Mountain road Trip, with the Latin American Buses adding colour
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Tue 17 Aug 2010 23:27
We travelled by minivan from Antigua to Lake Atitlan across the mountains of
Guatemala, it was early morning on a Monday so people were out and about,
getting to work, and we had 2 to 3 hours to go. The mountains are high at 1
500 m to 2000m and very green, and the road winds around the top of them,
and in between volcanoes dotted on the way up. But the memory for me will be
the Latin American buses that are transporting people, we pass lots of them,
you have the old American yellow school buses then you have the private
transport ones which have been done up. These now run between the towns
transporting the locals, there is a driver, and a support person who seems
to collect the fair but his main job is to round up as many people as he can
and load them in. So there is a constant shouting of where the bus is going
as you pass people, and people pile in, he hangs off the back of the bus, it
is quite a team effort between him an the bus driver. But the other part I
will always remember is the great colors pictures and designs on the buses
there seems to be competition between them.
You can see some of them in the photos.
The road has been washed away in many places due to Agatha storm a couple of
months ago.
As we descended into a massive Volcano Caldera you have volcano's on the
other side, and this blue, blue lake. We then winded down the site is
spectacular, and we arrive at the town of Panajachel on the lake shores,
where we will stay for 5 days and do Spanish lessons. We explored the town
found a great place for hamburgers in swiss style, and many good shops.
Tracy and Sean went off for 4 hours of 1 on 1 Spanish tutorial each with
their own teacher, while Alex and I rest in the afternoon, 9I do Spanish on
my own) and then Alex and I explored the lake shores.
A great journey across the mountains so green, and so much local colour.
