Round the World with Ann and Katie

From Antigua I decided to go to Panajachel by Lake Atitlan. Although its not that far away, it turned into a bit of an adventure using the public buses here. All the public buses here are old school buses from America, and when packed full of people they aren´t really the most comfortable way of getting around , but squashed on a seat with 3 other people you get to meet some interesting locals. I think it took about 5 buses in the end, despite the conductor on the 3rd bus assuring me it went direct. The guy on the 4th bus said the same thing and so when it ended at a village by the lake I assumed I was there. After walking round for a long time trying to work out why things didn´t really match up with the map that I had, someone told me that the village I wanted was actually another 8km around the lake, so I had one more bus journey to do.

Panajachel is in a really nice location, right by the lake, surrounded by mountains. I enjoyed looking round the village and the old town in the afternoon. Unfortunately it is apparently not safe to walk around the lake alone, so the following day I took several boats to visit a couple of the other small villages around the lake. This was still a really nice day, the villages are all a bit different and are interesting to see the mix of colonial and traditional buildings and the majority of people still wear the brightly coloured traditional clothing. Today I wanted to travel on to Rio Dulce on the coast, but due top more financial problems I have spent all day either in banks or on the phone to the bank at home. Finally I have some money again, so I will be back on the buses again tomorrow.

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