sorry, only google translate…
After a 3 1/2 hour trip in the Chickenbus (should you have made time, but too long the route should not be), we were in Panajachel, the main starting point for the Lago Atitlan. We had quite a lot of thoughts, which volcano we would like to climb. After the volcanoes in Antigua could not really inspire us, we had already set ourselves on Santa Maria, an active volcano near Quetzeltenango (again 2 hours from Panajachel). In Panajachel, however, we had to realize that this route was about twice as expensive, as all the tour operators asked for the ride to Quetzeltenango about the same as for the drive to San Cristobal, where we wanted to go next. Say we would double the trip.
So we decided (again, you can not plan anything in advance). This was not really so bad, because the next day was Kerstin’s great day (I say only 30 * cough *) and so we wanted to spend the birthday on one of the volcanoes on the lake. More specifically, on Vulcano San Pedro (3050m), which is inactive but offers a great view of the lake and the volcano landscape of the Guatemalan highlands.
So at 8 o’clock in the morning, after an hour’s boat trip with the next breakfast, we climbed the remaining 1400 meters above the volcano. It was quite exhausting and Kerstin got a little problems with the altitude (felt like asthma), but the whole thing was definitely worth it. We also arrived at the right time, because about 10 minutes after we arrived, the clouds came for the lake from early afternoon and within a few minutes the whole view was covered. Some hikers who came back to us had probably not been so lucky …
When dropping down was also once again strange shame. We had already noticed two German girls in the morning (there was also a Mexican guy, we suspect he was a kind of private leader), who were already making fun of us in the boat. There is much more then also the already promising sentence: “I believe we are wrongly attracted, I did not even times socks”. By this time, we made three crosses that did not have the same leader on the volcano as we did. Half way down from the volcano, the two of us then came completely met and we had to really master not to laugh loudly. Well, sometimes it helps but the description of a tour to read :-)
Back in Panajachel we left the day with coffee and cake as well as a restaurant visit before the next day the next long bus trip across the border back to Mexico, more precisely San Cristobal waiting for us …