Lago de Atitlán

After the market in Chichi, almost empty-handed, we took a shuttle to volcano-ringed Atitlán Lake.

Only 30 minute boat ride from Panajache lays San Pedro La Laguna known for great parties. We were welcomed by incredibly strong, sour and quite awful smell of coffee that had nothing to do with the nice aroma we all know. Apart from the smell the town had a very cool, relaxed vibe with lots of fun young people, so when Asia relaxed in our hostel, I socialized with people from all over the world. I especially loved the 3 musketeers from Israel that cracked me up every time they spoke... plus watching them was like a musical, every other sentence turned into a song!

The next morning we were ready to leave the smelly town behind and move across the lake to San Marcos, a hippies favorite. Led by two 8 year old guides through tiny sandy pathways we ended up in El Unicornio Hotel. San Marcos was probably the calmest and most peaceful town we have visited so far with its organic gardens, massage and yoga centers, and just one street, which we only discovered at the end of the day.

San Marcos fell asleep the minute it got dark - there was no music, no laughs, only dogs barking. We found one place that still had a few guests insides and had a beer with Thiery, a young chef from Montreal, that we met earlier that day wandering lost between patches of carrots and radishes. Because we went to bed early, we left San Marcos before 8am the next day. One boat and 2 "chicken bus" rides later we arrived in Guatemala City, where we were attacked by 20 taxi drivers, who wouldn't let us take one step without being followed. We finally freed ourselves from those crazy individuals, negotiated the fare down by 50%, got to the bus station, and left to El Salvador.