At first we were going to find a hotel that supposedly had parking, but there parking was actually off-sight, so we toughed it out, winding our way out of narrow streets in Centro as it is Colonial and not made for 18 ft. vans. We finally opted for the Walmart parking lot which was a GREAT decision.
We arrived to find two vans already parked there - one from Chile and the other from Argentina. It wasn't long before the neighbors came back and we had a nice Mexico atlas that we no longer needed as we were heading to the border to Guatemala next so we asked if they wanted it and they did. We then spent a long time chatting about life on the road and places to go and not go. The magic of like-minded-ness erases language and age barriers in an amazing way.
We woke up early Sunday and walked into Centro where the town was still waking up and reminded us much more of the San Cristobal we had visited in 2006. We took a ton of pictures and were able to mail four postcards to Pam's nephew Dakota in Alaska. They are using the postcards as a geography lesson of sorts.
When we got back to the van we cleaned up some and prepared Vincenzo for departure and our new friends came over and made sure we would say goodbye before we left. As we were heading over a family pulled up to the Walmart that looked like the grandparents and maybe a three or four year old who wasn't happy, but was decked out in his Caballero outfit. I had a soccer ball already inflated so I grabbed it and walked over and tossed him the ball and told him "disfruta mucho" which means have a lot of fun. He lit up and held the ball like it was a treasure.
Our new friends were watching and the grandpa and the boy came over so he could give a proper gracias. Our friends were blown away by the whole thing so I inflated two more so they could have the same experience down the road somewhere. I know the balls were the best idea I ever had.
Lagos de Colon
We left and headed to Lagos de Colon which is near the Guatemalan border and spent the night for a whopping 50 pesos or $2.50 USD. After the swarms of families left, we had the place practically to ourselves. You'll be amazed, but we met another couple with a tween boy who were travelling in their Landcruiser as well. We talked for hours about lots of stuff, especially Guatemala since they were fairly in love with it. Pam got to swim in the lagoon in the little waterfalls several times, and enjoy the fully moon, so she was has happy.
They weren't up when we left for our border crossing that was easy and even fun since our guy in the Guatemalan Aduana was a kick in the ass and made the process very easy. We headed straight to Lake Atitlan and were glad we did as it is absolutely beautiful - the rutted and rocky road the last couple of miles notwithstanding.
That's it for now. Peace and love to everyone.
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