Last Saturday we went on a 40 kilometer hike from Xela to San Marcos. It took 2 and a half days. We carried our big packs with us and it was extremely challenging for all of us. The first night we slept at a campsite in tents. The next night we slept in an empty house that the trekking company supplied for us. The third morning we woke up at five o´clock to hike up to an overlook to watch the sunrise over Lake Atitlan. It was one of the most beautiful things we have ever seen. We hiked down and arrive in San Pedro around 11 AM. From San Pedro we took a boat over to San Marcos. All of us were exhausted by the time we got there but were so surprised by San Marcos. San Marcos is a little hippie town with barely any cars. It was filled with tourists and lots and lots of yoga. All of us spent our days choosing our own activities for the day. We did yoga, laughing yoga, stained glass art, jewlery making, modern dance, meditation and at night some of us used the sauna at our hotel. Our hotel was called La Paz which means peace in spanish. The name explains our entire stay in San Marcos. We also spent days lounging on the beach and swimming in Lake Atilla. It was absolutely gorgeous every day that we were there. Our week in San Marcos went by way too fast and we were all sad to leave. We left this Saturday morning at 5 AM and took a bus to Antigua. Once we arrived we traveled to an active volcano and roasted marshmellows over the lava! It was incredible. We are staying in Antigua for one night and we leave for Nicaragua tomorrow morning at 5 Am. Our time in Guatemala has gone by so fast and we can´t wait to see what Nicaragua has in store for us.
Here is some trivia
Hotel Acculax in San Marcos is made mostly of stained glass. Some students used the same method with paper mache.
There are over 300 volcanos in Central America, but only 3 are active. One of them is the one we went to today called Pacaya. Once the airport in Guatemala City was closed for 3 days because the volcano erupted and there was ash everywhere.
