Taking It Easy

We spent a very relaxing week at Pasajcap on Lake Atitlan. We spent most of the time lazing around enjoying the view. We did do a number of walks and went into San Marcos de Laguna for a great curry one evening.

20140122-143609.jpg We also did another boat trip across the lake to San Pedro de Laguna. This town had a bit of a split personality. At the lake shore it was a travellers hang out with all the usual facilities including a great juice bar that made fantastic smoothies with ginger. Further up the hill it was a more traditional village with a local market that we wondered around. From there we walked the mile or so past coffee plantations and coffee drying to the quieter village of San Juan de Laguna. This was the centre of a local women's weaving cooperative and we spent a pleasant hour or so wandering around.

20140122-143759.jpg

20140122-143838.jpg

20140122-143913.jpg

20140122-143959.jpg In one of the shops the girls were given some free bracelets by the local ladies so Alisha felt she had to buy something and bought a new hat.

20140122-144056.jpg While we were out walking the wind had got up and the lake ride back was choppy and a bit wet. This made getting out of the wooden docks difficult as the boat was banging against them and going up and down. When we reached San Marcos, Gilly had had enough so we got out and walked the mile back to where we were camped.

20140122-144144.jpg After a week we felt we should be moving on and decided to drive back to Antigua as we had booked a night in a tree house on the slopes just outside Antigua. Neither Gilly or I were looking forward to the drive back. First we had to navigate the steep, narrow driveway (it was the same width as the truck with bushes on either side) followed by the gate (we only had an inch on each side and the light I had refitted was very close to coming off again),then we had to go through 2 small villages on tight roads, then we had to drive up the mountainside with all the hairpin bends (it goes up 1000 m in less than 10km) and finally drive through the streets of Antigua back to the tourist police compound without been stopped by the police for going down the wrong roads.

20140122-144247.jpg In the end it all went pretty straightforwardly. On arriving back in Antigua, Gilly took the girls off to the Costume Museum as part of the schooling. As for me it was off to the launderette to do the weeks washing.

20140122-144409.jpg

20140122-144448.jpg

20140122-144524.jpg The following day we headed about 12km outside Antigua up the mountainside to Earthlodge where we were staying in a tree cabin. The views across the valley from both the dining room and our cabin were fantastic and the food was all freshly and organically prepared. We spent the afternoon lazing in hammocks and enjoying the view. I think we all wished we were staying more than one night.

20140122-144620.jpg

20140122-144704.jpg

20140122-144800.jpg

20140122-144846.jpg

20140122-144931.jpg The following morning it was pretty cold when we woke up so we warmed up with a hearty breakfast of sausage, bacon and egg. After that we returned to Antigua to sort a few things out and prepare for our next border crossing. Before we left we still had time for one last dinner out.

One thought on “Taking It Easy

  1. Oh, that all looks so delightful! Love the tree cabin — I can understand why everyone wanted to extend the visit there. 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *