Our last days in Guatemala

After a rather sad last day with the kids of Nuevos Horizontes, we did some more excursions in the area surrounding Quetzaltenango (Xela).

We visited the sacred (for the Maya communities) volcano lake of Chicabal, and went to see the bright yellow painted church in the village of San Andrés Xecul, for which our Guatemalan friend Minor was our excellent guide. In this village we also saw the figure of San Simón a.k.a. Maximón.

We passed our last few days in Guatemala back at Lago Atitlán, where we first spent a couple of days in Panajachel, enjoying the hospitality of Fernando and Germán, two Argentinian friends which we met in Xela, and the last day in Santa Cruz La Laguna at Isla Verde. The view over the lake from the little cabaña we had there was amazing, as is the truly beautiful garden of the property, but unfortunately we didn't get much sleep as during the night a family of rather loud mice tried to eat their way through the walls and roof. The pretty large spiders invading our room via the splits in the wooden floor didn't help either. So although we spent a relaxing day at Isla Verde (siesta in the hammock included), it was not exactly the way we imagined our last night in Guatemala, for which we splashed out a little more than in the usual cheap hostels.

Thus, rather tired we passed the 9 hours in the bus to Mexico (where we are now, in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas) on the following day. Somehow, we are now really looking forward to a new country.