The first stop was a vibrant and steeply graded village, San Pedro la Laguna. Here there were alot of travellers, the most we had seen since the start of the trip. The boat tours are popular so there sometimes is a congestion of tourists in one spot. The village itself is built on the side of a mountain so the street grades are incredible. Good exercise to be had will snooping out the place, this also led to us finding some rather interesting albeit very confusing laneways. The buildings are all connected as they are in many of the towns, so the laneways go for longs distances sometimes until another street is crossed. Plus, the walls are high so it is harder to get one’s bearings at times. We did find some trendy coffee shops and therapeutic massage parlours amongst the maze. We managed to make it back to the boat on time and even had a moment to talk with the Auzzie couple again, they had also taken a boat tour and were now enrolling into Spanish classes for a week or two. Hmmm not a bad idea.
Our skipper quickly navigated the boat around a point and into a small cove where the second village, San Juan la Laguna. This village was quite a bit smaller and quieter than San Pedro, it was also set back from the water, so this gave us our first TukTuk ride. The driver took us to a local shop where the women weave the elaborately coloured clothing that we have seen in the shops. The lady did her best to describe the process in English and I think we got the most of it. They use natural food dyes to color the cotton that is picked in the hills around the area. The cotton comes is three colors; white, brown and khaki. The cotton is then cleaned of seeds, stretched out and beaten with a “Y” shaped stick for 20 minutes, then it is spun into thread using a stick about 18inches long. The white thread is then dyed to achieve the colors needed. Carrots for orange, basil for purple, flowers for yellow, grasses for different shades of green, and coconut for browns. The thread is then weaved onto a board with spikes in it for drying, she said this was a very important step in the process. Then the weaving actually can start. She said it takes about a week to make a sweater and about the same for scarf. The more colors the longer it takes. Some of the ladies in town are selling their scarves for 10Q ($1.50cdn), not that much for a weeks work, although I think some of the products are mass produced based on the number of them available and the consistency of the stitching.
The third and final village, San Marco la Laguna, is still a total hippie hangout. Lots of holistic shops, yoga, massage parlours, meditation centers, and pretty much anything else you can think of in way of spiritual development. Throw in a few bars, coffee shops, and restaurants and that about sums up the whole village. The layout of the village was the most unique of all, there was one major path about 4 feet wide up from the water to the intersection with a small road. That was about it, aside from a bunch of dirt trails through the bushes that would lead you to the shops and healing centers. Our young traveller friend talked to a lady that had just finished a 3 month meditation, which means all she did was think, eat, sleep. No conversation with anyone as she was shut into a room and given her meals through a slot in the door. It sounded more like solitary confinement than meditation, but we can respect her accomplishment and perseverance. There must be a large energy center here to support all this healing.
So the decision to rent a boat was a good one, we met some nice people, seen some interesting things, and got to enjoy the day without the worry of traffic and navigating.
From Pana we intended to take the lakeshore road around the north end of the lake then turn to Solola and then on to CA1 which would take us towards Antigua Guatemala, we were on the road early filled with gas and as we left the west end of town the highway was closed off with a steel gate. Hmm... back through Pana and south along the east coastline the way we came in. In hindsight it was a good thing we hired the boat because the “ride around the lake” turned out to be a bust. Backtracking is alright, once in a while, at least we knew the road was open. We made a guess that the road heading due east to Patrizia was open, this saved us going all the way south to Godinez and then back NorthEast to Anitgua. The road was open all the way although there was a section or two missing.
This gave us another first for our trip. The first water crossing, as in ride through the creek that was over a couple feet deep in the centre. The bikes handle this stuff just fine, they are actually built for this kind of action. The rest of the road wound its way through some canyons and hills then spit us out onto the CA1. This sped up the journey as traffic is at full highway speed on CA1. Big highway, lots of traffic and trucks and busses. Wehn we got to the spot that said "Antigua ->" we turned south as expected but ended up on a small highway that ended after about 20km. I stopped to ask a man cutting weeds along the road, he was very helpful and told us in rapid Spanish to go back and around the volcano, we thanked him and were on our way. Ok, I know...backtracking again.
So back in the town we can’t pronounce, the sign clearly indicated to turn where we did. This time we decided to follow the CA1 until we seen another sign or major highway. About 5km past where the sign was there was a major highway with another sign that said "Antigua –>". Now we were confident that it was the proper road, not really sure what the first sign was all about. Boogy down the road it should have been easy to find Antigua, but there was no sign from the North to say turn left, so we of course blew by the turn, about 10km later I realized all the signs were indicating Esquintla not Antigua, so once again the kindness of strangers was tested and yes they confirmed our suspicion that we missed the turn. From the south it is clearly signed.
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