Guest entry by my mom about her visit, part 13 of 14

DAY 11 (last day in Champollap):

Sleep, sweet sleep. We sleep in -- what a luxurious indulgence -- until 11 this morning. 

It's a day for errands and chores. In San Pedro, we pick up laundry and send off a box of souvenirs at the post office. Back home, we replace the vinyl sheet on Elizabeth's long kitchen "counter" (table) and replace the foil on her countertop stove. It feels good to stay home the rest of the afternoon. Quiet, relaxed time.

Re-covering the kitchen "counter"

At 5:00 we meet up with Elizabeth's host family. The six of us squeeze into a van for a ride back to San Pedro, where we walk around the market, the last time for me and Brian. Then we take a taxi (Brian in the front seat, the rest of us packed -- oddly comfortably -- in the back) to San Marcos for dinner at Cotzic. 

Dinner at Cotzic. Elizabeth's host family all order sandwiches.
(Mayan women, I'm told, do not smile for photos. They smile plenty otherwise.)

A gazebo in San Marcos 

Everywhere we go, Elizabeth's two "brothers"
play Let's See Who's Taller.

Back home in "Champo" the six of us have cake, exchange gifts, and then hit the sack. A perfect last day in Elizabeth's home.

Once again, sweet sleep....

DAYS 12 & 13 (Lake Atitlán):

Six hours, six vehicles, $70. That's what it takes to get the three of us to our hotel on Lake Atitlán.

• van to San Pedro
• taxi to the bus stop in San Pedro
• bus to Xela
• van to the parque in Xela
• shuttle (five-seater) to Panajachel on Lake Atitlán
• boat to our hotel

Yesterday's newspaper showed a landslide on a main road
near our route. Today we're lucky: no landslides for us.

The only way to get to our hotel on Lake Atitlán is by boat.

Our guest room at La Casa del Mundo is 
on a lush, steep hillside overlooking Lake Atitlán.

On our balcony at La Casa del Mundo
overlooking Lake Atitlán.

All guests eat dinner together "family style"
at La Casa del Mundo.

Decorations abound at La Casa del Mundo.

A pamphlet in our room assures us that local spiders and scorpions
are not poisonous, and that the spiders, good sports that they are,
stay on the walls. No word on the sportsmanship of the scorpions.

To describe Lake Atitlán is to sound like a brochure:
beautiful, tranquil, magic....

Brian rules the real estate world at La Casa del Mundo.

Elizabeth on the Casa del Mundo dock.

I love this photo.
Panajachel (aka Pana, aka Gringotenango) is all about buying and selling.

While we eat breakfast, three Mayan women laden with
gorgeous fabric items come up to our table.
Teresa, shown here, has just demonstrated how to
wrap long hair with special ribbon to create this "do."

This is one of the few areas in Guatemala where men commonly wear traje.

Some of the plants that grow on Lake Atitlán
grow nowhere else in the world.

How do I feel to be here with these fine young adults whom I'm privileged to call my children?
Full of gratitude and awe.