the little town by the lake

Welcome to Panajachel. The ride here was more interesting than I thought it would be - I went ahead and bought tickets for a mini shuttle, thinking it´d be faster and easier than a chicken bus. Easier yes. Faster? The shuttle showed up 25 minutes after it was due, they had us switch shuttles right outside of town, our driver stopped on two personal errands (to pay his gas bill and to get some lunch for himself), and took the longer back way into Pana. Woo. At least the long and windy road was beautiful - so much greenery and when we got the first glimpse of the lake, the length of the trip was fast forgotten.

After stopping for a snack at a local cafe and leaving our bags behind (an old trick of Michael´s so that we don´t have to carry our luggage all over town), we checked a few places and found a cute hotel not far from the action in town. We do have to use a shared bathroom (with yes, another shitty shower), but the room is cute and the view from the top of the place is fantastic - I´ll probably upload pictures in a couple days (it looks like I´m back to dial-up here in Pana :( ). Our night included some yummy Uruguayan food (finally! good meat!), a walk to the edge of the lake where we could see the small shimmering cities across the way, and a couple drinks at the Circus Bar, listening to live music.

Though there is a lot we want to explore (from a huge nearby market to the other lake towns to an old coffee plantation), today we decided to take it easy. That included wandering through the market, trying a pitiya (a fruit that is HOT PINK! the pictures of that should be cool), a better view of the lake with a beer, and merely wandering and trying to learn more about Pana.

I love being so lazy - an hour nap in the afternoon, doing only what I want when the mood strikes - I could get used to this kind of life.