ferris wheel

Yet another computer without working USB ports - I know these blog posts have got to be boring without pictures, but I'll try to get some up as soon as I can.

Today has been a lovely day. Michael and I decided to leave Pana and travel across the lake to San Pedro. Though a little crowded, the boat ride was nice as I got to see up close just how perfectly blue the water is and how massive the lakeside volcanoes are. Our first endeavor after landing was to find a hotel (after, of course, drinking a cuba libre and finding a place to put our stuff down). It was nice to explore the town a bit and I even ran into someone I met climbing the volcano, but we went far out of our way to only return to a hotel near the docks. By that time I was hot and sweaty, and we took our turns in the shower - for the first time I didn't mind that the water never got hot.

After a bit of relaxing in the room, we found some lunch, and began to explore the rest of the city. There are a few main paved streets in San Pedro, but the easiest way to get around are on the small dirt paths in the woods and fields. We found ourselves snaking around the lake, admist the lush greenery, tossing pumas stones into the water and watching them float back to shore. When we pulled ourselves away from the lake and to the real town center, we found a fair! Today was the last day that a fair visiting San Pedro was going to be set up, and what a sight it was. A few cheesy carnival games, a couple rides, and two horribly scary looking ferris wheels. Michael insisted that we go on one, so before I knew it we were getting the best possible view of the town from a poorly secured seat for two. The craziest part to me was that the whole contraption was run by the motor of an old tractor that a guy sat on, increasing and decreasing acceleration. Totally frightening and exhilarating.

Our walk back towards the hotel proved fruitful in that I found many of the restaurants and bars recommended by Lonely Planet. I'm not sure what tonight will bring, whether it's checking out a new bar or watching a free movie at one of the tourist places, but I love the pace of this city - it´s a prettier and more relaxed Pana with an even better view of the lake.