weekend #3, Saturday

This week has gone by fast, but I was really glad when the weekend finally arrived. My brain was pretty tired from school this week and it was nice to have something like Lake Atitlan to look forward to.

The van picked me and Suzanne up a few minutes before 8. Merlene was the first to be picked up, so the three of us then sat in the van for another 45 minutes driving all over Antigua picking up 11 other people. Finally we were on our way. The weather was not really in our favor … very rainy, foggy, and no sign of the sun anywhere. But eventually it cleared up pretty good and allowed us to see beyond 20 feet.

Three hours after getting in the van, we finally arrived in Panajachel. The driver took us to the shore and we proceeded to rent a boat/driver to take us to San Pedro. After much discussion, thought, and bartering, we finally agreed on two stops, San Pedro and Santiago, and back for a total of Q325 = approx. $14.45 per person.

The lake is beautiful. The volcanoes and mountains all around the lake are beautiful. The water IN the lake, however, is not so beautiful when you’re pounding up and down on it in a little motorboat. It was VERY choppy and many times on the way over to San Pedro I got sprayed with water from the boat crashing through the waves. There were several times I found myself praying, “Please, God, don’t let this boat tip over, please.” He was faithful and got us to San Pedro safely.

Suzanne had heard this was the best town around the lake. I’m not really sure why her source would say that as I didn’t find it to be any different than any other town in this country that I’ve seen so far. It’s packed with adults and children trying to sell you stuff, dogs roaming the streets, and tuk-tuks, trucks, cars, bicycles, and tourists trying to fight their way through the streets. All the stuff being sold looked the same as in Antigua (for the most part). And the view was obstructed by buildings even though as soon as you got off the boat you had to climb a very steep hill. The little town eventually leveled off at the top, but all the buildings were then in the way, so really the best view is down at the docks.

However, it was a nice little town. The streets are cobblestone and much more well maintained than Antigua’s. And we found a very pretty church and an odd statue of something without a name on the fence, so I can’t explain it. but it provided something unique and different to fulfill my justification for going over there. :-)

After about 45 minutes of walking around, we returned to our boat and our driver took us to Santiago. Merlene had heard this was the best town on the lake, but again, I don’t know why her source said that. I must be missing something, but can’t figure out what. Santiago was nice, just as San Pedro was, once the kids left us alone. They saw us coming in the boat and didn’t leave us alone for a good 10 minutes. They kept asking if we wanted them to take us to a specific place.

In the middle of the hill was a restaurant. We took a gander at their menu and decided to stay. Suzanne had fish … the whole fish, bones and all. She was happy, so whatever. :-) Merlene had something typical of Guatemala, something that reminded me of the food I get at the house … rice, meat, black beans. I ordered a chicken sandwich with fries. The sandwich turned out to be some sort of chicken salad on toasted bread. It was actually pretty good, but I think had to eat onions. Needless to say, I survived, again. :-)

After lunch we walked around a little more, but didn’t have a lot of time as we had to get back to Pana in order to go to the post office to meet our return van at 4. We were there a few minutes before 4, but the van didn’t show up until 4:40. We rushed for nothing. But if we hadn’t been there, it would have been on time, left us there, and we would have had to spend the night some place. So whatever. It’s always that way, isn’t it?

Panajachel, as far as I could tell, was a sizeable town, but was all about people trying to sell their stuff like every other place. But Pana was the best place to see the lake, in my opinion.

The lake really is beautiful. There are three volcanoes specifically, but lush green mountains are all around it. oh, but get this. It’s a lake, right? In the States people would be out there enjoying the lake, swimming, water skiing, fishing, etc. But here, there was none of that. The only boats out on the water were taxiing people across to the other side. Why? (That’s for the people who lived here to answer … Jeff and company.)

Anyways, we all piled back into the 15 passenger van and drove home. Another 3 hour venture by the time we got to the house. These vans are so not comfortable. There’s no room for your legs. And children’s voices are double the decibel they normally are. “Aren’t you glad you use Dial?” ugh.

Suzanne is fun. Merlene is nice. I was broke and thankful for nice people who were willing to pay for my boat ride and lunch. I’ll be happy when money arrives on Monday. Oh, but what I was going to say is that Suzanne and I are having fun together. She and I laugh quite a lot and are acquiring inside jokes. It’s really nice. I wish she were staying longer than just one more week, but God will bring along someone else.

She and I had quite an interesting conversation about God, the Bible, Jesus, and sex last night before going to bed. She had gone with her teacher and most of the other students on a school activity yesterday to some idol of some satanic guy. Anyways, she was telling me about it last night and was saying how much she felt oppressed while in the “church” where this shrine was. And how much she felt the oppression lifted when she left and went into the Catholic church down the street. So with all that, it opened up the door to discuss it all. I couldn’t defend my beliefs with facts, but I talked about what I believe and listened to her doubts in Jesus as being perfect, God, and never having sex. In all of that, I think I heard that she believes in God, but doesn’t name what she believes as God. She refers to Him more as “positive energy” or something like that. It’s very interesting. But needless to say, she could use your prayers. So if you think of it…

There is a birthday parting going on at the basketball court outside my window about 300 feet. They have very loud music playing, so it will prove a little difficult to sleep. But I’m tired and am up for the challenge…