Sunday & Monday travel days

We just had two consecutive travel days, today feeling relieved having no specific time schedule to follow. Sunday we caught a van that shuttled us from Copan Ruinas, Honduras back to Antigua, Guatemala (7hrs). Then Monday afternoon we caught another that brought us here to Panajachel, Guatemala (3hrs). Panajachel is on the northern edge of Lake Atitlan due west of Antigua. It seems to be the main gateway to other towns and activities on the lake. It’s an old bustling town with an incredible amount of handicraft stalls lining its main street. The primary industry is catering to tourists. The lake has no real beaches and although the water looks beautiful swimming isn’t a safe activity. We spent today walking and exploring - there are a few culture centres, many places to eat traditional foods, and just people watching is always so entertaining. The locals have been consistently friendly, Jim is able to engage (much better than I) by asking questions and being humorous with his elementary Spanish! There seems to be a prominent indigenous presence here in Guatemala, especially obvious in the beautifully hand woven clothes the women wear. The weather has been warm, dry and quite windy in the afternoons. The altitude is about 1600m, and we could feel the difference from Victoria, but now we’ve definitely become acclimated. Tomorrow we’re taking a boat ‘tour’ that will stop at three villages on the south side of the lake (hoping for calm water!).