El Lago de Atitlán

Wow, this weekend was a complete blur.  Since Steph has been at the lake for a week and Emi and I are starting work at Santiago and San Lucas respectively, we convinced a bunch of our friends to come hang out with us at Lake Atitlán (not that it was very hard to do).

On Friday we met up with Steph in Panajachel, where she has been working.  We took it easy that night because everyone was so tired, but we woke up refreshed and ready to visit the nearby nature reserve.  It featured a butterfly house and the chance to see some monkeys in their natural habitat!

In addition to hiking through the park, the girls also decided to do some zip-lining.  I had done it before, so instead I walked ahead and took pictures of them while they came through.  Judging by the amount of screaming, it sounded like they had a lot of fun, and I'm happy to report that each of them survived (much to Steph's relief).

When we finished up with the nature reserve, we took a lancha to San Pedro, another town on the Lake, where we met up with Evan and Sharon.  We did a walking tour of the town, which was undeniably beautiful.  I ate my first ice cream of the trip (I'd been waiting so long!) and met a dog named Cannabis (I kid you not).  Later, when we were hanging out in the park in front of the local cathedral, we ran into Cannabis again and he casually made his way into our group photo.

This morning we rented some kayaks and paddled around the town, and I made the wise decision to leave my camera at the hostel.  You'll just have to trust me that it was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

We finished off our trip with a trip to one of the local saunas.  They filled up the hot tub while we ate lunch, and I still can't figure out exactly where the hot water came from.  It supposedly came from a hose, but how did it get so hot??  There is no way it comes from the same water source as the rest of the utilities system in Guatemala, which is freezing cold.

Soon it was time for us to say our goodbyes: Emi and I boarded a lancha to head to Santiago, and everyone else went back to Panajachel, Steph to stay and the rest to return to Xela.  After taking Emi to her new house, I boarded a pickup truck to get to San Lucas.  Now I'm here, trying my best to settle in before my first day of work tomorrow.  And so begins the next leg of my journey in Guatemala!