Guatemala Part Three

Friday January 22nd - Market day in Santiago. Located diagonally across the lake from us, and thus the furthest away, the town of Santiago is nestled in a large harbour on the far side of the San Pedro volcano. Getting there is a bit of a complicated adventure. From our side of the lake, there are two possible routes. The first would involve going in the opposite direction all the way back to Panajachel, then walking to the second set of docks across town before catching a boat taxi all the way across the entire lake. The second route would have us continue along our shoreline to San Pedro which is on the opposite side of the volcano to Santiago. In San Pedro, we would have to cross town to another dock and catch a boat which would take us around the volcano. The latter made more sense to us as it seemed like a more direct approach, so that’s what we chose. What we didn’t take into account was the fact that smaller boat taxis don’t make the connection to Santiago. This meant that we would have to wait until one of the huge transport ships was making the trip. What would have taken fifteen minutes in a small craft turned into almost an hour on the slow moving vessel.

The port area here has some lovely new fountains with tiled walkways. There are small stalls that line both sides of the street containing many of the same kind of hand woven items we have seen in the other towns. There were also wood carvings and a large selection of masks. We walked uphill for about a half a kilometer until we found the marketplace. Hundreds of vendors were crammed into the narrow streets selling all types of fresh produce, vegetables, fruits and other food items. Alongside were stands with plastics, toiletries, backpacks, leather goods and almost anything else you could imagine. Every Friday the locals make their way here from all around the lake to sell their home grown, home made or purchased products. It’s colourful, hectic, noisy and aromatic - but lots of fun.

Taking a brief respite from the chaos, we ducked into a tiny restaurant and enjoyed a full chicken dinner starting with home-made vegetable soup and tortillas for under $4. Back near the market we watched as school children poured out onto the streets. Most of the young girls throughout the area wear the traditional outfits with colours reflecting the village in which they live. The young boys, however, are almost always in western style clothing - pants and a T shirt. On our way back down to the docks, we managed to find a lovely hand-stitched table runner. After the usual bartering, all in Spanish of course, we settled on a price. As we started to pay, more goods were presented - “What about one in blue? I give you a good price - special today!! No mas…no mas. Eso es todos.

We once again deliberated about which way was best to go - through Pana or via San Pedro. We chose the latter as we would be in Pana again tomorrow. The large ship took us the San Pedro where we walked through the quaint back alleys lined with boutique restaurants and bars. At the second dock, we took a small fast boat back home. Just enough time for wine and cheese on the balcony as the sun is setting.

Monday, January 25 -Rather a low key day. After breakfast we hiked to Jaibalito to buy “pan integral” (whole wheat bread or in this case multigrain bread!) at a Han’s posada. We’re becoming so familiar with the trail that it feels like a short run over and back . It’s a couple of kilometers because of the ups and downs but we can see their town dock across the water from our place…not far as the crow flies. It’s great to start the day with a little exercise! After that we did the usual reading, solitaire, chess, and writing. We spent a little while down at the water, walking in the hot spring pool and sitting on the dock. We have been too lazy to jump in the water and swim although when it’s hot on the trails the idea is appealing…just haven’t bothered! We checked out the row boat but it is very heavy and sitting high up on the rocks. We were prepared to do a little bailing -the owners had mentioned that part, but getting it into and out of the water seemed somewhat difficult. We ended the day with Lord of the Rings in Spanish. (Helps if you know the English version!)

Tuesday, January 26 -Our time for exploring is gradually drawing to a close. (Five days until we leave here.) So we decided to try hiking up the dry riverbed that cuts through the path to Jaibalito. It’s full of boulders from the size of a soccer ball to huge rocks. It wasn’t bad at the beginning although after climbing up some of the rock cuts Sue expressed some hesitation about our return trip. We went about three quarters of the way to the top where we found a path. We decided it must circle around to Jaibalito so we struck out along it. It cut through a corn field and then ended abruptly. (When you look up the hills you see occasional plots of land that have been cultivated. Rather difficult to maintain on the steep slopes but good use of the land.) Rather than turning back we started bush whacking our way through the underbrush thinking we’d find another path. Not so. And it generally got steeper with less trees and rocks to assist in the climb. Jon kindly led the way clearing branches and making footholds in the loose gravel and dirt. Toward the end he slid down an incline and turned his ankle…an ongoing ligament problem that sometimes recurs on uneven ground. He managed to continue the climb…what choice did he have? Rather sweaty, covered with burrs, and a few scratches, we finally arrived back at the riverbed close to where we had started out. Somehow it didn’t seem steep at this point. Once we were back on the regular trail we continued on to Jaibalito to Han’s posada to buy wine. He has a good little store and restaurant that caters not only to his own renters but also to others who need to pick up a couple of basics without taking the boat to Pana. While we were there we had a huge glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. Very refreshing.
Arriving home we spent some time sitting with our feet in the lake. (Jon’s ankle is swollen and painful so he may not be hiking for a few days.) Then it was time for a late lunch. The rest of the day was pretty predictable but relaxing. Jon is keeping his foot elevated and icing his ankle with ice we scraped out of the little freezer in our refrigerator. And now it’s time for part two of the Lord of the Rings!

Wed./Thursday, January 22/23 -More restful days of warm sunshine. Jon has been spending much of his time with his foot elevated. He has been looking on line to see what is available for accommodation in Antigua. Our plan is to leave here Sunday morning and take a shuttle to Antigua, a Unesco World Heritage site. It looks like we could arrive and find a hotel but we want to be sure we are in the historical downtown area.
Both afternoons Jon has hobbled down to the natural hot spring along the shore to submerge his ankle in the warm water. We were really surprised today (the 23rd) that the pool of water was so hot you could barely touch it. Seems that other days the waves from the lake have been washing over the rocks that surround the pool and cooling the water in it. Today there wasn’t much wave action so the pool was truly a hot spring. Afterward we lay on the dock for a short while. Sue went for a refreshing swim. At first touch the water was very cool (sound like every lake you’ve ever jumped into?) but then it was great. With Jon slightly incapacitated, Sue has made the trek over to Jaibalito on her own to get bread and just to get some exercise. Funny how we have stopped worrying about the banditos although we still don’t take the camera or backpack along.
In the evening we watched part of the movie Final Cut (in English) but we weren’t enjoying it so we returned to The Bucket List and for whatever reason this time we made it past the scratched part and got to see the rest of the movie that we had started a week or so ago. Tomorrow we have our last shopping trip in Panajachel. Our first trip will be to the bank to get more Quetzales, then Sue will return the books she borrowed from Phyllis Trott’s cousin Marion. We will then search the markets for those last minute souvenirs before buying a few food items and a bottle of wine to get us through until Sunday.