We took a double deck bus to Guatemala city and it proved to be a good choice of transport, as it was very comfortable and because we occupied the front seats on top, it was very scenic as well. As we traveled, it was shocking to see the amount of garbage disposed on both sides of the road on both sides of the border.
Arriving in Guatemala City from the mountains, the view convey an impression of a large, cosmopolitan and rich capital. On arrival at the Holiday Inn we were greeted by Steve Wheelock, TG9AWS, a ham radio that I was introduced on the air by Phil, HK3SA, from Bogota, Columbia, the Net Controller for the Spider Web Net, that runs every morning on the frequency 14347 Mhz between 12:30 and 13:30 UTC. This is a fun net to participate and I will try to be regular as possible. The other important radio schedule that I have is on the same frequency at 00:30 UTC with Peter W6DEI from San Francisco, which follow boats from Canada all the way to South Pacific.
After picking up our baggage, Steve took us to his house, where we met his family, Rosanna his wife and Stephnie his daughter. Also precent was Stephnie's friend and Juan Munoz, TG9AJR, that came to meet us. After having a glass of wine, lunch was announced to our surprise and delight. Steve and Rosanna really made us welcome into their beautiful home. Class and good taste were words that came into my mind. Steve and Rosanna, Thank You very much for being such gracious hosts. After lunch we drove around the city and visited downtown which was very neat.
The next morning we took a mini van to Chichicastenango to see the market, the biggest open market in the world, so it is claimed. The mountain driving was fast albeit safe. It was a interesting experience, but a bit tiring, as stall after stall sell basically the same products and everyone press selling. We only bought a small mask as a souvenir. On a interesting note, we learned that the Catholic Church allowed up to this day that services and worships to be conducted in both European and Mayan languages.
We left the market around 1 pm for Panajachel. It was a beautiful drive to the lake. When we arrived at Panajachel we went to explore the town, but again the main street was stall after stall with the same products as in the market. We had a great lunch at a local restaurant. Unfortunately Veronica forgot to plug in the camera battery the previous night and we could not take more pictures, although we did get some nice pictures of the lake. We were debating to overnight in Panajachel, or just continue on with the rest of the group going back to Guatemala City and then Antigua. So Antigua won the battle and we left around 5:30 pm.
We know that we missed the best part Panajachel, which was visiting the small villages around the lake, maybe next time.
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