Lake Atitlan

After dropping out of Spanish school we headed straight to Lake Atitlan, a huge crater lake surrounded by volcanoes. Scattered around the lake there are 12 towns, we stayed in Jaibalito, the smallest. Lake Atitlan is one of the most beautiful places I've been. I'm going to put it up there with my top five favorite places, which after some serious consideration I've decided are:
1) Parque Tyrona, Colombia
2) Hvar, Croatia
3) Ireland, all of it
4) Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
5) Pacific City, Oregon
This list will surely change, still a lot to see.
Anyway...we didn't end up doing a whole lot with our days, just sort of wandered around the towns we stopped in (you can only get from town to town by boat). One day we went horseback riding, again! Can you believe it? Turns out we like horseback riding. But this horseback ride was easier. We went at a nice, steady pace and there were no mountains to climb or rivers to cross. The horses took us through town, passed some farms and finally to a beach for really chilly swimming.
We also spent a day shopping. We each missed a best friends' wedding while we were away and were on a mission to find wedding presents. I hate to brag (no I don't) but I am an amazing bargainer. Brad plays his part well too, he shakes his head and looks tough.
We also stumbled onto a rowdy celebration. The town of San Pedro celebrated San Pedro day with a bunch of fireworks and dancing. I was a little dazed by all the commotion and almost walked right into a pit of exploding fireworks. I jumped back and this guys says to me, "Cuidado (careful)" and I'm thinking, "Yeah, thanks for the warning."
The last boat left for Jaibalito at 5 every evening, so we usually grabbed a bottle of wine to have while playing cards, which we did for hours. Hours and hours. Brad and I both have some serious gin rummy skills (here I am bragging again) after all that practice.
We stayed at the Volcano Lodge, which serves dinner every night in the dining room that is shared by all the guests. The first two nights we had dinner with a really nice family from Virgina, but after that the guests were pretty lame, which just gave me and Brad an excuse to leave the table and resume our card game.



We found this fruit in San Pedro, it was just as delicious as it looks. I can't remember the name, but the lady said it comes from a cactus.
People watching the San Pedro celebration from a safe distance

Water taxi