Guatemala

I had forgotten how lovely Antigua in Guatemala was and was really pleased to see the colourful low adobe houses and the cobbled streets. The pavements are too narrow for two people to walk along. there were lots of persistent little sales woman in village dress trying to sell us scarves and everything so we sat in the market square and let them come to us while we took photos when no-one was looking. The temperature was not too hot, very pleasant and nights were cool. The yellow house hostel was a nice place to stay but we had to move because there was no storage facilities. Casa Jacaranda was not as nice or friendly but offered a reasonable breakfast. The Yellow house had a lovely breakfast space and very nice ladies and also great views from rooftop and it was easy to make friends. We wandered the streets shopping and eating and climbed the hill to the viewpoint. We went to the market and also the indoor market type shops. On Sunday we took a shuttle bus to Chichicastenango for the Sunday market. I took lots of photos but it was quite different to when I was last there. It has four long narrow streets of stalls with very persistent sales people. We then shuttled to Lake Atitilan and the village of San Marcos. San Marcos we both loved as it was a very hippy place with beautiful views of the lake and not far to walk to anywhere. We stayed in Circles cafe which was lovely and very clean with marvellous coffee and nice seating areas. Every day we wandered the narrow streets. I found lots of yoga. we wanted to canoe but the water was too rough so we went to San Juan ,a textile town ,but there was too much stuff to see and again a very hard sales technique in all this area. Good homegrown coffee though. The crossing was rough but it  like an adventure too. We watched a movie at night in one of the pubs. It was a very good New Zealand movie.
Next day I went to yoga which was very peaceful almost all meditation then we walked in the reserve and did some canoeing. There was a thing called trampoline but we didn’t do it. The water is very clear this side of the lake. Instead we meandered and ate pizza. We went to movie again at Hotel del Lago. Breakfast was amazing at Circles with fab coffee and then granola and fruit and yoghurt or fresh home made bread or pancakes. We also visited San Pedro which was very busy with lots shops and cafes and pubs. It is labelled party town.
I went to Solola market and Jen went to jump the trampoline (10 metres) at the reserve and then swam around. The Solola market was fabulous. Friday is the best day. Everyone was in Sunday best and the market was very busy. No other tourists were there so I managed to take a few photos without feeling intrusive. I got a chicken bus to the town centre and then a chicken bus to the market. People on the bus were very helpful telling me where to get off etc.
Panajachal seemed very bustly with hundreds of shops. We missed sunset but went to sunset cafe anyway as they had live music. Next day went  to the Reserve to bird watch but the entrance cost too much so went swimming and lazed about the pool instead. Great sunset and great photos chatting with locals. Panajachal seemed very seedy and people were very disrespectful of young Jen.
Next day we did a 9 hours journey by bus to Lanquin. It was along journey with very rough roads. Our hotel was very basic and open onto street and small balcony where you could hear all the buses and people boarding. It was probably a mistake to stay there but it was cheap. Semuc Champey was fun with water pools and lovely blue green river water.. On the first day I took my camera but on the second day I didn’t. On the second night we ate at the El Retiro hostel because it was a veggie barbecue and the “all you could eat” delighted Jen. We also found nice little cafe with real coffee but not everything on the menu.It was roughly  9 kilometres to Semuc every day and took almost an hour as the roads were so rough. tWe went onwards to Rio Dulce and stayed at the Kangaroo hostel which Jen loved. We were in a peaceful little swamp type area but were bitten to shreds by mosquitos. The menu was mainly Mexican food (which you got fed up with). We hired canoes and canoed to El Castillo. We also took a day trip to Lake Izabel which was amazing and a day trip  to the hot waterfall which was fun using local transport. Our hosts were great at explaining how to do things. The drive back to Antigua would have been easy if we didn’t have to change buses five times due to an accident and the bridge being blocked.Back to Casa Jacaranda and I took all the photos I needed before we left Guatemala for good.We ate at Las Palmas t which had great food and live music and a salsa night.