Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Day 70 : Route to Panajachel, Lake Atitlan

At 8am, all the shuttles to Rio Dolce, Flores and Antigua had arrived to pick up the rest of the group that had gone with me to the Semuc Champey tour.  Having spent a couple of good quality days together, we were sad to say our goodbyes. 

After about 10 minutes wait, with no sign of my pickup showing up, I started getting worried.

This is the last leg of my open ticket which I had bought with the tour agency REPTSA, and had been concerned about being scammed. 

Max, the owner of El Muro Hostel on Lanquin, had called the agency to confirm my ticket and seat yesterday.

Seeing the worried look on my face, Max  recalled REPTSA again, and was told no one on their end confirmed my seat with the local shuttles yesterday, but they will call the shuttle driver and have them pick me up. 

After waiting for another 10 minutes with still no signs of a shuttle, Max called the shuttle driver instead, as he had close contact with the local shuttles.  The driver told Max they had not received any calls from the agency, but will come and pick me up in any case. Confused smile

Bus to PanajachelA couple minutes later, the shuttle arrived. PHEW! 

It was more of a bus this time round, and was a slightly more comfortable ride than the small shuttle.

Max had been super nice and hospitable to me throughout the whole time I stayed at El Muro, and his help on the shuttles had been a life saver. Thank you Max!

It was another 10hr drive.  It didn’t look like it would take that long based on the distance on the map, however the roads were windy, as we drove across the mountainous regions of Guatemala

Once again, there were beautiful views of the mountains and countryside, however this time with more small villages dotted around enroute to Panajachel, Lake Atitlan.

Views of Guatemala

Views of GuatemalaViews of GuatemalaViews of Guatemala

By the time we got into Panajachel, it was already nightfall, and after a long day of travel, all I wanted to do was just rest.

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