We left San Cristobel fairly early on monday and headed off for the bus station to take us back into Guatemala and onto Panajachel. The bus jounrey was nowhere near as bad as the previous one but we had to stop at the Mexican / Guatemalan border to pass through immigration etc. It was boiling hot, but the border crossing is one of the most intense things i´ve seen. There was people everywhere, trying to take our bags, or herd us onto their tuktuks - craziness!! We were through in about 40 minutes, and made our way to the chicken bus terminal for the next part of our ride.

This particular chicken bus was completely packed - its an old american school bus and these things are made for children, yet somehow they fit in 3 people in each row of seats - not the time to be sitting next to someone who is motionsick!

I managed to get a seat with only one person, but he left after an hour so had the whole seat to myself! The driver was really crazy, again but they rent out the buses by the day so they try to make as many trips back and forth each day to make more money - and hence they fill them to breaking point! At one point we stopped and these guys outside were trying to get their goats onto the roof to travel - and this is not unusual but there wasn´t enough room!

Once we arrived into Pana, we were all so excited because the view was amazing! The town of Panajachel is situated on Lake Atitlan which is surrounded by about 3 volcanoes and is completely beautiful. We settled into the hotel, then went down to a bar on the waterfront to see the sun set - amazing!

The next day we headed over to some of the local villages; in one of the villages there is a little wooden statue called Mashimon. He is about 3 foot tall, and basically he is a god around here. The villagers vote every year for the family they wish to host him for the next year, and it is a huge privaledge to look after him. They have to get him up in the morning, dress him, give him his cigar, feed him breakfast etc etc throughout the day; then at night they must put him to bed!! You aren´t allowed to take picutres of him either so sorry you won´t be able to see him - but he is one cool dude!!

Later in the evening we had a huge party in the hotel, i dread to think what the other guests must have thought but we were fairly loud and we´ve got some interesting stories to tell.

Then today we didn´t really do much - i managed to speak to Mum and Dad but other than that had a look around the markets and mooched. Some of the group went zip-lining but i decided against it as i quite value my life and i´m looking forward to the rest of the trip!!

Next, we head back to Atnigua tomorrow where we say goodbye to some the tour group - then it´ll be back to just me, Señor Frog, Señor Lip, and Señor Undertaker (these names would all require far too much explanation). Adios!