Early Sunday morning, Jing and I awaited with some sadness and anticipation for the Altiplano private minibus that was to take us to Panahachel, a town on Lake Atitlan, where we are to hop on a boat and cross to Santiago, on the OTHER side of the lake. Before the shuttle arrived, we took the opportunity to visit our Xela Pan for a last minute goodbye and two snacks: foccacia and apple pie-uffin (looks like a hybrid of both). The ride there took us 2.5 hours on the :gasp: well paved InterAmerican Highway. For a second, you think you are driving along the blueridge parkway high in the Appalachians with well marked roads. Then, trash, dogs, remanents of mud slides, and you are quickly reminded again you are not home....yet. Twists, turns, yaw, roll, you feel like you are on a very slow jet as the age old shuttle tries to climb the steep roads. Chicken buses, old US yellow school busses sent to Guate for a make over to hold more people within and above the car, were leaving us in the dust...to eat their carbon monnoxide. Finally in the distance towering mountains with a ring of fog enveloping the sumit. And alas, Lake Atitlan in all its blue shimmering beauty between two volcanos and countless other hills. Slowly, closer, the minbus crept. We finally deboarded in Pana. We had a good breakfast at a beautiful outdoor restaurant which seated us in its garden filled with tropical appearing flowers of unusal hues: magenta, off white, neon orange. The most impressive part of Pana was its large number of tourist driven shops. Beautiful tiendas lined the streets with brilliant Guatemalan paintings of people and nature often under a setting sun that casts an orange glow over the painted landscape. Sizes ranged from HUGE to pequeno. We will definitely be taking some home. Other stores were less inspired and unoriginal selling goods ranging from jewlery to scarves, to woodwork. After a short walk down the street, you soon begin to realize the goods begin to look the same, that's because they are. Probably all hecho en china.
Our boat ride across was intersting. As previously mentioned, Guatemala rains daily and the lake was no exception. As the dark storm clouds rolled in, we decided it was time to vamos. Carrying a large 40L traveling backpack each, a regular backpack, and a duffle, walking the streets was not easy. Not to mention, the streets of Pana leading to the docks where the boats depart for other pueblos on the lake were teeming with sneaky natives waiting to rip off foreigners. Q50 for ride across the lake, they'd shout?! After a while, they didn't even deserve the mal ojo i gave them. At the end of the docks was where the legitimate prices were and you bet we were heading that way. As we got closer, a disheveled man tried to start a conversation with me, selling me his boat and services. At this point, I've begun to be accustommed to walking and ignoring pesky noises following me and that's just what I did. "My boat is public", he'd shout trying to legitamize his deeds. "Where are you goinng my friend", he inquired as I continued to ignore him and head toward the end of the docks. Finally, another man approaches us near the appropriate location to board a boat to Santiago and asks for Q25 to cross the lake. We agree and follow him to his boat and proceed to board. To our dismay, the disheveled man was aboard and offering to help us! The lake was becoming less tranquillo and the boat began to rock back and forth. Stepping from the pier onto the boat was a challenge and that man was there with a lending hand. We began to think maybe this was his boat the whole time. We sat in the front row (MISTAKE!) of the boat with our many bags closely beside our legs for security. A minute after we sat down, the disheveled man who so kindly helped us onto the boat said we had to pay now. I asked how much, hoping to get a better deal than Q25. He said, ¨Q30¨. I scoffed. ¨Q25 is all,¨I said. He said ok. I gave him a Q50 and thought, phew almost got scammed. I never really noticed when he left the boat but he did and we never really saw him again. Halfway through our trip on the turbulent lake, Jing asked me, ¨um why did we pay before hand?¨Then it came to dawn on me that we may have been scammed.....I scanned the boat and didn´t see the man ANYWHERE. I started to panic. Oh no, what if we were really scammed! I just lost Q50 ($6.5) which wasn´t much but it was really all about dignity and principal. Damn native scammed us. What if we have to pay again?¿?¿?¿
At this point, we were half way between Pana and Santiago. The boat was flying across the lake with water splashing in our face every few minutes as the boat hit a rough wake or point. People around us knew what they got themselves into. Some had rain jackets covering their faces. Jing and I sat stupidly, wet, and pissed. 25 minutes after finally departing Pana, we arrived in Santiago. Luckily, as we deboarding the boat, no one asked us to pay more. Perhaps the other man was legit, perhaps we just got lucky and scammed the boat owner by not paying him. However, who knows.
More adventures to follow in the next post...The Land of Tuk Tuks.
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