Articles by Juliette Giannesini
French woman in English Canada. Occasionally: speaks Mandarin or Spanish, bitches about the Canadian weather, writes left-wing rants, gives test to her students so that she can read the paper and have breakfast, speaks of cultural difference or goes backpacking across the world. And enjoys Canada as her new home.
¡Hola Honduras!
For the past few days, we’ve been discussing the best way to get to Honduras from Guatemala. We don’t know the country well even though we passed through it in 2001 and briefly took refuge there in 2003 because of the elections in Guatemala. Time to visit again and explore a bit more—we still have some time, 3 ½ weeks exactly.
Panajachel
Ten years ago, Panajachel was a chaotic village. The doorway to the Lago de Atitlan, it’s an obligatory stop. It was touristy, borderline tacky and slightly stressful.
Well, it hasn’t changed for the better.
Coffee, Jesús and the Lake
After following Jesus’ path for a short time (climbing to heaven was tiring), we went back to the lakeshore where we took the coffee path. Close to the Santiago dock, hundreds of coffee beans were been laid to dry on plastic sheet. On the other side of the lake, close to the Panajachel dock, we saw the actual beans, still on the trees. Of course, I took pictures, like the gringa I am.
Villages Around Lago de Atitlán
By the Panajachel dock, the water looked calm, but as soon as we reached the centre of the lake, the lancha was jerked around. I was seating at the front, trying to hold a blue plastic cover to protect me from the water. Nice try, but I was soaked by the time we arrived. No matter what you take, a bus, a car, a tuktuk or a boat, transportation is always an adventure here.
¿Y la comida?
A lot of you are curious about the food in Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. Rest assured: there is some and we are not starving. Quite the opposite actually.
El Lago de Atitlán
From Antigua, the ride to Panajachel took a couple of hours. It started raining mid-way and the van’s windows fogged up. I looked at the windshield: the road was blurred but for a tiny clean patch right in front of the driver’s eyes. Not that he cared about the lack of visibility: he was too busy chatting on his cellphone.
Chicken Buses and Jesús
I have this theory that the crazier the driver, the more “feel good” religious stickers and inscriptions the bus will have. And trust me, when said driver negotiates yet another sharp turn in a narrow mountain road, even an atheist like me is pretty happy to know that “God blesses this bus.”
Happy New Year, From Guatemala!
Happy New Year, aka “let’s blow shit up” day in Guatemala!
Antigua is well-known for its New Year parties and it didn’t disappoint. The town was packed with travelers and locals, mostly from Guate. Some family-friendly entertainment took place in the picturesque “Arch Street” but the rest of us were too busy playing with a lighter and firecrackers to stop and watch it.
