Rosi Cornwell28th January to 3rd February 2023
On Saturday we had one last swim in the lake, tried to de dust ourselves, bid Hugo, Ellysio and the dogs goodbye and got on the boat that would take us to the Dock to get a second boat to Panajachel.
Huge rucksack on our back, small rucksack on our front and a bag full to the brim with washing in hand, we bought our ticket to Panajachel, and boarded the boat. They put Hollie’s bag on the top of the boat like last time, but placed mine in the boat. The boat was ripping through the waves, they were coming up very high past the windows, so we were very concerned about Hollie’s bag. I was able to enjoy the thrill of the boat ride knowing that my bag was safely inside. THANKFULLY when we arrived it turned out Hollie’s bag was inside the whole time! We stepped off the dock, bought a beautiful mango on a stick with all the trimmings (pepitoria, salt, lemon and chile ) and made our way to the Dreamboat Hostel.
(I’m going to do short bullet point summaries of this period of time – I’m sure you’ll be pleased to be spared from a dissertation like usual).
Panajachel
- Checked into Dreamboat hostel which was very nice – the bed was COMFY, but creaky! I thought we would be super eager to get into the shower ASAP but it was 3pm, and we were already dressed for the day, so we headed to the rooftop bar for a bevvy.
- Then we went for food, and were checking out all the stalls along the way. I could honestly buy everything, gifts for everyone, a new wardrobe for me, deck out the kitchen with beautiful ceramic bowls, the lounge with new cushions and beautiful materials. We went to a vegan Chinese place, which was really nice and stopped and got ice cream en route back. After 3 weeks eating fruit and veg, this ice cream was DREAMY.
- We headed back to the hostel and bought the most disgusting sours drink, and played cards in the room whilst doing shots before heading to the bar. At the bar we played water pong, met some locals who challenged us to a game. I think they won – which isn’t surprising … we are out of practice… but to be fair, we were kind of rubbish before ….
- Then we went out to the town as we really wanted to listen to some live music! We found a cute restaurant that had a band with about 8 guys playing instruments and then 3 ladies singing. We got a drink and stood in the corner dancing with other happy revellers. (This is meant to be a video, but it hasn’t worked).
- The next day we weren’t exactly super hungover, but we were tired and wanted a day of food and chilling. We went to the supermarket … and honestly it was like we had never been in one before. I inspected every isle and smiled as this reminded me of how my friend Harley must find Tesco as he loves it. We went in JUST for potatoes, and left with two bags full. WE ARE HOPELESS. We got to the hostel and grated loads of potatoes and Hollie made amazing hash browns with mushrooms, corn on the cob and tomatoes.
- As this hostel has a TV room we made full use of this, and literally spent about 8 hours there. We watched hunger games in Spanish and it was so nice to lounge. The best thing about not having a time limit is that you don’t feel guilty for having days like these.
- The next day we checked out and headed to the dock to get the boat to San Pedro!
San Pedro
- We stepped off the dock and walked up the stairs, that looked like they were freshly made. We were offered a tuc tuc, and asked for the price to Mr Mullets, and the guy lead us around the corner and pointed to the sign – what a great location for a hostel so close to the dock! We checked in, got allocated to a room called ‘The Pub’.
- Hollie had found a vegan place 5 minutes up the road so OF COURSE we had to go there. It was HEAVEN. I got a chocolate peanut flapjack thing and Hollie got a chocolatey fudge cake. It’s times like this we wish we were rich so we could buy everything.
- We made some pasta, using the vegan cheese that Hollie got, so this was a nice change of flavour. The kitchen at Mr Mullets feels like it needs a deep clean, and only 1 hob out of 6 properly works, but we managed to sit and enjoy some pasta, and as we were feeling a little low on energy, some drum and bass came on, so we smiled and had a little chair dance. Later a volunteer called Oscar said to us ” what part of the UK are you from – I knew you guys were from England as soon as you started dancing to drum and bass”. How correct he was! There was also two other volunteers from the UK – Harvey & Tim. The other volunteers were from America & Germany. They were all reoccurring volunteers, one girl was on her 7th time! It does seem like a great place to work, lively, fun and family vibes, but I can imagine it would knock about 10 years off your life expectancy, and it is not a lifestyle I could keep up with. We played flip cup and out of 20 people we came 5th and 6th – so that is not bad going … all my practice in my friend Barney’s kitchen has paid off! We then went out to a bar and ended up back in a volunteers room until about 4am.
- The next day we went back to the vegan place and had the most INSANE chips – they were called Fiesta chips, and they did not disappoint. Then we went and chilled by the lake, had a swim before the pub crawl!
So this pub crawl absolutely wrote me off. I probably done myself over by having 3 tequila shots before hand (all free because I tagged Mr Mullets in an insta post, and did an online review), and 2 rum and cokes as it was happy hour. Someone actually said “do you have a plan for tonight” – referring to the drinks, and I said to get drunk, but that is probably an understatement. I made it to 3 bars and Hollie helped me to bed at 8PM!!!!! It turns out the shots they gave us were 50/50 tequila and juice, with added spirits, so that explains why I had the HANG OVER FROM HELL the next day and probably alcohol poisoning.
- After a day of being sick, which is not ideal when you’re on the top bunk, we ventured to the kitchen to make pasta and then sat and ate this whilst doing the quiz. We teamed up with Harvey and when it came to the challenge round, I represented our group in playing the ‘cereal box’ game (you have to pick up a box with your mouth, which progressively gets smaller). On about the 5th round I let myself down by becoming unbalanced and then my hand touched the floor. I was quite relieved as I was up against some very flexible people, and when they were picking up a flat piece of cardboard from the ground it was made harder by making them stand on a cushion. After a day of feeling like death, and still being in my small pyjama shorts, I was happy to watch and forfeit a point for that round. We came 3rd in the quiz which was pretty good seeing as we were the smallest team! We also got encouraged to stay longer, which didn’t need much persuasion, so we booked an extra 2 nights!
- After a much needed long sleep, we woke up and made pancakes! Then our roommate Lillian, myself, Hollie and a guy called Christopher went with Jamie and Sofia (volunteers) to find fish net tights for the evenings themed party (pimps and hoes). It was great to see another part of San Pedro.
- Then we left Sofia and Jamie to get the boat to San Marcus. Upon arrival we walked around the cliffs to the jumping point. As soon as I saw how high it was (about 12m), I instantly said that I was not doing it. I was put off by Hollie hurting her coccyx before, and also I’m terrible with heights and jumping. It was enough of a thrill just watching people jump, I was literally shrieking and gasping at each jumper – that was enough adrenaline for me. I did try and jump off a rock closer to the lake, but still couldn’t do it. Consequently later that evening I got recognised by 2 people as ‘you’re the girl that didn’t jump’.
- After the adreneline junkies had had enough, we strolled into San Pedro which entailed walking through a series of alleys to get into a larger alley filled with shops and incense. It was like being at a festival, everything was so hippy and we found the perfect spot to eat inside a large canopy with floor cushions – one of my favourite things is indoor furniture outdoors, and eating on soft furnishings.
- We returned to Mr Mullets and got ready as Pimps and Hoes. Honestly, I love this theme. I just feel that there aren’t enough reasons in my every day life to wear fishnet tights. We partied at Mr Mullets and then went to another bar and ended up in one of the owners of Mr Mullets room, playing Pictionary on an ipad, talking rubbish until about 5am.
- Today we decided to check out San Juan – we took a tuc tuc there and once we arrived we weren’t really sure where to go or what there was to do. We bought some mango and took in the beautiful street art as we made our way to what I assume is the main bit. It was under an archway of umbrellas and hats and we met a lady who asked if it was all like this ” a Mayan Disneyland”, to which we said yes, and she said “It’s lovely but it’s fuc*ing weird”. We stopped and had a huge smoothie over looking the lake for the last night and then had a yummy wrap, that felt like I’d eaten a proper greasy kebab. Great views from the restaurant though.
- Oscar and Harvey tried to persuade us to the pub crawl again, but there was as much chance as me jumping off that 12m cliff that I would be doing that death crawl again! Instead we chilled until the bar crawlers came back to Mr Mullets then we had a few drinks there and went to another bar. It was a great last night, and one that meant I would not be on hanging for travelling in the morning.
- Today was check out day, and we had planned to get the chicken buses to Antigua to save money, which would entail 3 bus changes, but after a volunteer advised us to get a shuttle for 100Q as he said the buses would cost 60Q, and maybe more because we aren’t fluent in Spanish… we were happy to oblige an save the chicken buses for another day. We bid Mr Mullets goodbye, got some vegan chocolate flapjacks for the road, and got on the 2pm shuttle. In Antigua we will be staying with a friend of the girlfriend who owns the eco farm! So this will be a nice change, save us some money and a great way to experience a different part of travelling!
Goodbye Lake Atitlan, thank you for being so beautiful and a constant in our lives for this past month.
Antigua awaits!
