We spent two days, August 18 & 19, in the town of Panajachel on the shore of Lake Atitlan, about three hours northwest of our home. We enjoyed the brief vacation with our friends and fellow co-workers, the Freed family and Buddy Esh.
We left early Wednesday morning - 6:00 a.m. - to beat rush hour traffic in the city. We stopped in the town of Tecpan, which was about the halfway point, and ate breakfast at this restaurant called Katok.
This waterfall is just outside the town of Panajachel. Notice the small figure on the left. That's Charlie! Of course, he had to climb up and investigate.
The first thing we did was visit the Atitlan Nature Reserve. They have a zip line through the forest, and most of our group tried it out.
I stayed with Risa, Emily, Maria, and Tony while the rest did the zip line. While we waited we hiked the forest trails and enjoyed the scenery. There were several hanging wooden bridges that Tony really enjoyed and which made the girls nervous. We saw several spider monkeys and some coatis, which are in the raccoon family.
We stayed in two small houses at a facility called Las Buenas Nuevas. It was really nice. We had kitchens and made our own breakfast each morning. Alisha, Emily, Abby, and Risa are enjoying their breakfast on the front porch.
We stayed on the shore of Lake Atitlan. It is said to be the most beautiful lake in the world. I don't know about that, but it is the prettiest place we've visited in Guatemala.
Thursday morning Charlie, Maria, Tony, and I visited two small towns on the shores of the lake. This is Santa Catarina Palopo, built on the side of the mountain.
There were many ladies trying to sell their handicrafts along the street. This lady is using a back strap loom, a very common method of weaving. I am fascinated with the different patterns and colors; each town is distinctive.
This lady in the town of San Antonio Palopo was using a larger hand loom to do her weaving. The women and girls in this town all wore identical outfits. The Mayan women of each town have their own distinctive pattern of dress, but there is usually a good bit of variation. Not in this town. Most of the women even wore matching headpieces and plastic gold beads.
The lady pictured above asked if she could dress us in the native costume of San Antonio. Interestingly, the men in this town wear black checked kilts. She was, of course, hoping to sell the clothes to us. Sadly (for her), we didn't buy a thing. But Charlie did, however, give her a tip for the photos.
We left early Wednesday morning - 6:00 a.m. - to beat rush hour traffic in the city. We stopped in the town of Tecpan, which was about the halfway point, and ate breakfast at this restaurant called Katok.
This waterfall is just outside the town of Panajachel. Notice the small figure on the left. That's Charlie! Of course, he had to climb up and investigate.
The first thing we did was visit the Atitlan Nature Reserve. They have a zip line through the forest, and most of our group tried it out.
I stayed with Risa, Emily, Maria, and Tony while the rest did the zip line. While we waited we hiked the forest trails and enjoyed the scenery. There were several hanging wooden bridges that Tony really enjoyed and which made the girls nervous. We saw several spider monkeys and some coatis, which are in the raccoon family.
We stayed in two small houses at a facility called Las Buenas Nuevas. It was really nice. We had kitchens and made our own breakfast each morning. Alisha, Emily, Abby, and Risa are enjoying their breakfast on the front porch.
We stayed on the shore of Lake Atitlan. It is said to be the most beautiful lake in the world. I don't know about that, but it is the prettiest place we've visited in Guatemala.
Thursday morning Charlie, Maria, Tony, and I visited two small towns on the shores of the lake. This is Santa Catarina Palopo, built on the side of the mountain.
There were many ladies trying to sell their handicrafts along the street. This lady is using a back strap loom, a very common method of weaving. I am fascinated with the different patterns and colors; each town is distinctive.
This lady in the town of San Antonio Palopo was using a larger hand loom to do her weaving. The women and girls in this town all wore identical outfits. The Mayan women of each town have their own distinctive pattern of dress, but there is usually a good bit of variation. Not in this town. Most of the women even wore matching headpieces and plastic gold beads.
The lady pictured above asked if she could dress us in the native costume of San Antonio. Interestingly, the men in this town wear black checked kilts. She was, of course, hoping to sell the clothes to us. Sadly (for her), we didn't buy a thing. But Charlie did, however, give her a tip for the photos.
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