My uncle asked Darlene and I to take Aunt Helen to Machu Pichu. It was on her bucket list. We invited Denise and Donna too, but they began to get leery of going there due to some unrest.
So it was now a vacation to Guatemala!
We had a thirteen hour layover in Mexico City. I had to push for the tour company to get us a hotel for the night. For some reason, they thought an 85 year old spending 13 hours in an airport was okay. Getting to the hotel was crazy! It was supposed to be at the airport, which it was. The problem was that it was at the other terminal, twenty minutes by car, and no one spoke English when we arrived at midnight. My high school Spanish got us by and we got a taxi and arrived at our hotel.
This is the view from our hotel in the morning.
Those slanted balconies told us we weren't in Kansas any more.
As we got out of the taxi at the terminal the next morning, Darlene threw her back out. She could not walk at all. We seriously thought we might not even be going to Guatemala. After about an hour she was able to walk very slowly and we made it to our gate.
Once we were in Guatemala we found out our tour had been completely flipped around and we were going to the market and Lake Atitlan the next day rather than on the fourth day. We only had one thing personally scheduled that had to be moved but another family had scheduled tons of activities.
Like us, Guatemala had not been their first choice of vacation.
They were originally scheduled to go to Russia!
We waited and waited and waited for our van driver to take us from the airport to our hotel for the night.
Note to everyone: Do not use Exotica tours. He showed up about an hour and a half later. The man they sent to wait with us did not speak English. So far, things aren't looking great.
Nevertheless, we made it fun and had a great dinner in Guatemala City that night.
The next day it was the long bus ride to the market and on to our first destination, Lake Atitlan.
We saw many many corn fields and volcanoes on the way.
And lots of these chicken head signs.
Our first stop was a little touristy place for a bathroom break.
These are the buses you see everywhere. The drivers decorate them differently.
They are usually packed to the brim with people.
Next stop, the giant market, held twice a week.
This is the center of it but only about 1/4 of the whole thing.
The women all through the highlands area wear the traditional clothing.
The men do not for the most part.
We were told this is because of the prejudices against the Mayan people and the men need jobs.
Babies and toddlers are carried. I never saw a single stroller in Guatemala.
The market is between two churches. They are Catholic but have infused Mayan rituals. This church had altars going down the aisle where people could light candles for their dead ones in a ancient ritual that is meant to please multiple gods.
The graveyard was beautifully colorful.
Outside the market there were lots of stray dogs.
And we even saw some tied up goats.
The other church would not let the Mayans worship their gods inside the church, lol,
but they could do it outside on the altar.
Here was our favorite Mayan. She was only about 4 feet tall and followed us all over the market hoping to sell us something. We did eventually buy something from her.
We stopped for lunch near our next hotel, at 3:00. We were starving!
Almost every restaurant has someone who makes fresh tortillas where everyone can see.
Gallo is a Guatemalan beer sold everywhere here.
We all agreed it was terrible beer. lol
Our hotel on Lake Atitlan was gorgeous outside and way overdue for a remodel inside.
The next morning we played cards on the deck on the lake. It was about this time I read an email from the campground Dan was supposed to be at that day letting me know we hadn't checked in the night before and we only had until 12:00 or the rest of the Fourth of July holiday reservation would be canceled. It was 11:30 PT.! It's pretty normal for me to forget what days for which I make reservations and I should have checked it before I left. Luckily, Dan made it there in time and I didn't ruin his whole trip.
Now I got to relax!
I never got tired of looking at this volcano.
In this area, you can get around by taking tuk tuks everywhere.
Dar wanted to see this church we had passed the day before.
Dar and Aunt Helen lit candles for Mom and Diane.
We walked around the town for a bit.
This is our second stop at a pharmacy for Advil and back patches. Darlene was still in a lot of pain. The patches she got here ended up burning her skin.
Hotel California
This little girl travels in the back of the tuk tuk all day while her dad drives.
I never saw anyone use this slide at the hotel. Thank God.
For the second night in a row we just ordered appetizers and drinks for dinner
at the hotel and laughed and talked.
Today we deiced to go to Hotel Atitlan for lunch and to see the beautiful gardens.
Our favorite waiter at our hotel said he used to work there and it would be an easy walk.
By easy walk he meant be careful of all the construction where the cars and buses literally will go by about two inches from you. Oh, and it's uphill all the way.
Aunt Helen was a trooper but she had to stop and rest several times and we were all a little terrified of getting hit by the red buses. Some were decorated with spikes sticking out of the wheels!
Once we got to the path going to the hotel it was downhill!
The gardens were amazing.
A water tower still in use.
There were numerous parrots and toucans.
I seem to have accidentally deleted the one picture of our lunch at Hotel Atitlan, a very upscale hotel. It was delicious.
We all agreed we were NOT walking back and the hotel was able
to get a tuk tuk to bring us back to our hotel.
Most streets we saw in Guatemala were cobblestone.
Next stop, Antigua, for the second part of the trip!
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