I left my heart and sweat in San Pedro

View of volcano from boat
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We're going to drown!.... oh but, look at these volcanoes.

From Panajachel, we decided to climb the San Pedro volcano.

The top would'a been great... but the view from the bottom ain't bad.

We got up at 5:30 am to take the boat to the town across the lake -- San Pedro. Our boat was packed with locals and it was pretty much a little public bus on water that stopped at every port along Lago de Atitlan.  

Sweating already 1/4 of the way
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When we started off from Pana, the boat was already pretty jammed packed with at least 20 people. It's just a little wooden boat for god sake! As we stopped at each pier, more and more people got onto the boat.  A few locals even brought their heavy load of goods to be sold. I was really nervous that we were going to go down! The boat generated huge waves in the front as it was so front heavy.  

Ken tried telling me how funny this was but I didn't see it as that funny.  Nobody else besides me seem nervous though in fact, many of the kids were joking and smiling.

Breakfast with Pedro
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The one thing that distracted me from thoughts of drowning was the beatiful view of the volcanoes.   This had to be one of the most memorables views that I've ever seen.   Ok, for that, it was all worth it.  We even realized that there were actually 3 volcanoes and not just two as one was hidden by another. 

But after a 1.5 hour death defying boat ride, we got there -- gracias dio! (thank god!)

We made it!... at least to the city of San Pedro

Me w/ Atitlan in background
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We landed at the city of San Pedro. Our guia (guide) was also named Pedro too, that certainly helped us remembered his name. We had breakfast by the lake and took a taxi from the pier to the beginning of the San Pedro volcano trek.

Hmm... as nothing seems to happen as planned during our trip, they happen to also run out of English speaking guides. So Pedro decided to be our guide. The only problem is Pedro speaks muy pequeno (very little) English. But it was an opportunity to learn and practice by the guide).

Me w/ Atitlan in background
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On the San Pedro volcanic mountain, there were organic coffee plants and regular yellow& red coffee plants.  We also saw a lot of avocado trees (and it was the type that I had at my house when growing up).  Due to the richness of the volcanic soil, the mountain was lush with thousands of other types of plants too.

How much longer 'til la punta?

I am not sure what Ken and I were thinking but somehow we were completely caught off guard about how hard of a climb it was going to be. They told us it would be a 4 hour hike up but somehow that didn't sink in when we booked it. It is literally a 4 hour trek of straight climb. We almost died as we couldn't acclimate fast enough and get enough oxygen in our lungs due to the elevation. We were also afraid of the steepness of going down the volcano too.  We stopped 2 hours into the climb.  We didn't reach la punta (the peak).  Oh well.

VERY full boat
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Pedro on the other hand had absolutely no problems as he hiked up the mountain in his dress shoes! He's thinking: que es la problema?

The San Pedro volcano kicked our asses! But's it's a vacation, so we didn't feel defeated... just completely exhausted.

At the bottom again ...time to relax and enjoy the incredible view

We came down the volcano and put our feet up at Chile's restaurant, which is just along the pier of San Pedro. The view was awesome and of pure serenity and calmness.

Jesus is the man!
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At that moment, I felt that I could move to Guatemala. I even told Ken this and then read the guide book which said that many foreigners have bought businesses and have moved to San Pedro... oh well, so much for that original thought.

We had a chance to walk around the town of San Pedro before we headed back to Pana. The guide book said young foreigners like to stay there and it's kind of a party town for hippies because you can stay there for $5 a day.  

Many people go and stay to go to Spanish schools. We did see a lot of young backpackers and if I would have been 10 years younger with no obligations, I would'a stayed too.  Or I might come back when I retire at 70 and party with the 20-somethings. :-)

Watching roosters in San Pedro
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Back to Pana

We took the "express" boat back to Pana where it is a direct boat ride from San Pedro to Pana, just in time for our daily 3pm nacho and Gallo cerveza (beer) routine.

And that night we went back to our favorite restaurant in Pana -- the Uruguay one -- and had the shish-kabob we've been craving for since the night before.