Day 6 - Lake Atitlan, Panajachel, La Casa del Mundo

Our shuttle left at 7AM to go to Lake Atitlan. As I mentioned in my previous post, the price we paid for Atitrans was more expensive by about $2 per person, but it showed in the high roofed, individual seat, air conditioned shuttle that we rode in. My mom had to go to the bathroom so bad she was ready to fling herself out the van as we climbed into the highlands; somehow, we made it to the rest stop without causing too much of a ruckus or inconvenience to the other passengers.

The first thing we did upon arrival at Panajachel (the city at the shores of Atitlan where most of the shuttles take you) was grab Empanadas. There is a small Argentinian pizza place right beside the Atitrans office. The empanadas are cheap and delicious, especially with the garlic based chimmy churry sauce. Highly recommended.

My least favorite part of Guatemala - ok, of visiting any country as a tourist - is the haggling. Panajachel is the worst for this. After arriving, we were bothered by probably no less than 5 people all offering to sell us a private boat ride for the day, trying to make conversation to then offer to sell a private boat service, etc etc.

Even armed with the knowledge that public transportation is cheap (around 15Q) and frequent, our white skin still gave us away. We sat near the docks in the sun, admiring the beautifully stunning view of Atitlan and its surrounding volcanoes, while I politely made conversation with a boat man trying to sell us his boat. As time passed, no public transportation seemed to be arriving, and no locals were queuing up for any boat that we could see. Once another family of tourists came along, we agreed to pool together and split the cost of this "private transportation," which ended up being only about double the cost of public ($4 instead of $2.) We were all then promptly shuffled into - a public boat. The guy I had been talking to (who "owned" the boat we were, um, supposed to ride in) couldn't really answer back when I said things like, "this isn't your boat," and "you aren't even driving us…."

The point is, apparently all of the boatsmen at these docks, public or private, are all in kahuts, especially when they spot a set of foreigners arriving during the choppy noon hour, when the use of the boats by locals is minimal. It's annoying, and frustrating, and if you really caused a scene and had some wicked Spanish or Tsutujil (the local Mayan dialect) maybe you could shave $2 off your transportation cost. In the end, we are lucky enough to come from a place where $2 is not a mammoth amount of money, so best to just sigh, roll our eyes, and move on.

Our "private" boat (this is what a public boat looks like.)

The public boat did take us almost directly to La Casa del Mundo, the hotel where we'd chosen to stay. La Casa del Mundo really did feel like "paradise" as one of the shuttle drivers told me. Composed of several buildings, rooms, and patios perched in various heights on the cliff, all of it connected by a semi-maze of vertical stairs, this hotel had a way of making you feel like it was yours. So much small attention to detail in the stonework and well-kept flora, the myriad of patios and sitting spots, and the never-ending amazing views of the lake made the entire place the perfect ending spot to our week long journey. The staff were all friendly, polite, and attentive - they knew how to do business the right way, and it was extremely refreshing. In addition, the full 3 course meal we had that night at the hotel (for about $10) was served in an appropriate "family style" fashion, giving us the chance to talk with other travelers, swap stories, etc. (like the UofM law grad that I met here.)

One of the terraces, submerged because of the heavy rainy season in 2010 (kind of gives it an "Atlantis" feel in my opinion.)

View of Casa del Mundo from the top of our hike. You can match up the terraces from the previous photo.

Family-style dining... with my family (and others.)

We spent the day taking a hike to San Pedro (I think,) which my brother wasn't initially too happy about. Later on my mom and I went to Jaibolito, the nearby village, billed as a "local, indigenous village." To be honest nothing about this small dockside city was that different from many of the other small towns we'd seen throughout the week. It was still eye-opening, though - watching little girls haul 5 cinder blocks on their backs uphill, for example.

That night, after dinner, we opted for the hot tub at the hotel to unwind, which was a small additional charge. A worker heated the water with a wood stove in the middle of the tub, and cooled it down by siphoning water in from the lake. Needless to say, going to bed was effortless that night.

Day 5 -From El Portal to Antigua

We got yet another early start and hopped in the back of one of El Portal's pickups in transit to Lanquin. Once in Lanquin there was a bit of reshuffling and delays as these three Israeli girls failed to show up on time (turns out they were from our hotel also, and might've slept in or something.) Anyways, while their insistence on sitting together was keeping us from leaving (the two shuttles were already more our less full), the delay did give us a little bit of time to get breakfast from local shops around Lanquin. Two of the travelers got empanadas and another a banana, both of which we sampled and were excellent. I picked up some bread/ cookies from a bakery for almost nothing (I think around 15 cents a cookie or something, if even that much.) Finally, we were off.

The drive from Lanquin to Cobán, and then Cobán to Antigua, was not really that exciting. The only remarkable thing was the tasty fried chicken dish I grabbed on our rest stop as well as the heat and desert-like environment that we drove across, a complete surprise to me (Guatemala's landscapes tend to surprise you.) We did have good company, though - folks we had met in El Portal, including Mario from Xela and his Japanese girlfriend, Charlotte from San Francisco, and some sisters backpacking together around central america.

For anyone stumbling across the blog looking for travel times/ road conditions for this leg of the journey, here are my notes:

The cost of a shuttle from El Portal to Antigua was Q160 ($20) per person

We left El Portal at 7AM

20/ 30 minute delay in Lanquin

We were in Cobán by 10:15, had a bathroom break

We left Cobán by 10:30

By 2:50 we were in Guatemala City

By 3:30 we were in Antigua

Total travel time was 8.5 hours (7AM - 3:30PM)

As soon as we got off the shuttle in Antigua, we were instantly bombarded by a guy who was actually surprisingly helpful, when I had expected him to be imposing. It turned out he worked for Atitrans, a pricier shuttle company for Lake Atitlan trips (and by pricier I mean about 2 more dollars per person. Which was worth it on the way down, not worth it on the way back, but whatever, it's 2 bucks....) Because this was the last leg of our journey left to finalize, we decided to go with it for convenience's sake (much to the loathing of my mother, who was insistent that we were being ripped off as he walked us the mile or so to our hotel while we hauled our luggage.)

Like I said, convenience was worth it, because he led us to our hotel and organized the shuttle right at our hotel. Speaking of which, our hotel - Hotel Cirilo - was incredible. It's a relatively newer hotel (so most of the cab/ Tuk-tuk drivers have not yet heard of it) and a bit far from the main square, but that also meant it was far from the late night noise. It's built around an old church ruin, the rooms are spacious and luxurious, the water very hot - a total 180 from the hostel-style lodging of El Portal. The Cirilo staff even offered to prepare our complimentary breakfasts earlier than advertised, since we had to take a shuttle at 7. And they had wifi. And it was affordable. I'd highly recommend this place to everyone passing through Antigua.

The Atitrans people drove us back into town after scheduling the early morning shuttle to the lake. My dad forgot his camera though, so he took a tuk-tuk back to the hotel for I think no more than $1.50 each way and was back in fifteen minutes. While doing some shopping and walking around, we ran into an older couple that we had last seen in Tikal three days ago! We enjoyed catching up with them and asking them more about their trip while still in a bit of shock that our paths had crossed once more.

After that it was onto dinner, some drinks, a little taste of Antigua's night life, and then back to the hotel to take hot showers, unwind, use the internet, and relax….

The windy dirt road from El Portal to Lanquin

Reshuffling the luggage in Lanquin. If you look closely, you can see the girls who caused our delay....

The desert-like landscape from Cobán to Antigua.

The famous arch in Antigua.

The pool at our awesome hotel (Cirilo)

Day 4 - Semuc Champey (Pools and Caves)

Today was a "rest" day - a day of zero traveling. We were very active the whole day, but it was still refreshing to have a break midway through the trip where we weren't spending any time on a bus/ shuttle/ plane….

We got up early the next morning because my dad and I wanted to investigate the pools at Semuc Champey a bit on our own before we went on the guided tour (we signed up for a full day tour through El Portal, including the pools, tubing, and caves to make sure we didn't miss anything.) The pools were very close to El Portal (a 5 minute walk) and the entrance fee was small (30-50Q range.) The pools are in a protected park like area with several trails, some that go along the river and one that climbs up extremely high to get to a Mirador (lookout spot) where many of the famous views of the pools are taken:

We had only explored a small part of the river/ pools on our own before going on the tour. The tour was fine, and it perhaps forced us to make that hike to the Mirador that we would not have made otherwise, but I do not think it was essential. You can easily explore the pools on your own, at your own pace. The one advantage I saw to using the tour was that the guides knew the spots on the pools that could be jumped off of/ slid off of. They took a group of younger kids who were on the tour from pool to pool, starting at the top, and either jumped or slid from pool to pool. Because we were traveling with my brother, whose arm was casted and unable to get wet, we weren't able to join up with them.

So - if you're wanting to do a lot of swimming, jumping, and sliding, I would say to go for a tour. If you just want to see the pools and take pictures, do it on your own.

We took lots of beautiful pictures. My favorite spot was where the river entered and exited the caves underneath the pools (the pools are actually a natural land bridge, so their own water is not really a part of the rio Cahabón, which flows beneath them). Here are some photos:

The "start" of Semuc Champey, where the river plunged beneath the pools

One of the pools (everything in this picture is part of the land bridge; the river is deep beneath us and not connected at all really to the water in the photo.)

I'm a gymnast, so a flip from one pool to the next was necessary I guess.

The group that swam, slid, and jumped between pools to work their way down.

The "end" of Semuc Champey, where the river (below) re-emerges from the cave/ bridge.

We were on the tour from about 9-11:30; plenty of time to hike the Mirador, see the pools, swim, and take photos. Once back at the hotel, we ate lunch (the food was mediocre, but come on, you don't go to Semuc Champey for the fine dining, so it was fine) and then headed to another part of the river where we went on a short tubing ride. This was nice and relaxing and only about 20-30 minutes long.

Next we headed to the caves, which are very easy to find and only about 5 minutes from El Portal as well. Our whole tour group went- about 20 of us - and we heard reports from other tourists that you could just show up to the caves and that the cave guides would leave whenever they had a big enough group - usually about 7-10 people. Obviously with a smaller group you get a bit more "attention" and possibly get to see further back in the caves.

Still, with 20 of us, we had a great time. I had read reports about how dangerous the caves were or potentially unsafe - I saw none of that on our tour. Yes, you have to wade and at times swim with your candle held high so it doesn't go out. But if it does, you just relight it with someone else's. Light was never an issue, and we frequently kept half of the candles in our group extinguished anyways to save light for later. There was a cool spot where you could climb up a waterfall with a rope (the cave system is an underground river) - but this was optional; there was a (slightly sketchy) ladder to the left. There was also an optional jump at the end of the journey towards the back where you could climb up about 12-15 feet and jump into the water. Only about 3-4 of us did it. The guide showed us where to jump with his headlamp, and he did it first, so I felt safe doing it and had a great time.

Speaking of, the guide really was excellent. He seemed flustered, and who wouldn't be, managing 20 of us - including 1 person who could not swim and my injured brother, whose broken arm often resulted in the guide carrying him on his back across the deeper parts of the river. But he did a great job of waiting to make sure everyone stayed in the group and keeping us all safe (you still have to take some personal responsibility here, this is an underground cave system after all!)

I actually managed to bring my camera through the caves without soaking it, and snapped some "rare" pictures of our journey:

My mom and dad. Yeah, the water was a little cold.

Me and my balding spot. You can see the group up ahead.

Our friend Charlotte, who we met here, climbing up one of the ladders to move to the next area.

The cave walls were awesome.

The subterranean cliff jump, which was awesome!

When we left the caves, the sun was out (it was cloudy for most of the day) and lit up the fauna and river well before we headed in for dinner:

El Portal also arranged shuttles to Antigua, so we went ahead and reserved one of those as well (for a reasonable price), rather than doing the route to Cobán and then getting a Monja Blanca bus back (which is also feasible, but more of a hassle.) We had another dinner, enhanced tonight by more conversation from our new friends we had made that day, and got to bed early again to prepare for another long day of traveling in the morning.