August 2013

Shawn went home on Tuesday to get back to work. He wasn't very happy about that - his first email from home said how much he missed the food here. Baylie and I spent yesterday afternoon by the pool at the Hotel Antigua. It is a beautiful resort filled with British families on holiday; we sat there for hours and just listened to the little kids all speaking in their perfectly proper accents. We have two more Spanish classes then all day Saturday to walk around and say good-bye to Antigua. This has been a perfect summer trip, but I can't believe I scheduled it right up to the very end of our time off. It seems like everything is going to start moving really fast all of a sudden. I'm feeling anxious about getting back to work and Baylie has mixed feelings about starting high school. Oh well, when we're in the middle of all that "real life" there's always another trip to start planning!

Baylie made friends with a girl from Germany at Spanish school last week and she mentioned that she was trying to figure out how to get to Lake Atitlan for the weekend. We were planning to rent a car and drive there on Saturday morning so we offered her a ride. Katya was a delightful companion for our road trip and a perfect example of what I can probably expect from Baylie in about 4 years when she takes off at 18 to travel on her own! We got our same little Nissan back again for the day and once again put our faith in the GPS of Shawn's tablet gadget. The lovely British lady's voice calmly directed us along the most ridiculous route - up and down steep rutted dirt roads (thank goodness we didn't get the daily downpour right then!) and through the tiniest little "towns" in the middle of cornfields. She would occasionally tell us "You are headed in the opposite direction" as we slid around major rock piles and wash-outs. I tried to tell Katya that when you get a free ride you get what you pay for, but truthfully she and Baylie were having a great time. At one stop to check out some un-spectacular little caves we met a kid selling baby chicks - why he thought some lost tourists on their way to the lake might want one is a bit of a mystery, but they were fun to hold.

We actually finally made it to the town of Panajachel and I suspect the British GPS lady was having quite a laugh inside that stupid gadget. We walked around town a little, had some lunch with a great view, said good-bye to Katya as she went off to find a boat to one of the other little lakeside towns, and then we went to the Reserva Natural and hiked some gorgeous trails through the jungle. A fabulous day - and we found the actual highway for the trip back!

Lake Atitlan

Lake Atitlan

Lake Atitlan