7/7 -- Drive to Lake Atitlan

Today, we drove to our next home Panajachel, a large village on Lake Atitlan, which is an unusually clear lake in a collapsed caldera. On the way, we had a number a things to explore.

Our first stop was to watch a "chicken bus" load. (This term was invented by a USA traveler because he saw chickens on  his bus.) These are buses that provide connections all over Guatemala and have long- and short-range routes. They carry not only people, but also farm goods, luggage, and anything else that needs to be transported. They appear to be privately owned and are converted USA school buses. They are often made longer to accommodate the kinds of loads here and are lovingly decorated in  most cases with elaborate paint jobs and creative uses of chrome. The bus we saw could only stop for 10  minutes and in this case, loaded several  pickup trucks of vegetables along with the farmer who was taking them to Guatemala City to sell.

Broccoli and cabbage get loaded into the bus.

Cabbage in crates is being lifted to the roof.

Because they have an audience, the workers have fun and show
off by tossing bags of green beans to the bus. There is a fire
brigade-like process  inside to position the goods quickly.

 Our next stop was a village where an older woman is still making pottery the original Mayan way, which she demonstrated for us. She used to do this work with her husband who is long gone and is hoping to teach the process to her grandson because her son has found other work and her daughter-in-law prefers weaving.The Mayans did not have a pottery wheel, so it was very interesting to see how she made the pots nice and round without one.

Mrs. Vasilli, age unknown, expert potter

The daughter-in-law and grandson,
Lorenzo, who  has already made some things.

After gathering the clay from the local hills,
it is ground finely.

Then it is mixed with water and previously mixed clay until
it is the right consistency.

Then she makes a roughly round shape with her hands and presses
a hole in the middle, going around and around it to make the
 walls  thinner. In this case, she also flared the top edge out. The
pot needs to dry for a day for the next step.

Using a pot she created yesterday, she turns it over and puts a hole
the bottom to make it thinner, rounder, and smoother. She uses
a corn cob as a tool to speed this step.

Next she uses a wooden dowel to thin out the clay and close
the hole, rotating around the pot continuously. She is barefoot
because it gives her better control.

She uses a stone that has been in her family for generations
to smooth outer surface of the now rounded pot

The pot is rested on sticks and under pine straw to dry
enough to fire.

 On our way to Solola, we stopped at an overlook for our first view of Lake Atitlan and the volcanoes around it. The sky is hazy because of the use of wood for cooking, the current eruption of Volcan de Fuego, and the lack of rain in the rainy season. It should be raining hard every afternoon and so far we have only had a few sprinkles. Great for us as travelers, not so much for the farmers who need the rain.

Luis told that the SO in Solola meant 'bat' (the flying mammal) and that it was a good omen in Mayan culture. Once we arrived in Solola, we went to a large market. Local people do not like to be photographed and I even got in trouble with one woman who took exception to me trying to capture her goods.

Some of the lovely weavings this area is famous for.

Narrow aisle of clothing

Fried bananas

Look carefully at the window below. The shapes are all stylized bats: up, down, and sideways. The window was created by a metal worker who did the design and then glass was put behind it and apparently painted because it fades over time and has to be retouched. This happened after the priests abandoned many churches between the late 1800s and 1957 and people were left to interpret and integrate Mayan and Christian beliefs.

Next we went to an above ground cemetery reminiscent of New Orleans except that this was about ostentation, not saving graves from a high water table. It overlooks Lake Atitlan, so truly a lovely place to spend eternity. The most noticeable difference between other cemeteries we have seen is the vibrant  use of color.

As we approached Panajachel (Pana), we came to another lovely  overlook with better view of the lake.

Our hotel in Pana, Porta Del  Lago, is right on the lake and only a couple blocks to the main shopping area. Since we arrived early, we got settled and planned to look at the shops before walking to dinner.Our directions were "turn left out of the hotel and right when you reach the end", so that's what we did. Only nothing looked familiar. We found a main street to turn right on, and still no tourist shops. We stopped at the river, which neither one of us remembered crossing and decided to retrace our steps. When we approached the hotel, we realized there was a second MORE  left street, so we tried that and finally found the shops, where I had a good time -- 2 belts with woven inserts and a beaded necklace to replace one from the same area that had worn out over years of and we even made it to dinner on time.

View from our hotel

Because the key was bulky, we left it with the front desk before we departed, and the clerk I had handed to had no recollection of that when we returned and no sign of the key. They finally let us into our room with our master key and Luis promised to help us sort this all out tomorrow.