Day 8 - The stunning Lake Atitlan, named the 'most beautiful lake in the world!' Again an hour late our taxi finally appeared and we were on our way, winding our way back down into the valley floor then up again and round and round. More stunning scenery and lush green plantations, kids on the school run and tin shacks hidden within the mountainsides. On nearing the descent to the lake we passed through a small town called Solola and literally got stuck there as it was market day! If only we had had time to stay here, it was just fantastic, a real Guatemalan town market dominated by an attractive salmon clock tower with not a tourist in sight. Fruit and bright vegetables piled high on the streets sides, women and men in traditional dress, the latter wearing short waisted intricately embroidered jackets, woven sashes and knee breaches of black cloth along with the typical white cowboy style hat; I could have sat here for hours just watching the world go by.... Finally beating the market mayhem we had our first glimpses of the lake beyond and it was breath-taking! Deep green fresh water, 50km in circumference surrounded by 3000m volcanoes and dotted villages, we could see why it was called the most beautiful lake in the world, a stunning setting. On looking out from a view point Ads just had to buy a hand made painting of the scene from a local guy ha ha! Weaving closer towards the lake we drove through the old town of Panajachel which despite having an abundance of tourist crafts stalls was kind of quaint and a great place to dump our bags in favour of homemade bagels for breakfast! Then a slow boat to a village on the other side of the lake, San Pedro, it was.... As usual we were taken to a jetty upon which we were told 'no boat' by one person then 'un momento' by another other which turned into many 'mucho momento's'!! An hour later we finally crammed onto a small boat with a million others just in time as the heavens opened! This turned into quite a scene as the owner known as 'Captain' attempted to stop the driving rain coming in with a plastic sheet which Ads and others attempted to hold down whilst the rest of us frantically held down the sides. After ramming another into the heavily laden front we were on our way, through the storm across the lake. Now I wouldn't say I know much about sea faring rules but this 'captain' didn't seem to understand the basics, i.e. that a heavy front boat would literally nose dive into the waves not ride them and within minutes waves came crashing into the front of the boat and everyone was soaked and a tad scared, thankfully at this point the 'captain' stopped the boat! I suggested piling gear and people into the back to the lift the front which thankfully people were happy with and soon the boat was riding not sinking through the rough choppy water ahead after the 'captain' had put more petrol in it! Clinging onto our possessions we bounced along through the driving rain smiling with hope to each other for a safe arrival! Thankfully only 2 destinations were needed from the passengers rather than the usual 10 stops and soon we were dropping people at destination 1 San Marcos, the 'yoga/meditation' centre of the hillsides. We had considered staying here and on arriving seeing the small cabana style hotels on the waters edge it looked tempting but we decided to continue on to the cheap of the cheap backpacker San Pedro village. On arriving it didn't look up to much, drab concrete boxes built into the hillside, but the stunning San Pedro Volcano behind it and the location was to die for and once you had taken away a few of the touristy cafes/restaurants near the jetty, you felt like you were in a true untouched Guatemalan town/village. Heading to our chosen hotel on the lakeside, which despite being a basic concrete room and bed (what more do you need!) for 3 pounds, half the price of anywhere we had stayed, this meant we could now afford laundry, wow! What a luxury life we lead eh, then out we headed along the cobbled streets to explore. Over to Ads..... San Pedro is an odd mix it takes a little while to get the hang of it, there is plenty of cheap backpacker accommodation, cheap eats internet cafes and thank god laundry, all of this seems to be part of everyday life here now. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Nik and I walked around up down along over in fact I think we did a fair part of the village in a small part of the afternoon; taking in the many worn looking concrete houses, seeing a lady on her sewing machine in her one room house with just a bed and a fridge, watching all the local kids flying their kites off of roof tops, buses you name it, bizarrely listening to children lined along one street playing xylophones and seeing sadly the many shabby ill dogs and cats on their last legs, whom Nic would save them all if she could! Ending up at a little café on the far side of town where you could have anything you wanted as long as it was tepid black coffee or hot chocolate! I love these places. The ladies that were running the café were cool and tolerated us intruding upon their afternoon chat. Thoughts turned to which hill we should climb, how far should we hike, how many horses we needed but these ideas were soon put to one side as food began calling us. Finding a lakeside café at, well, the side of the lake we sat on the terrace contemplating stuff and other deep things like that. For me it was the choice between 'pollo a curry' or 'pollo Frito' I know this isn't the stuff that keeps the Da Lai Lama awake but for me its important. I went for curry I know how predictable. As the storm seemed to close in around us and darkness slowly descended Nik and I had a bottle of Gallo beer each and tried to improve our Spanglish. Its hard work and I so wish we could have done a Spanish school for a week or 2. Next time? Food arrived as do all things that come to those who wait apparently. Both meals were resounding successes on the taste front I perhaps wouldn't serve the same at home but it was good chow. The days travelling seems to be affecting us both more and more now and an early evening nap and as the storm broke and crashed around the valley we both slept fitfully as the hostel party seemed to rage on forever long into the morning. Day 9 - Our Olympic day If someone had said look alive to me this morning I would to quote John Gregory "have shot them" Our English brothers were doing their best most of the night to woo our American sisters by drinking copious amounts of booze. I don't know what the success rate was but I don't care Adam and Nikki are in tiredsville not good. Since handing in laundry yesterday I had as Nik had put it been al fresco and was in desperate need of boxer shorts. First trip to laundry stuff not ready so I came back and annoyed Nik. Eventually we showered and Nik got our laundry back, I think perhaps a piece of charcoal was put in the dryer as everything smelt of soot, nice eh but you appreciate things like that when you are travelling... Our view from our room is not so good but from the back of the hostel it is spectacular. The volcanoes look majestic and the landscape so green the lake seemed to be whole different world from the choppy waters of yesterday. The plan was made no climbing for us we were going kayaking in honour of the Olympics! Well ok maybe not but after our breakfast in one of the oddest cafes we have been in - the stoned people are running the café. Our order was taken by a guy who could barely stand up and had the memory span of a goldfish. Our cook had disappeared for 20 minutes probably just to escape these lunatics, they did offer us some 'green' man but we declined purely due to the drug testing requirements of kayaking of course. It was like the longest day I didn't realise that an omelette could take 45 mins perhaps it was all the other customer orders no that cant be it cos we were the only two customers chill Adam. After negotiating breakfast and then the process of renting kayaks which isn't like England where everything has a price and that's what you pay. Here you have the rigmarole of bartering and then walking away to go and find other prices which then sends your seller into some sort of Apoplexy and the price comes down. Finally we hit the water we had asked the kayak distribution person how far we could get in 2 hours return. I think he may have been at the green stuff to because he suggested a village that was half an hour away by boat. Undeterred we set course and found that we perhaps would end up just doing a small circuit it was heavy going. But what a place to be it was stunning this magnificent backdrop to this huge lake what more could we ask for. After getting in synch we did make some headway and surged our way through the water. Such a good feeling we have loved doing this wherever we have been it is a big favourite of ours. The time ticked by and after one hour the 'so called village of Santiago within one hour' was still about 2 hours away! So we ended up dropping that idea and taking it pretty leisurely absorbing all the sights and sounds of our surroundings. The lake is also the laundry, the supermarket for fish, the local shower, the mechanism of transport the lifeline of the area although I am not sure I would drink any of the water. It is amazing how strong the local women are when they bash the rocks with their clothes using a piece of soap to clean them, just incredible. Returning our vessel back to its rightful place the owner nowhere to be seen it was time to eat and relax some more ready for this evenings meal and beer before heading back to Antigua first thing. Our last meal proved to be the best yet in Guatemala in that we found a small Italian run by 2 italian brothers and the food was to die for....well when you have lived mainly on crackers and biscuits for a week anything tastes good but boy this was! The background rave noises of a Saturday night were interesting too and after another beer plus gallon of 'liquado' for Nik in some salsa lake bar, we headed back ready for another night of joyous noise from the English/Americans! Please lord let us sleep!