meinen Reisen MY TRAVELS mijn reizen mes voyages meus cursos mis viajes minhas viagens mo taisteal mine rejser mina resor i miei viaggi

We left early on Easter to drive to Panajachel which is a small town on Lake Atitlan.

Lake Atitlán is renowned as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world and is Guatemala’s most important national and international tourist attraction. The lake is surrounded by many villages in which Maya culture is still prevalent and traditional dress is worn.

Upon arrival, we took a boat to San Pedro, a very small village across the lake. Many hippies from Israel and the Western United States were there. We ate falafel and took a tuk tuk to San Juan. We also took a boat to Santa Cruz and came back and walked around the markets of Pana. Mike bought a mural.

I should be at the airport by 10 p.m. tonight as my flight to Houston is at 12:55 a.m.

We are heading back to the city. I found a restaurant where I had two breakfasts: one American and one tipico. It also came with oatmeal and a really good cookie-type thing. I am going to try to find that before going to the airport. We also went kayaking on Lake Atitlan.

Now, we are leaving. It should take about 2 hours to get back to the city.

Back in Guatemala City, we visited one of Mike’s furniture stores and saw the shopping center. We went over to his parent’s house to visit them and to see his dog. Then, we went to a nice mall-type area to eat lunch. The mall had a starbucks, a Maserati and Lotus display store, and JK Ming (PF Changs) and other things.

Then, we went to Cayala which is a new shopping/living center – a new development. It is a not an outlet – though it has a Nike Factory Store. It was a beautiful complex.

We walked around a few grocery stores and came back to the apartment.

I wake up pretty early here. It happened in Costa Rica too. I think it is due to being on East Coast time and the sun rises here early too.

We went to breakfast at the same place as Friday, because it was good and inexpensive. I got huevos rancheros, french toast, fruit, and coffee. Mike got two platters and coffee. In total is was less than $12.

Before leaving Antigua, Mike wanted to go to a famous candy store, but it opened at “11 mas o menos,” so we really didn’t know. We waited in the square and people watched. It was really fun to guess where people were fun – whether they were expats or on vacation. I would say 70% of Americans in Antigua look like hippies. There were a few college-aged, normal kids traveling together.

We went back to the apartment, packed up, and drove to the candy store. I chose a few things at the candy store. It was really sugary. Then, we drove back to Guatemala City.

Today, we went to a few museums, saw some more dust murals, took a tuk tuk up a hill to an overlook of the city, saw another processional, went to a market, ate typical Guatemalan food, and a number of other things. I bought some musical instruments for between 3 and 6 dollars. Evidently, I am supposed to haggle, but the prices are low enough already.

Pictures are below:

After taking a break, we went back out to eat dinner. We saw a many more rugs being prepared.

Before dinner, Mike bought a laser pointer. On the box it came in, it showed examples of wear to use it and one of the examples is at Mount Rushmore. Andrea and I have long made fun a this park ranger who kept getting annoyed at a laser while he was presenting probably 10 or 15 years ago at Mount Rushmore.

After buying the laser pointer, we went into this really nice restaurant. All the restaurants are beautiful as the outer walls break away into gardens and inner eating places. I couldn’t get a signal to send Andrea the picture while we ate. When we came back out, Mike sent the pictures to Andrea. We waited for a few minutes outside the restaurant as we saw another procession coming down the street. It wasn’t moving too fast, so we decided to walk to it. It was one with wheels. We made it back to the square and they said that we had to walk up on the sidewalks as another major procession was coming down the street. It was packed on the sidewalks, but we made it through. We saw so many processions that we just wanted to get out of the crowds. Well, when we made it out of the crowds, Mike had lost his iPhone 6 somewhere in the crowd. They might have stalked us after seeing us in street at the restaurant.

We made it back to the apartment and he canceled the phone. As we were using the apartment’s internet, we saw one of Guatemala’s many volcanoes erupt with lava.

Hola. I made it to Guatemala at around 11 p.m. local time (Mountain Time Zone). Mike from the UCF MBA program picked me up at the airport. He lives about 8 minutes from the airport.

This morning, we work up early and drove to Antigua. Antigua is famous for the rugs made from flowers, sand, and dyed sawdust during Easter Week. Then, a procession marches through over the rugs.

Link

We walked around Antigua. We went to some markets and some squares. We ate a buffet at a really nice hotel.

Here are some pictures so far:

After taking a break, we went out to the square and saw a few more processionals. Then, we found few fast foods restaurants that are in Antigua. The restaurants have to keep with the Antigua’s facade. We also went to a few grocery stores.

Today, I presented in front of about 200 community leaders about the Central Florida International Trade Office.

Here are some pictures:

The Asian Chamber invited me to be on their Mardi Gras float this year at Universal. They go once a year to throw out beads from a float. They gave me a park-to-park ticket and complimentary parking. I didn’t want to go the entire day, so I met Bev at the Pointe and gave the tickets to her. The Pointe is getting better and better. I always forget about it, but it has some great restaurants. We at The Pub and it was just like Ireland or Britain. Aunt Polly and I ate at a Greek restaurant there a few weeks ago. The Pointe is near the convention center.

I arrived to Universal around 3:30 p.m. I went to Diagon Alley and met Bev. We rode the train to Hogsmeade. I walked out as there wasn’t enough time to ride the train back. I went to Southwest Moe’s where I ran into two friends from Disney. It was nice to see them again. They took pictures of me on the parade route.

I met the AACC at 5:30 p.m. We waited for a while and then, we were shown our float around 7:00 p.m. We put on our costumes and the parade started at 7:45 p.m. It was really fun. I was just tossing beads as fast as I could. the 27-minute parade felt like 10 minutes. It was very nice of them to invite me as they only had 8 tickets this year.