It rained last night and I’m hoping that the skies are
clear. It is not as clear as I had wanted, but it is our
clearest morning yet. The sun isn’t up
yet and I’m afraid it will get hazier as the day goes on, so I take a picture while
you can actually see the volcanoes across the lake. That is Atitlan Volcano straight across the
lake.
I am seeing hummingbirds again and decided to take another
picture to show everyone. I think it is
the same type of hummingbird as yesterday, maybe even the same one.
While looking at the hummingbirds, I see this
yellow-breasted bird fly into the flowers and begin eating the flower
pedals. It has a pedal in its beak
now.
Then as if to say, if you can have some so can I, another
bird flies into the flowers and begins eating pedals also. This bird blends into the background.
After breakfast, instead of getting on the motor coach we
will go on a boat for a ride around Lake Atitlan and the surrounding
volcanoes. So, we are walking around the
hotel gardens until we have to get on the boat.
This is one of the shrub designs that surround some of the trees in the gardens.
Here some flower buds on a bush that is still dripping from
the rains last night. The buds look like
those of a night blooming jasmine.
While we are walking down a path, this bird flies right in
front of us and lands on a low branch.
It was nice enough to stay put for a little while.
The path we are strolling on leads in several directions and
the one we choose brings us to this walkway and a couple of jasmine covered
arches.
Before getting on the boat, we pass these orchids. I couldn’t help but take a picture of
them. There are so many different
flowers here you could spend the whole morning viewing them all.
Now on the boat, we begin our trip along the eastern shore
and looking west we can see how the fire smoke and haze is beginning to
thicken.
On the water we quickly reach Panajachel and we can see where during our
walk through town we reached the overlook for the lake. There are people there now getting pictures
of the lake.
Moving further south along the coastline we come to the Village
of Santa Catarina Palopo. Since there
are no large flat areas to grow crops, the villagers create these terraces
where their gardens are grown.
Along the boat trip, we have seen a number of bottles
floating in the water. It becomes clear
that these bottles are being used as floats to hold rope going to a crab cage or holding sting of baited hooks. This fisherman is
bringing in a string of baited hooks looking for his catch.
Before reaching the next town, we can see houses along the
shoreline. Check out the staircase you
need to climb to get to the water below the house.
Next, we come to the Village of Santa Antonio Palopo with
San Antonio Church near the right side of town.
Again, there are many terraces cut into the mountain above the village
for growing crops.
Turning away from the Village of Santa Antonio Palopo, we
see more fishermen and also the volcanoes at the other end of the lake and as
you can see the haze is getting thicker.
Check out this group of houses. It looks as if this is some sort of yurt
hotel. Either that or the people that
own the buildings like to move from building to building throughout the day.
Finally, we are across the lake and enter the small bay that
will reach the Village of San Lucas Toliman.
Look at the smoke coming in between the mountains. The haze and smoke is getting thicker and
soon we will not be able to see across the lake.
As we turn around to head back out of the small bay, I see
this sight. I’m outside so I do not know
if inside the others are told, but I think this may be a fish farm. At least that is my guess.
Leaving the small bay before the Village of San Lucas
Toliman, there is a small lighthouse.
Interestingly, I don’t think it is working because the light should be
on or it is on and I cannot see the light.
We are heading back to the hotel by riding straight across
the lake. The hotel, bottom right, is
about 17-stories tall and dwarfed by the cliffs. Up near the top above the hotels, you can see
the waterfall. It looks like there are
buildings at the top of the cliffs.
Here is the Hotel Atitlan, where we stayed for the past
couple of nights. You can see the tent
on the left where they conduct outside weddings. I’m sure the smell from the jasmine covered
trestles heightens the wedding experience.
Hmmm, love Jasmine.
On the motor coach we have to drive into Panajachel in order
to turn around and drive back up the mountain.
As we drive past the waterfall, I was just able to get a quick
picture. I wish that we could have
stopped, but there is absolutely no space to move over and stop. It would be interesting to see where this
water comes from.
As we are entering the town of Sololá, high above Lake
Atitlan, we drive by this colorful cemetery.
The cemetery was move here from the front of the Cathedral in 1820. Look at the crypts; some are like
condominiums rising high. Just to give
you an idea of the number of people here, from 1926 through 2013 over 36,000
people have been buried here.
Leaving Sololá we pass this statue in the middle of an
intersection of several streets. The
Madonna and Child statue sits atop a column that interestingly has musical
instruments inscribed.
Following the same route that brought us to Lake Atitlan, we
are driving to our lunch stop. On the
way, we pass this field being prepared for planting. Everything is being done by hand, the mulching
of the old corn stalks, and the tilling of rows for the next crop.
You want pots! We
have pots. This roadside stall had
almost every sized pot you could need.
Tall ones, wide ones, and vase like pots.
We stop here for lunch, a Guatemalan version of a BBQ
restaurant. The tables were made from
cross sections of trees. They were
gorgeous. Lunch was pretty good also.
On our way back to Guatemala City we are passing the same
types of shops we’ve seen. I think this
is the 450th tire store we have passed and not more than a shop or
two where a shop is selling grill guards for trucks. The roads must really tear up the tires here
and people must run into things.
Nearing Guatemala City, we drive up an overpass and I’m able
to get a picture of the street. The
stores are narrow and close to each other.
That place called Pollo Super Rapidito is a chicken fast food restaurant
that delivers.
Just before rush-hour traffic, we are at our hotel in
Guatemala City. Our flight tomorrow morning
begins boarding at 7:00am. In order to
get to the airport on time we have to grab the 5:00am shuttle and hope we have
enough time to get around. Now we have
only 1 hour and 45 minutes in Atlanta to catch our flight to Orlando and we
have to go through US Customs.
During the trip we did not see very many different animals. However, we did see and get a picture of many different birds. We also saw many Brahman cattle, chickens, few sheep, and a couple of goats. 
Moving further south along the coastline we come to the Village
of Santa Catarina Palopo. Since there
are no large flat areas to grow crops, the villagers create these terraces
where their gardens are grown. 
We stop here for lunch, a Guatemalan version of a BBQ
restaurant. The tables were made from
cross sections of trees. They were
gorgeous. Lunch was pretty good also.
