FOTOS...LEAVING SAN PEDRO

...our driver, el piloto, said there was a place to stop after climbing for around an hour and half up the caldera to leave the lake. And he was right. amazing vista.

...and here to the right you see the little town of San Pedro with the volcano of San Pedro behind it and further in the background the other 2 volcanoes, Atitlán and Toliman.

...just me looking a little frazzled and this is early in the day. Well, it was a sort of not very restful night.

...beyond the volcano of San Pedro you can see the town of Santiago Atitlán.

...the restaurant in San Cristóbal de las Casas. Getting to come home to this kind of place is really just fine!

...main pedestrian way in San Cristóbal. Just after finally finding a hotel. City is packed this weekend. No special holiday, just summer vacations.

...the cathedral of San Cristóbal just at dusk with daylight and lights coming on. At night this is where a huge Mayan market takes place in the dark.

FOTOS....AROUND THE LAKE AND BACK

....on the boat on the way to Panajachel. Boat stops at most of the little towns and lets people off, takes on new passengers. Along the way there are some very wonderful looking villas/casa.

....here the hillside looks like it has been tended by a japanese gardener.

...houses perched on the cliffs with stairs down to the water. almost alpine in feel and then not.

...am assuming that somewhere up there amongst the trees in somebody's house. I will be glad to take the boat dock.

...docks at another town. sorry, forgot which one

...a town perched on the hillside.

...strange italianesque villas. go figure

....just beautiful and blue water typical of the lake even despite the heavy and constant rains.

...another garden of eden.
...the dock at the town of San Marcos

....leaving San Marcos.

FOTOS...MERCADO PANAJACHEL

...view from the pier in Panajachel back across the lake to San Pedro with the volcano of San Pedro topped off with clouds..as usual. Clouds over the volcano always meant rain is very soon for me.

...market stalls extending down to the lake. Carrying things on your head is a special talent and one sees it all the time. Usually they have a little cloth wound up and placed on the head and then the object to be carried. The huipile being worn by the woman carrying stuff on her head is actually from Santiago, not Panajachel. She's a foreigner!

....I believe these women by the looks of their huipiles are from Santa Catarina.

...typical mixture of Guatemalan and non Guatemalan wear you see especially with the men

...market fruits at Panajachel market

...more male traditional dress. these short pants are totally embroidered.

....caught after I learned to stay still and let them come to me. Again I think, given the huipiles and the head dress that these women are from Santa Catarina, next to Panajachel on the lake. These head pieces are a piece of velvet wound up with the hair and then tied to achieve the height in the front. These velvet colors against this beautiful jet black hair is fairly amazing.

....This is an entirely different thing. First of all the pants are long and embroidered from top to bottom, hand woven of course. And then he wears a sort of kilt thing that is woven from very heavy wool. You see this regularly up high in the mountains and very often worn without the pants.

...mother and daughter and tuk-tuks at the Panajachel market. Also notice how the seated woman is using her all purpose shawl to shade her from the sun. Also used to carry anything including babies, of course. And worn correctly otherwise folded and draped over one shoulder. The blue strips on her huipil would mean she is actually from Santiago.

...chiles in the sun and a basket and a most piece of hand woven fabric.

...rich, rich colors and patterns.

...beautiful Panajachel church. Feels sort of northern Italian to me

...whops I think she caught me. I was trying to hide across the narrow street. This is the typical head dress from Santiago which I referred to in the post on the festival in Santiago. It is simply a band of red felt wrapped and wrapped until it forms a disk. If you could see closer you would also see that she has one of the striped huipiles from Santiago with their flower and or animal embroidery around the neck. The combination of the graphic strips and then the fantastic floral/animal stuff is really interesting.