Lago de Atitlan

Oh Lake Atitlan. You are like heaven on earth. Aldous Huxley even said that you are too much of a good thing.

We spent our last two days here. It was the most relaxing thing I've ever done. A true Terrill vacation, complete with sunbathing, swimming, sleeping, and reading. Mark and Julie stayed at this amazing hotel in the village of Tzununa and highly recommended it to us. It was remote, scenic, and just so indescribably great.

I kind of wish that we had seen more of the villages while we were there because the history of the region is so interesting. But after a week of crazy flights and windy drives, we were ready to just chill out. We arrived in Panajachel (backpacker town) and after eating a delicious meal and freshly blended pineapple juice we went immediately to our hotel. And since there were 350 stairs to our hotel we never really wanted to leave, haha. We made the hike down to the closest village of Tzununa (the poorest in the region) and got a teeny glimpse of indigenous life. It involved lots of pigs eating garbage and heart-breakingly cute children. We also went to the hippie village of San Marcos. Not my favorite. Probably because I wasn't wearing enough linen and patchouli.

The only picture I took in Pana. But you know. It was important.

Just hanging out poolside.

Hiking down to Tzununa.

This family of chickens (even a rooster dad!) was really funny to me until I started fearing that the rooster was going to start chasing me. But baby chicks! Cutiez. By the way--if I never hear a rooster crowing at 3 am ever again, it will be too soon.

A trashless view of Tzununa. It was really quite pretty.

Just the view from our private balcony.

Robbie is cute.

I'm not one to take pictures of my food but LOOK AT THE VIEW FROM OUR TABLE. Volcanoes!

Kayaking. This was the best. The water was still and the weather was gorgeous.

Some fishermen.

Cliffs near San Marcos. We met a guy at Pacaya who did some cliff jumping here... sounds like fun but I probably would have freaked out.

More volcano.

Having so much funnnnn!!! AAAAAAHHH!!!

Rich people's homes in San Marcos.

Those buildings up high on the hillside are our hotel. (And the huge house is where the owners live.) It fit so nicely into the landscape.

Robbie has great form. My form, on the other hand:



I had some struggles with my suit. Not gonna lie.

I didn't get a good picture but there was a guy spearfishing by us. He hooked the fish he caught onto his tiny Speedo. It was the funniest.

Sunrise on the boat to Pana on our way home.

The weather was amazing until about 2 pm on Friday... then we had torrential rain and stayed inside, read, and fought off bugs. And ate the most delicious ricotta + walnut ravioli at our restaurant. (I know, I know, the best ravioli probably isn't in Guatemala but it was AMAZING.) Really not too shabby.

So, that's the end of our trip! Gone, but not forgotten, since I still seem to have some residual sickness as a constant reminder. I don't know if I ate something bad or if I'm just tired but I've been a little off for the past week. Sigh.