We`ve finally left Antigua, after a week`s stay longer than we planned. I got my tooth filled... an interesting experience when compared to seeing the dentist in the states. No appointment or paperwork, I was in the room with a needle in my gums within 5 minutes, cavity filled in 20. This was also attributed to my dentist`s extreme sense of urgency, he drilled and filled with the quickness of a speed freak. Which I`m sure he wasn`t. And it was only 300 quetzales, about $45.
For our remaining time in Antigua, the couchsurfer we`d been hanging out with all week invited us to stay at her apartment (saved us 5 bucks a night) and we had a great time hanging around town with her and other surfers. We also visited some beautiful church ruins, spent lots of time at the market, and in the arcade playing Mortal Combat (obviously I`m always Sonya Blade)... took pictures that I`ll post later.
On our way to meet our shuttle to leave town, I twisted my ankle with my big backpack on, rolled it flat, loud crunch. Then the driver of our shuttle kept grinding the stick shift the whole 2 hour drive, at one point it killed the transmission on a hill and we had to get out and walk!
I don`t really know what to do about it but ice it, it`s very swolen and is inhibiting our volcano hiking plans.
So we are at San Pedro La Laguna on Lake Atitlàn, the cheaper, more "party-oriented" of the villages on the lake, or so they say. There are other towns on shore, accesible only by boat or a sketchy hike between pueblos, like San Marcos and Santa Cruz which are more "meditation-spiritually-orieted" I`ve read, but haven`t visited yet. We took the boat here from the biggest town, Panajachel, the more built up "touristy" zone.
What I`ve seen here so far is a rather gringo-y type bar/restaurant/hippie atmosphere. But then again, I`ve been constricted to how far my ankle will let me wander. We will stay here for a week, we have a friend from Barton Creek who`s in our hotel, then we`ll move onto another village along the shores of Lago de Atitlàn - the most picturesque of all bodies of water we`ve yet visited, framed by at least 3 beautiful volcanoes.
And while there is an invasion of the gringo trail here, there is still a lot of traditional living around the lake; indigenous women and children dressed in beautiful trajes tìpicos, of colorfully detailed fabrics that shimmer in the sunlight. We`ve spotted a couple men in the traditional garb, and it is a beautiful display of embroidered shirts with patterned pants and folded fabrics for storing work tools on the hip.
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