Vacation: Panajachel (Pana), Guatemala

The afternoon shuttle from Xela to Pana was pleasantly uneventful. We got in around 5ish and checked into our hostel - Casa Linda, home of the most uncomfortable bed we've ever slept on. The first night the bed was so uncomfortable we didn't even want to sit on it, and we ended up laying across the bed horizontally instead of head to foot since that was the only way to find a spot where my arms did not instantly fall asleep. Unfortunately we paid for two nights up front because it was in a quiet location and we had another early morning hike scheduled for the next day (Volcan San Pedro). The third night we splurged an extra US$4 stayed at a different hotel with a comfortable bed and even a tv.

This is what happens when you don't have good building codes (Mike Holmes would be appalled). That's a circuit breaker IN the shower, next to one of the sketchy electric water heaters that are typical for Central America (don't touch the wires). We discovered the trick to actually getting hot water out of these things... turn the water on until the lights dim, then crank the tap back a 1/2 turn to slow the flow through it (if the lights brighten again you've gone too far). Okay, so yet another early morning hike... this one wasn't until 6am... and weirdly our guide spoke English so that was a bit of a novelty (although we switched guides on the trail and he didn't speak English... but by now we were getting better at conversing in Spanish). The hike left from one of the towns across the lake so we started by walking down to the pier. This is Lago Atitlan... Volcan San Pedro should be looming in the centre but the clouds weren't cooperating.

Tom waiting for the ferry... there were a bunch of silly dogs that followed us down here. They kept chasing birds along the shore.

Some of the farms and mansions around the lake:When we got to the town of San Pedro we stopped for a leisurely lunch, then hopped in a Tuk Tuk to get up to the trailhead.

The hike was 8.4 km with an elevation gain of about 1.2 km, overall elevation was more like what's around Calgary. Look-out at approximately 1/3 of the way up:

By the time we got to the top of San Pedro the clouds had moved in again. The rope marks the edge of the crater.Chilling on the top:

Typical hiking fashion....Tom in the ferry on the way home... Apparently we hiked the trail unusually fast because we were done way earlier than expected... early enough that our guide tried to talk us into additional tours. We decided to just head back to Pana though because this was the place where we chose to do our souvenir shopping. Pana is aggravating because of the over-abundance of pushy vendors (much like Cancun in this aspect), but at the same time that's what makes it an awesome place to get good deals. We picked up a back-up hammock, two hammock chairs for the deck (too bad it's not hammock weather), a blanket, and I had a jacket specially made for me (I'm a giant by Central American standards... most people barely come up to my shoulders...).

The next day we changed hotels to the new comfy one and then hit the Atitlan Nature Reserve, which is a short walk from town and happens to have a zip-line. After the one we did in the Cloud Forest in Costa Rica I jumped at any chance to get back on one (although this is the first time since). This line was much shorter, but still hugely fun.

There was also a butterfly exhibit, although we were too late to see many of them. We found this particularly neat butterfly with translucent wings outside of the butterfly enclosure.