Guatemala (so far...)

In my excitement about the volcano trip (all of these posts were done in a rush, taking advantage of the first wifi I've seen in a week!) , I've let myself get out of sync... the previous days in Guatemala have been fabulous as well...

After crossing the border (finally!), we went to the town of Panajachel, along the shore of Lake Atitlan, which was formed from the collapse of a volcano crater - and as you can see, there were some fabulous views across the lake towards other nearby volcanos.

One afternoon, we rented a boat to visit some of the little towns around the lake. A very pleasant day, until the wind became stronger and the waves higher! We made it to the last town soaking wet!!! After a quick dinner we set off after dark to cross the lake to Panajachel... not something I thought was terribly wise (crossing in the dark when it was still a bit rough and windy) but it was actually rather uneventful compared to earlier in the day.

We then moved on to the town of Antigua, which is actually short for La Antigua Guatemala - it used to be the capital city, until people got fed up with the frequent earthquakes!!! So they moved the capital city somewhere else. What was left behind is a colonial town and several ruins of churches that they didn't bother to rebuild...