Monday 8/13/18
“The Mists of Atitlan”
Today is a strange and misty day over Lake Atitlan. Dark and rumbling clouds scour the sky, and just now a small sprinkle of rain dotted the stone walkway in front of our cottage. But the strangest thing was the total disappearance of the other side of the lake, with its volcano. The far edge of the lake looked like the sharp horizon of the ocean on a clear day. And then a few minutes later the mist across the lake turned into ragged filaments, and the volcano reappeared. Now you see it, now you don’t.
Disappearing volcano – Now you see it, now you don’t.
And then around 5:30, amid streaks of lightning onto the lake and all around us, followed too quickly by deafening thunder, the rain came down, and the lights in the cottage went off and on. But it only lasted less than an hour, and now all is quiet and still.
We’ve had no Internet since we got back yesterday afternoon, and no idea why. Clicking onto the Internet icon took me to a page in Spanish that I couldn’t understand (the site couldn’t translate), and our phones wouldn’t work either for outgoing calls, so we couldn’t call Carolina. Finally today Carolina phoned us, and we were able to receive the call OK. With her translation, helped by Manuel, we were able to figure out that the fees we’d paid for Internet down here had expired, and needed to be renewed for the next few days until we leave Cerro de Oro. Working out exactly how to do that took awhile, but eventually we were able to extend the service, and now I’m trying to catch up!
Wednesday Dona and I plan to go back across the lake to Panajachel to visit the Reserva Natural Atitlan on the northern outskirts of town. The main trail can be walked in an hour, and leads up to swinging bridges over a waterfall, then down to a platform for viewing local spider monkeys and coati. There is also an aviary, butterfly farm and herb garden. A major attraction is zip lines spanning canyons and forests, the longest of which extends nearly a kilometer! We hope some of our new friends on the north shore will join us… And we want to finish our interrupted visit to the Museo Lacustre Atitlan to see the rest of their exhibit of ancient Mayan artifacts from the drowned village at the bottom of the Lake.
We’ll stay Wednesday night at Nadia’s in San Marcos, then on Thursday morning her husband will be conducting a Mayan ceremony. Then we’ll return to Cerro de Oro Thursday afternoon, and pack to leave LaKzonA Lodge the next day.
Friday Carolina will be taking us to Antigua for the weekend, then back to Guatemala City, and flying back to Austin early on Tues. the 21st.