Guatamala -- Lago de Atitlan

After a super scenic ride through the mountains (and a stop at a real dusty frontier border town), we finally arrived in Panajachel, Guatemala. Pana is on Lago de Atitlan, a lake surrounded by three giant volcanoes -- we hope they´re not active. The locals call it ¨gringotenango¨, or place of the foreigners, mostly for the hippies that came here on vacation and just decided to stay. We also visited San Pedro la Laguna and Santiago Atitlan, both smaller towns on the lake shore (in fact, stayed in the nicest hotel in San Pedro for a whopping $25 per night -- great place, run by a couple of spanish guys that traveled to central america 8 or 9 years ago and, well, just decided to stay -- seems to be the thing here). Even though Guatamala is the second poorest nation in the western hemisphere, given the friendliness of the locals and the amazing scenery, it´s easy to see why ít is such a popular travel destination.

JeeHeon posing in front of the local transportation: