A day at Lake Atitlan

After breakfast on Friday, July 26th, we rode on the bus to Panajachel where we had several hours of shopping and sightseeing. It was not uncommon to see a Mayan woman, like the one pictured, riding a modern motorcycle around town, with a member of the family on the back. Eli and Gabi had plenty of opportunities to buy small items for family members, and we stopped at one store for soft drinks before boarding the bus for the ride back to the hotel for lunch. After lunch, I took Gabi and Eli to the nearby nature reserve where they hiked considerably further than I did and managed to see spider monkeys and other wildlife.

I visited a butterfly enclosure and took several photos while inside. They reached the highest point on the trail where they were able to see the starting point for a rather expensive zip-line adventure. We all walked across about 1/2 a dozen swinging bridges like the one pictured. (Nancy was glad to be spared the experience of the swinging bridges, and used the time to take a nap!) The other interesting feature on the hike was the waterfall. - rw

The beauty of Lake Atitlan

Our Caravan bus arrived at beautiful Lake Atitlan on Thursday evening shortly before 5 p.m. The volcanoes were covered with clouds, so we got up early on Friday morning to see a cloudless sky! It is impressive here! Nancy took the pix below last night before we turned-in.

A friend took a picture of both of us, but the flash wasn't on, so the picture lacked "perfection"! Then, later on we got the pix of the 4 of us.- rw

From Tikal to Antigua

The photo of our Caravan tour group was taken in front of one of the large temples in Tikal. Our visit there was definitely a highlight of the trip. From Tikal we took a long bus trip to the ancient Spanish capital city of Antigua. Shown below is a typical street scene.

On our first night in town, the four of us took a short walk to the central plaza where I took a picture of Nancy, Eli and Gabi standing in front of the central fountain. The next morning we all joined our tour leader on a walking tour of the main part of town. While in Antigua we witnessed the brief volcanic eruptions of the volcano Fuego, seeing lava flowing down the side of the mountain (to the left in the pix) at night, and a brief daytime eruption as well.

Antigua affords lots of opportunity for shopping, and Gabi and Eli took advantage of same for the benefit of family members back home. - rw

Museums and Tour of Guatemala City

This morning after breakfast we met the others on in our tour group. It is small group with only 22 of us. All are very nice but there are not other young adults or kids on the tour. In the morning we went to the Popol Vuh Museum and learned about the Mayan Culture.  In the same complex we visited the Ixchel Museum which is about the Mayan textitles and weavings.- Nancy

Gabi and Eli at the  Museum

Four of us in the Museum Garden

After lunch at the hotel we took a bus tour of Guatemala City. It was fun seeing many stores of Pinatas.  The central square was busy on a Saturday afternoon as there were some peaceful demonstrations happening.

Guatemala City Central Square

Arrival in Guatemala

We left for the airport early on June 19 and had a good flight from Reagan in Washington, DC to Miami. We arrived 20 minutes early so had time to grab some food before boarding our flight to Guatemala City. We arrived early but Gabi's suitcase did not arrive. We were met by our Caravan Tour who took us to the Barcelo Hotel. Our rooms were ready so we checked in. The first order of business was to get Gabi a swimsuit. There was on choice that was OK in the hotel gift shop. All four of us headed to the pool. - Nancy

Eli and Gabi in the pool

View of Guatemala City from our hotel balcony

Great pool - We played monkey in the middle.

Grand Kids Exchange

Our trip to Guatemala with Eli and Gabi when we met near Pittsburgh, Ohio. Gabi and Rania came to Silver Spring to join Micah and Eli while Daniel went with Doug and Reeve to Maumee, Ohio. The cousins fondly called it the "prisoner exchange". - Nancy