"It Started as Just a Vacation " a Antigua Guatemala Travel Page by nancyw

Most folks had the same reaction when I said I was going to vacation in Guatemala..."why??" After seeing the photos I took on my trip to Antigua, Panajachel, Santiago de Atitlan and Chichicastenango, their typical response was "Of course, Guatemala!"

I was planning my trip as just another vacation to an interesting place, until I got a request to speak at a conference in South America in 2007. That gave me a great excuse to use this trip to scout options for improving my functional, but not elegant, Spanish.

I'd been to Guatemala twice before, on cruises, and used the stops to take advantage of the great sailfishing on the Pacific coast. This time, was all about the highlands. What a treat - I can't wait to go back for a couple of months in early 2007.

In my travels, I've found most people to be friendly and helpful - anxious to let you know why they're proud of their home. That's true in Guatemala, as well. The people were very friendly, with great humor. Cynical friends who can't be bothered to travel ("too much trouble, I can see it on TV") say that locals are friendly because they want my tourist dollars. Sure, there's some truth in that. But how about the lady at the market in Santiago de Atitlan? My friend and I were perched on a low wall on the main street, catching our breath and watching the crowds shop. My eye was caught by a young girl sitting on the ground in front of me, next to her mother. The mother glanced at me and noticed me watching her young daughter. At first, she seemed less than pleased at my attention, until she realized I was laughing because her young daughter seemed determined to wear a blue platic basket upside down over her head for the entire morning. After looking at me, then at her daughter, she looked back at me, shrugged toward her daughter and laughed out loud. No words were exchanged, but it was pretty clear we were thinking the same thing - kids will be kids. We passed mom/daughter a couple of times and each time the mom looked at me and gestured toward her daughter and laughed - yup, head still covered with blue basket.

I grew up in the desert and so I'm a sucker for water - ocean, lake, fountain, I'm impressed with any kind of water. After driving two hours from Antigua, boy was I impressed at my first glimpse of Lake Atitlan. Green hills, patchworked with crops, surrounded the deep blue water, which seemed to reflect the color of the sky. As an inveterate shopper, it says a lot that I was drawn more by the view at the lookout point, than by all the vendors.