We hopped on our first lancha of the trip, after informing the kid ushering us over that we needed to go to “Casa Rosada”. He nodded, grabbed my suitcase, threw it on top of the lancha, and we got in and crossed our fingers, hoping we’d end up in the right spot.
I was seated next to the two cutest old ladies, chatting away in earnest. They could have been saying terrible things about me, I wouldn’t know, but I thought they were adorable.
We enjoyed the ride, stopping at the various villages along the way, until I recognized our AirBnB and waved at them to stop at our dock. We dropped our luggage off with the workers there, and then hopped right back on the lancha to head into town, San Marcos.
We had a couple hours to kill in San Marcos until we could officially check in, so we went and sat in a park, where Anthony read, and I bought a bag of potato chips to feed a very skinny dog I found.
We wandered around a little bit, trying to remember where everything was. It had already changed so much since the last time we were there, which was around five years ago. Before, the dock was much smaller, and when you got off the boat, there were dozens of young boys who’d rush over to you to offer to show you around (for some money of course). Now, the dock has been built up, and there was no sign of the little boys.
But it still very much had its “hippie” vibe, signs everywhere for tarot readings, reiki sessions, shamans, cacao ceremonies, and obviously lots of yoga classes. It’s definitely not Anthony’s vibe, and while the pseudo-science isn’t exactly my scene either, I do love that I can eat vegan pretty much anywhere in town. It’s also the quietest of the villages around the lake. You can walk around through the maze of sidewalks with no tuk tuks or trucks belching exhaust in your face. And thus, it is my favorite.
We went to Samsara for lunch, one of the many vegetarian restaurants, where we snacked on some delicious, fresh food. We relaxed there for awhile, enjoying the garden surroundings.
We had more time to kill, so we stopped somewhere else for a drink and then bought a bottle of wine to go, and hopped back on the lancha for the short ride to our new home.
We were shown to our room with the world’s most magnificent view out over the lake to the volcanoes.
We hung out on our patio, Anthony reading in the hammock and me playing with the numerous dogs that lived there.
As the temperate cooled, we enjoyed a spectacular sunset as well as a glass of wine.
We then wandered over to the restaurant terrace for a private, candle-lit, 7 course dinner, feeling ridiculously fancy and pampered.
The food was made with such fresh ingredients from their garden, I enjoyed every course, topped off with some amazing vegan cardamom ice cream at the end.
The next day, I woke up super early to catch the sunrise from our patio, watching the fishermen paddle by on their canoes.
The sun came up a little brighter, and with it, the lanchas started running, Anthony woke up, and a crane joined me by the patio.
We took the kayak out on the water and headed toward the nearby village of Tzununa. The water was still calm, and the sun was bright and warm as we took our time, barely paddling on the way there.
We turned back, got cleaned up, and headed over to the terrace for breakfast, surrounded by flowering vines. We had watermelon and papaya, some homemade bread and jam, and fresh salads. Pretty great way to greet the day.
We relaxed back at our room and patio awhile, and then headed back to San Marcos. There, we ate an early lunch at Il Giardino.
We went on to San Juan, a mostly indigenous community full of stores selling art, woven textiles, traditional Mayan dress, ceramics, and so on. We walked through town awhile, getting lost in some more industrial areas, before turning back down to the main (very steep) street. We looked around through the various shops, bought a painting by a local artist, bought a blanket and stuffed animal for our new baby niece that we would likely be meeting once we made it back to the States, and overall, had a pleasant stroll.
Once our shopping was over, we caught the world’s bumpiest tuk tuk ride over to San Pedro. There, we sat in the park, walked the streets a bit, and then went down to the water to have a drink and chill.
The sun was getting lower and the air getting cooler, so we got on a lancha back over to San Marcos for dinner. After that, we went back home to relax and read for the rest of the evening.
I did some yoga the following morning on our patio in the warmth of the sunshine.
We went over to the dock for our breakfast, enjoying the views while we had basically the same breakfast as the day before.
It was already pretty hot out, so we decided to go for a swim at our private beach. Well, Anthony swam; I waded.
I probably wouldn’t want to swim in the lake near the main cities, but the water was clean, clear, and refreshing at our AirBnB. Also a tad on the chilly side.
We caught a lancha to San Pedro for lunch, getting a vegan pizza and burrito at Fifth Dimension, with another view over the water. The view is a bit less spectacular on that side of the lake, but obviously still pretty great.
We walked across town, zig-zagging through the (again, super steep) streets, to get to the dock for the boats to Santiago. We apparently got there just in time, paid for our roundtrip tickets, and hopped on, for the 30-40 minute boat ride over to town.
Santiago is always listed on websites as the village to visit to see the “real” Maya life, but for quite awhile on the main road up from the dock, it seems the most targeted to tourists. Shops geared toward tourists and restaurants with “authentic chinese food” or hamburgers and pizzas everywhere you look.
We kept going up past all that, but I can’t say the locals looked terribly happy to see us there, so we veered over to the central park to sit for awhile instead. A beggar pretty quickly found us, which usually doesn’t bother me, but he reeked of alcohol and was practically sitting on my lap. We got back up, and wandered on, walking through the market.
We stopped in for a Gallo at one of the restaurants, watching the soccer game on tv. Afterward, we stopped in at an art gallery, where all the art was made using leftover, dried out coffee grounds. It was actually really impressive, and we appreciated the education the owner gave us on it. We bought a small painting (I guess you can still call it that??), and then went back down to catch the lancha back to San Pedro.
Once there, we just walked back across town to the other dock for the lancha to San Marcos. There, we found the restaurant at La Paz, tucked way back from the road in the middle of the gardens, a little Mayan girl following us there to ask us in English for money for her school, so we obliged.
It’s a beautiful setting, and an adorable little kitty befriended me while we were there, purring and kneading on my lap.
We were still pretty full from lunch, so we shared some delicious guac, a salad, and a pineapple turmeric smoothie.
We went back to the dock for our lancha back to our house. It took forever for one to show up and tons of people were crowding to get on. It was over-full and the pilot decided he could rip us off by charging us 4 times the amount they usually charge to get to our AirBnB, but such is life.
The following morning, we again had breakfast on the dock.
We got ready, and went back to the dock to wait for a lancha. This time, we were heading the opposite direction to Santa Cruz. We got off at the main dock there, but then after some google research, discovered the hiking trail we were looking for was further down by boat. So we went back to the dock to wait again, getting back on a lancha for a short ride over to the nature reserve.
The reserve starts behind a lodge, but we couldn’t figure out how to get there, so we wandered along various trails and non-trails, trying not to trespass at anyone’s house, until we finally decided to head into the lodge and ask someone there. Jackpot. They charged us an entrance fee, gave us a map, and then showed us where it started.
Immediately, the hike was steeply uphill. We somehow got off the track, ran into a helpful worker who showed us a little shortcut back to the path, and then we climbed up to a viewpoint with a hammock. I caught my breath, already sweaty and exhausted even though we had just started. High altitude hikes are hard for this Kansas girl.
We turned back down to the main path, and we climbed, climbed, and climbed some more. Fortunately, there were many beautiful views and flowers. I stopped every couple minutes to enjoy them and again catch my breath.
I wasn’t sure I was going to make it the whole way. My chest was heavy, my legs tired and shaky, and we were still climbing uphill.
At last, the trail started going down. And it went down FAST. The trail was so steep, I alternated between practically sprinting down, and slipping down on my ass.
I was drenched in sweat by the time we were done. I had a massage planned for after, and I was already feeling sorry for my massage therapist, having to deal with my sweat and my dusty feet.
I waited on the lancha, with my feet dangling in the water. At long last, it took us back to town, Santa Cruz. There, we caught a tuk tuk because there was no way I was going to walk up the steep street to town after that hike.
We went to a restaurant called Cafe Sabor Cruceno, where the proceeds went to the cooking school there. The view was amazing, the food was absolutely delicious tipico Guatemalan food. Most of the options had vegan versions, and we thoroughly enjoyed the Pepian, the Tayuyos, and the Patanos Mole.
Refueled, we walked back down to the dock, and then took the most bizarre path along the coast to get to where I was going to have my massage.
Or so I thought. I had emailed her the day before to make sure she had openings, and she said “anytime between 10 and 3!” We got there at 1:30, and the guys doing the kayak rental told us that she wasn’t there. She was back in Pana, but they could call her and she’d get there in an hour. I decided it wasn’t worth it, so we went down to their dock to wait for a lancha.
But then she showed up while we were waiting! … But then informed me that she’s getting over an illness and didn’t really feel up to it, and also, her massage room is basically one giant hole right now (???), soooo, we went back to waiting for the boat.
We went into Pana just to use an ATM, and then went right back down to the dock to get a lancha back to our house.
We were dying of heat after our long morning and afternoon, so we immediately changed into our swimsuits to go for a swim.
Some lounging and relaxation kept us happy until dinnertime, another fancy meal there at our AirBnB, our last night before heading back to Antigua.
