Panajachel and Lago Atitlan: days 9 & 10 (part 1)

A Guatemalan artisan in Santa Catarina weaving table cloths

I love Guatemala. I really do. It is a beautiful, mountainous country with a vibrant, colorful culture. My love affair with Guatemala started when I was six months old. That's the first time I lived there. I returned again when I was 17 for four months and in 2008, Barbe and I lead a short term missions team of 30 people to Huehuetenango (see photo at bottom of post). That trip became the turning point for our lives and the reason we now find ourselves in Honduras. Why not Guate, you might ask. Well, I don't really have an answer for that except this is the place that feels right. The more time I spend here in Honduras, the more I fall in love with this country and it's people, too.

February 2nd and 3rd, 2013.

For the first time in several days we sleep in a little. Also, for the first time this trip we actually sit down in a restaurant for breakfast instead of eating cereal from paper bowls. May be it's because the room rate at Hotel Imperio includes two breakfast in their restaurant.

Saying goodbye to our new friends at the hotel, we head into Quetzaltenango, missing the bypass of course, and take CA 1 towards the cutoff to Sololá. In 1980 I visited Panajachel and I remember how steep the descent is from Sololá to Pana is and I almost change my mind about going there because of how heavily we are loaded. Our first hint of trouble came long before we reached Sololá. We had topped one of the high passes on CA 1 and had just started down the other side when I felt a very strange and uncomfortable sensation in the steering wheel and brakes when I applied pressure to the brake pedal. Now, keep in mind I have been a truck driver all my life and hot brakes are nothing new to me. This felt different, and besides, I had hardly even used the brakes yet. I carefully eased down the long mountain pass and found a sign for "taller mechanico" (mechanic shop). There are many along the road, most with very few tools and seldom even a roof overhead. This particular shop was run by a father and son. They took the front brakes completely apart, but could find nothing wrong. That was good and bad. Bad because I was afraid they might have missed the problem, but good because Chevy parts are hard to find except in the City. Guatemala is Toyota country. They put it all back together and from then on I was very cautious going down hill. I'm still not really sure what happened.

Back on the road, we soon reach Sololá. and begin the descent to Panajachel. The views are breathtaking. I put the van in low and creep slowly down the steep. curving, winding road to the lake dropping over 2000' in altitude in 8 kilometers. I choose to ignore the long line of cars and buses behind me rather than take the risk of losing our brakes and plunging over the guardrail.

View from the road between Solola and Panajachel

We are supposed to meet up with friends (see part 2) in the afternoon, but by the time we get to Pana it is getting late and we are tired. It had been suggested that we camp on Lago Atitlan at Hotel Vision Azul, but when I questioned them about the rates it was about the same cost to just get a room...and besides, it looks like the mosquitoes might get bad in the evenings. The rooms are decent and furnished in the old Guatemalan style I remember from past years and the view from the veranda is incredible. It is very peaceful.


View from our veranda at Hotel vision Azul, Panajachel, Guatemala

Hotel Vision Azul is just outside Pana so we unhook the trailer and drive in to town for a look around and to search for food. The boys continue their search for the best hamburger in Central America.



Dinner near Lago Atitlan

A walk down memory lane. Team Vista Guatemala, 2008





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