How NOT to make a tortilla.

Sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don't.


In my case, the time that didn't made for a few good laughs. :-)

On our first night in Pana, we had dinner at what I would describe as a Guatemalan restaurant aimed at tourists though this one was run by a family who's patriach was very entertaing. He kicked off our dinner with a bit of history about the Mayans and in particular, the Mayans in the area around Lake Atitlán.

I don't know how he got on to the topic of making tortillas but he did and he ended his tale with an offer to learn how to make one. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity :-)

Chillaxin' in Panajachel.

Calle Santander, Pana's main street, lined with commercial establishments targeted at tourists including yours truly :-)

We arrived into Panajachel ("Pah-nah-hah-shell") from Antigua via a short drive from Chichicastenango.

The town is nicknamed Gringotenango ("place of the gringo") by some, in reference to the number of tourists who visit and the foreigners who choose to live in Panajachel, but most people call it "Pana" for short.

Chichicastenango, my kind of Mayan town!

It's dusty, dirty, noisy and absolutely packed with locals selling their wares but Chichi as it's simply called is the type of place that I absolutely love to be sucked into. It's full of local color, interesting people going about their daily business and enticing smells of cooked food wafting through the air.

Chichi is well known for its Saturday market where indigenous Mayans hawk their wares.  Translated, that means it's the mecca for shopping for Guatemalan handicrafts and where we would see the largest concentration of indigeous Mayan people.  Handicrafts I was certain I could get in any Guatemalan town though I had already planned on starting my shopping sojourn here.  I had in mind the colorful wood masks that I had seen in Antigua. 

We had a two hour stopover in Chichi today, on our way from Antigua to Panajachel.

Killing time in Flores.

If there was eve such a thing as a sleepy little town, on an island in the middle of a lake, Flores would be it. It's a s-l-e-e-p-y place.  I think we walked every street on the island and there were few people out and about.

After spending the morning touring Tikal, we had about 6 hours to kill before we had to get to the bus station in nearby Santa Elena to catch the bus back to Guatemala City.