We left early in the morning on a tranquil lake in a boat for 4 people to Pana. The lake was beautiful as usual and we were excited to be going to Chichicastenango ,otherwise known as ChiChi .it took 2 hours on a mountain road to get there by private shuttle. The Chicken Buses come roaring down the wrong side ot the road which scared us but was nothing compared to the Pana boat home..

I will describe the boat but it won’t do it justice to the experience .its a fiberglass large row boat with a wooden roof. The boat is meant to hold 14 people..Due to no safety regulations in Guatamala we sit at the dock until at least 28 people are on board.. The whole time we are loading the boat sinks lower in the water..life jackets are sparse,I doubt there are even 14 that are accessible.The problem is to make the decision where to sit..if you sit in the front two rows you get wet.The only protection from the splash is a piece of plastic to hold over you .If you move back,and the boat goes over ,you probably drown.we chose to drown. Who are the passengers with us on this adventure? We have the native women in their traditional dress, the teenage students ,some obnoxious American ,kids who commute every day on this boat, and the hippies headed for San Pedro and the 4 old retires ,us. The 15 minute ride to Jaibalito took 45 minutes due to the load and the rougher water.the last challenge is to get out of the boat while it is rocking and the dock is high above you, no ladder .we finally all make it out and walk the planked path to our house.

We no sooner got in the door ,that we looked at each other and said where is the wine. We Happy Houred our nerves and all agreed what a fun day it was.

Susan

But this makes it all worthwhile!

We are presently living in a two bedroom house in Jaibalito on the shores of Lake Atitlan. It is the dry season where the mornings are warm, sunny, and low humidity. In the afternoon, it gets breezy with a few clouds so it tends to be a little cooler. The evenings are still again and cool – what is known here as perpetual spring.

Our house fronts the lake and has a pier in front. Our morning starts with coffee on the pier watching the fishing boats and volcanoes (no activity – they’re just pretty). After breakfast on the porch, we set out for the day. One day we went to the “big city” of Panajachel for supplies and hiking in the nature reserve. Another day we hiked to our neighboring town of Santa Cruz. Despite our isolated location, the food has been very good and we meet people at virtually every meal.

A hurricane hit the area several years ago and raised the lake level seventeen feet. Consequently, our sidewalk into town is wooden planks built above the water. This is OK when there is no wind in the morning and evening, but in the afternoon the water splashes up through the boards making it difficult to stay dry.

This is the largest store in town. You see almost all of it here.

Every morning a load of construction supplies shows up on the public dock. As the day progresses, the supplies get moved by women and children up the hill into the town. This woman is lifting a 92 pound bag of cement to carry on her back.

We are thoroughly enjoying life in our town.

Lake Atitlan has been called the most beautiful lake in the world. It is certainly a strong contender. Other lakes that I consider in the running are Moraine Lake in the Canadian Rockies and Lake Como in Italy. What is your most beautiful lake?

It was a beautiful day to fly out of Charlotte. Thanks to TSA pre check, we breezed through security with our shoes on and our liquids in our luggage. Our plane arrived at the gate right on time at 1 PM, but when it came time to board they announced a slight problem. It turns out there was a crack in the pilot’s windshield and they were going to call the manufacturer to see if it was safe to fly. I thought why would any engineer take the risk of saying it is safe instead of making them fix the windshield. Sure enough, an hour and a half later we got the word the plane wouldn’t leave until 7 PM so they could replace the windshield. We spent the afternoon trying to make alternate arrangements that would get us to Guatemala City that night. We ultimately had to settle for a flight to Dallas that night and to Guatemala City the next morning. After standing by for one flight and not getting on it, we finally got to Dallas about 9 PM. After some more trials, we finally got to a motel courtesy of American Airlines.

We were supposed to leave for Lake Atitilan with our friends Jean and Ron the next morning at 9:30 AM but now we weren’t going to get to Guatemala City until 1PM. We exchanged numerous e-mails about the situation and left it in Jean’s good hands to make alternate arrangements. We arrived in Guatemala early, zipped through customs and stepped outside the airport to find at least a thousand Guatemalans waiting for passengers. We ultimately found Jean and Ron, made the three hour car ride to Lake Atitilan, and took a 15 minute boat ride to our house in Jaibalito only to find the power out. Fortunately, it was still daylight so we were able to settle in and headed off for the restaurant while it was still light.

Jaibalito has a population of about 600 and is accessible only by boat. There are no motorized vehicles in town, there are four restaurants in town, and one sidewalk from the dock and one cross sidewalk. In walking around last night and today, we have met most of the people in the town. Last night we had goulash, spaetzle, fresh vegetables and a bottle of wine and water for $12 per couple…and it was good and we didn’t get sick!

And look how beautiful our view is!