Room with a View

Each visit to Panajachel is its own adventure, unlike all previous trips.  We were laughing at these kids riding down the street as crowded on their bicycle as their adult counterparts are on their motorcycles.  They stopped suddenly and hopped off the bike-one boy trying to ease his friend's shoelace out the the spokes of the bike with his fingers, while the girl was proceeding to crank the pedals, not noticing that his fingers were at risk.  We stopped to help them and eventually freed the shoelace.  Onlookers watched us carefully, ensuring we were not going to harm the children.  Guatemalans are very protective of their children and that is one of the reasons the kids are free to wander all over unsupervised-like we did in the U.S. in the 1950's.

We stayed in a lovely hotel adjacent to the lake and had a rather unsettling first night.  It was raining and the louvers in our bathroom window offered an invitation to the insects to come in for a dry evening inside.  It felt creepy to me and I made Mike take the bed apart, knowing that spiders like to find warmth/shelter in the bedding.  I was still unsettled and not the least bit happy to find a baby lizard in my bathroom.  I'm a big fan of lizards, but on my own terms.  It was a restless night, sleeping with one eye open.  The Darringtons lost their water mid-shower and complained that the hotel rooms didn't match the Expedia description.  We were moved to rooms that actually did match the description and the price we had paid for the rooms.

The grounds of the hotel were enormous and immaculately groomed.  It proved to be a delightful place to stay, even if the marimba band liked to play a little too late in the evening.

A typical street vendor in Panajachel.

Our new room is comfortable and affords a unique view of the lake this time of year.  The sunsets are no longer as wonderful, but the changing sky during the rainy season is equally breathtaking.

We left this morning to attend church at the small chapel a mile or so down the road.  It is always fascinating to see the different congregations and how unique each one is.  There were three young American families in this unit, one of them being a family who owns a travel excursion business.  It was very different to be able to speak English with a few people on our way out.  

This hallway leading to our rooms is nice during the day, but stunning at night as you will see.

We got a little sunburned, but not uncomfortably so.  

When we arrived home from our evening walk and dinner, the hallway was glowing with candlelight and very inviting.

One of the hotel's amenities is the walkway filled with hammocks.  Kevin is waiting for us in the morning, having found his favorite.

This is the typical traje of the men from this area.  I'm now familiar with several of the communities in Guatemala and can identify them by the design of the cloth they wear.