Our biggest adventure so far in San Pedro has to be ´The Indian Nose´ - a peak 2,251m (7,400ft) that overlooks the 7 volcanoes that can be seen across Lago de Atitlan and towards the east of Guatemala.
By a stroke of luck we bumped into some locals we´d met - Jack & wife Petra - just after we had bought two over-inflated tickets for a guide to take us up to the top of the peak. We were able to get our money back and take Jack up on his offer to be his inaugural clients on an overnight camp at the top!
We met at 3.30pm at Jack´s the next day, packed and set off in the back of a pick-up (didn´t I mention this excursion was somewhat more ´Glamping´ rather than camping?!), to the top of the road a "30 minute hike from the top" (although a hell of a lot more strenous in our unfit states!).
We got to the top by about 5.45pm, just in time to get a taster of what we might see at sunrise - the cloud came in pretty fast and treated us to a lightening display above the closest volcano.
Delicous soup, ´veg pockets´, sandwiches and a bit of rum helped get us off to an early bed. I woke the next morning at 4.30 (much to Vicks´ annoyance!)... 20 mins before sunrise.
It was truly breathtaking...
A quick breakfast, mainly strong coffee in rum-tasting beakers, and we decided to head back down. Just before packing up a local appeared and challenged Nicklaus (the owner & host on our trip) regarding whether it was his land (his conclusion being that we should pay HIM a fee!). Needless to say he didn´t get anywhere, so instead he sulked like a teenager and hung about pretending to look for something...
I don´t think he found what he was looking for...
The trip down was by pick-up of course... we´d done our hard climbing on the Madeira Volcano in Ometepe! A lovely journey and a lazy day followed...
P.S. I have to draw your attention to these chicks that Jack had...
a couple of lines and pictures I have nicked off the end of their blog....
The very apt tag line they've given the area when you consider that Lago de Atitlan sits at 1,560m (3,200ft) and is surrounded by three majestic volcanoes (2,252m or 7,400ft).
We arrived here a few days ago having spent a night in Guatemala City, and then 3 more in Antigua. We'd had a great few days enjoying the markets and seeing the sites and so we were ready for some adventure & relax in the mountains.
We first visited San Marcos which is the quietest of the small villages that surround the lake. Cheap too though and so we stayed in a lovely hotel and enjoyed some real quiet time. Breakfast was particularly fun as we could sit and watch the humming birds buzz around our head!
It became apparent after a couple of days that we were needing to move on from this hippy haven and find a place with at least a pulse. We headed for San Pedro, 20 mins across the lake and found yet another lovely hostel to stay in.
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