It’s not about
the destination as much as the journey.
It seems we
were infected with the adventure bug, why else would we have got on yet
another chicken bus???
Not to mention
the fact that we had no idea how to get to where we wanted to be or how
much it would cost or how long it would take!!!! So it was that we set off
for Panajachel.
Funny how we
have changed! If we had decided to go somewhere in the UK, we would have
checked the timetables,where we had to connect, how we could get the best
deal and booked it in advance. Maybe we were finally learning the meaning
of ‘it’s not so much about the destination as much as the
journey’.
Instead, we
simply headed for the bus terminal, asked for the bus to Panajachel, were
told to catch the bus to Chimaltenago and change there. So we did as we
were told, got on the bus and asked the conductor to tell us when we
should change and would he point us in the direction of the next bus (in
Spanish). The trip took us 45 mins and cost 4.5Qs each (60 cents or 30p)
and we were deposited at a crossroads in the busy town of Chimaltenango
with instructions to catch the bus over the road.
Having survived
crossing the road, we asked a driver for the bus to Pana (the Guatemalans
abbreviate their place names and when you see some of them you can
understand why) and were told to get the bus to Las Encuentos and change
there (this was not what we had been led to believe in Antigua).
The scenery had
changed quite significantly, this area was much more agricultural with
lots of fields planted (by hand) with maize and cabbages. Another thing
that happened, for which we have neither explanation nor theory, was that
we were pulled over into an official area, the bus was boarded by an
official asking if anyone had any fruit or vegetables. It appears you were
not allowed to take fruit or vegetables into this part of the country.
???
An hour and a
quarter and 15Qs (that’s right US$2 or 100p) later we got off at what can
only be described as a junction on the motorway (it wasn’t a motorway as
such, more a dual carriage way).
Once again we
were pointed in the direction of the next bus, this time we had to change
at Solola. This was a relatively short leg and only 30 mins and 2.5Qs
later, we crossed the square in Solola to board our final bus.
We paid another
2.5Qs (30p) and settled down for the final leg of the
journey.
As the bus made
its way down the steep hillside, we caught sight of Lake Atitlan and the beautiful volcanoes
that surround it. It was so lovely and we were both quite excited, as much
to have survived the trip as by our destination.
Now as I told
you, we hadn’t booked anything and didn’t even have a clue where to get
off the bus. We got off somewhere and headed to nearest café that looked
like it would have facilities (well we had been on the buses for several
hours).
It was in the
Café Panajachel that we met Viktor (no, not the Cuban cigar maker from
Cancun) Roger asked if he could direct us to the area with the hotels and
he recommended an hotel called Rancho Grande Inn.
It turned out
to be a very nice little place, quiet (which for an hotel in Panajachel is
a bonus) with lovely gardens (no bath, but at least we had a
fire).
The next day,
we wanted to visit Chichicastenango (try saying that and keeping your
teeth in, but known locally simply as Chichi) but didn’t see the point in
making life difficult (after all we had proved we were not lightweights in
the travel department having survived not one, but two chicken bus
journeys) so we decided to book a shuttle for the next
day.
For US$18, we
booked a shuttle to Chichi (with a pick up at our hotel) and a return
shuttle to Antigua (with a drop off at
our hotel). The tour operator also gave us a brief run down on where to go
in Pana.
Having spent
most of the previous 6 months on the water, neither of us felt like taking
a boat ride across the lake to Santiago as most visitors do; instead we
walked around Pana.
It is much more
‘touristy’ than any of the other places we had seen, with streets of
stalls selling local arts and crafts.
It is
absolutely normal to see
women in their traditional costumes in Guatemala, even in the cities, but
here was the first time we had seen the men in
theirs.
The womens’
dress was also slightly different, which we attributed to the change in
the climate, it being much cooler here than in Antigua.
We came across
the Circus Bar, a bar/café that the tour operator had mentioned and
noticed they had live guitar music that night! We decided to take a look
and it took our fancy so we booked a table fo later that
evening.
Time was
slipping by as we headed for the Sunset Bar, which sits above the
lakeshore with beautiful views of the sunsets over Lake Atitlan.
It was
incredible to sit and look at not one, not two, not three but four
Volcanoes. Awesome!
After changing we headed
out to the Circus Bar. This bar was ‘born’ 25 years ago and has,
allegedly, the world’s biggest collection of important circus posters. The
atmosphere is very bohemian and is reminiscent of a smoky Parisian
bar.
I had a
mediocre (despite claims of being world famous) pizza and Roger had prawns
as we waited for the musicians to perform.
The first
musician was a very adept flamenco guitarist. He was followed by a rather
large guitarist by the name of Ricardo Gomez and a singer whose name we
did not get. Now, by the way everybody treated Ricardo, he must be some
big shot guitarist, I also noticed his photo on the wall. Roger’s
assessment of his ability was that he ‘displayed an obvious talent but was
also obviously a little worse for wear, it was 10:30pm by now if you know
what I mean???’. The singer on the other hand was very good, he had a
lovely smooth melodious voice as he crooned out popular classic latin
songs.
After a couple
of songs Ricardo left and the singer was joined by another 2 guitarists
and a bongo drummer. The evening got better and better as they jammed,
obviously enjoying each others company. As we had an early start the next
day and were very tired we reluctantly left them to what was obviously
going to be a long night.
Now wandering
around the streets, even after dark when there are plenty of people around
is not too daunting, but when we left the Circus bar the streets were
deserted and I felt decidedly uneasy.
So Roger hailed
a taxi, who wanted to charge us 30Qs (US$4) for what was a 5 minute walk.
Well Roger was happy and I wasn’t that uneasy so we
declined.
A little
further down the road we caught a Guatemalan version of a Tuk-Tuk and the
young man took us to the hotel for 10Q’s (I couldn’t be bothered to haggle
and he seemed such a nice young man trying to make a living for
himself).
