and as such many meditation centres have developed. This attracts those people looking for spiritual enlightenment or those who wish to get in touch with their karma, darma and to find their higher intelligence. Needless to say we stayed precisely 10 mins.
Having read the guide books and checked out the internet about Guatemala and the place we would be visiting we had a good picture of how to behave, i.e no skimpy tops and short skirts and no going bare chested, and that was all just for Mik! Anyways what you also learn is that tourists are the target of theft and it is therefore wise to be aware of where you are, who is around you and what valuables you have on show. So when Mik and I decided to head to one of the most famous markets in a town called Chichinestango we took nothing. No bag, just some cash on a front pocket. What amazed me was the other tourists sharing our minibus. They all had big day bags, unlocked, with expensive cameras, big flash watches and 2 of them had even brought their ipods (it was a 1 hour journey!) I don't know if they don't read or hear the same things we do or if they just don't think it will happen to them but you can't help but wonder just why so many robberies occur here. The people are poor and foreigners come into their country flashing their valuables. You work it out. We have been lucky so far, fingers crossed. Maybe that is because we are more cautious than most, or maybe there are just enough others around who actively show what they have taking the heat off of us?? I'd like to report that nothing was lost but unfortunately a Dutch couple had a wallet stolen out of a back pocket in the crowded market.......! Cash and credit cards gone. I guess some people have to learn the hard way.
We had a lovely time by the lake but stayed a
couple of days too long. I have realised, to my surprise, that I am actually not very good at doing nothing unless I am lounging around and the sun is beating down on me! We have days where we are in a town where there might not be much to see and I get bored quite quickly! Mik on the other hand has exams in doing nothing and excels at it. This may be because being an intelligent chap he likes to read books which he can learn from, whereas I tend to read something a little lighter - entertaining but they'll never qualify as my specialised subject on Mastermind! So with this in mind we packed our bags and headed off to do something more entertaining!Cara
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