March 17, 2010 Lake Atitlan
We spent Sunday evening packing our stuff in preparation for our four day vacation on Lake Atitlan. It didn’t surprise me that getting all of our stuff back was not easy. It never seems to fit the second time you pack it up. We had not bought anything other than kitchen stuff which we ended up packing into a laundry bag. We may or may not need our few small pots and pans in Xela. Does it surprise you that we do not want to buy that kind of stuff twice?
Don had contacted Mark, our downstairs neighbor and father of 10, to arrange for a taxi to pick us up at the apartment by 6:15 am so we could make the 7 am bus to Pana. This is the same bus we took to Chimal and whose transmission gave it up one day on the way to Chimal. Ready for a surprise? The bus was not running on Monday! There we were with all of our unbelievable amount of luggage, including a “kitchen” in a bag, with no place to be and no way to get where we need to be! Cute! Don’t you think? This is Guatemala -- there is no way to disseminate this kind of information to the general public until the last minute. So onto plan B which is very important here. There must always be a plan B. Don took off on a short hike to locate a ‘shuttle’ bus from one of the travel agencies (of which there are dozens here). He found a shuttle departing at 8 am for Pana. They picked him up at the agency and drove out to get me and The Stuff. We picked up other passengers who were mostly other tourist. Once full we took off on out trip over the mountain.
Our driver was very cautious which explains why there bus is in good shape. He crawled over that mountain and because he did I didn’t have a problem with motion sickness. We even had a ‘bathroom’ break half way through the trip. Once we arrived in Pana the driver proceeded to Back down the street where he was to drop everyone off for either tours by launch, travel by a shorter bus to hotels, or in our case, met by Joan, the owner of the Bed and Breakfast we are currently staying Casa Sonrisa a.ka. A House of Smiles. Joan met us with two Took-tooks! We had to split the cost of the trip from Pana to San Antonio Polopo on Lake Atitlan.
Now please meet Joan. She is an older woman, living alone here in Guatemala at San Antonio Polopo. I think that early last year she had a stroke which left her a bit damaged. She says she use to be able to speak Spanish very well but that it seems her Spanish stayed at the hospital. Her left side is weak and she must get around on crutches, one of them needs a new rubber foot which we have so far been unsuccessful finding nor can we find another pair of crutches. During her recovery her 27 year old son came to help her, which was a blessing even if part of the time he was with her she did not really know him, because when he went home he was in a skateboarding accident which caused his death before the end of the year. Joan is a bit needy now but is trying to hold it together. Her brain is recovering but she still has lapses like her telling me she married late when she was 99! Little things get away from her and words or sometimes elusive. She has included herself in our activities and she is extremely slow in getting around. She is game though, and will climb into the back of a pick up truck like everyone else. The bed and breakfast has turned out to be all meals with her and the “guest” pitch in to help. She was going to charge us $12 a night which we felt was not enough so Don gave her more than she was asking for and we get all meals when we can’t escape without her. She decided she trusted us so much that she gave me her bank card and asked that I get Q2,000.00 (about $250).
Our room is most adequate. It contains bed with two side tables that have the BEST light we have had in Guatemala for reading at night. There is a wooden love seat, wooden chair, side table, and a chest with extra sheets and candles. The bathroom is large with good light and the shower stinks. Actually we have had worst showers but it is still one of those where the water is heated in the shower head (also called a ‘widow-maker’) as electricity is flowing over water! It is not as cold here as in Xela which makes the shower just adequate and the room isn’t cold enough to make one shiver while dressing. All of our meals are eaten out of doors facing the rising or setting sun over the lake. We have an excellent view of the lake and it is for the most part not very noisy. There is a great deal of building going on here. It is a very poor village but the people seem content and they work very hard. Housing here is a mish-mash of beautiful concrete block construction or shabby tin and perhaps bamboo. We have a hard time walking down the street because they all want to sell their wares and tourism is not good due to the bad economy every where. We are relaxing and doing the tourist bit here and actually enjoying ourselves.
