Volcán San Pedro adventures!

     After a 4:30 wake up, we were soon on our way to the base of the San Pedro Volcano with Samuel, our guide.  He handed us very necessary walking sticks and off we went by the light of our headlamps.  Though we could have hiked on our own, it was nice to have his guidance in the dark and to practice our Spanish.  Besides, a group of locals camping near the top had security guards with them so maybe it was safer. Up and up we went, accompanied by the music and fireworks drifting across the lake from an all-night fiesta in San Pablo.  We reached the top in about 2 ½ hours, climbing almost 5,000 feet to the top at 9,900 feet.
    We were immediately greeted with phenomenal views of Pacaya volcano smoking in the distance, the beautiful blue Lake Atitlan stretching before us and the quaint town of Santiago far below us.  We took photos, ate and took more photos before embarking upon the rough trip down.

   Back in town, we decided it was time to cool off and hopped a boat to San Marcos to cliff jump at a spot in the nature preserve called the ‘trampolin’.  It’s about a 25 foot drop. It took me a while to get the courage but the beautiful volcano views and the refreshing water was worth it.  San Marcos is a bit of a new age hippy town with lots of yoga retreats and alternative therapies.  At Del Lago, we ate ginormous but delicious veggie burritos with beet and carrot salad while some travelers played the guitar, others juggled and a women offered energy readings.
    Not really our thing but it’s interesting to see the seemingly peaceful co-existence of local Mayans, visiting Guatemalans from the bigger cities and hippy gringos from all over the world.  While they must welcome the influx of tourist dollars, they still seem to be able to hold on to their traditions and values, as evidenced by their traditional Mayan attire and religious customs.

 We returned in time to move to our new family’s home which is further in the town up the hill.  Petrona showed us our room and our key which we quickly broke when returning from getting ice cream.  As we were now locked out and the family was all at church, we decided to wait it out at the nearby JC’s BBQ.  The owner Juan was very nice and we learned that he had lived many years in the US, including Fort Morgan, CO.  That is where he strived to learn English and eventually went to college in Texas.  He returned to San Pedro full time a year ago to open his restaurant and live with his new wife.  We helped him add his restaurant to Tripadvisor and will help him ensure it’s on Google Maps because he was really nice and his place is a welcome respite from the over-priced offerings of ‘gringolandia’ (what locals call the tourist strip by the lake).   Eventually we got back in to the house and I let Mark joke that I had broke the key.  What a day!