San Pedro La Laguna is located on Lake Atitlan’s shores at the base of the San Pedro volcano. The heart of Lake Atitlan, San Pedro, offers plenty for the weary traveler. Known as a backpacker’s paradise to the young of heart. In addition for those of us that just want to lay back and relax. There are plenty of options to do just that.
San Pedro’s downtown lakeshore area offers many options to the backpacker who visits and wants to cut loose a little. You will find bars and hostels complete with a party type atmosphere. Further away from the downtown core, the quieter it gets, and the more you are immersed in the local living.
Antigua To San Pedro Forms of Travel
Our short stay in Antigua was coming to an end, we needed to figure out transportation to get to San Pedro. There are really only three options, the first is to take a taxi, as you can imagine this is expensive. But it is also the quickest option.
Secondly, is to book a shuttle, which takes approximately 4 – 5 hours. Cost-effective, the positive! They don’t tell you about the shuttle because it drives all around town (Antigua), picking passengers up. So if you are the first picked up, you get a tour of the city for an hour before you actually leave. Unfortunately, this also adds to the time that you are stuck in the shuttle. Besides, the shuttle is loaded to capacity, meaning approximately 11 people fit into this sardine can. Poor air circulation adds to the experience, you’re lucky if the driver stops for a nature break on the way. Just keep telling yourself it’s cheap transportation. As you can probably guess, we took the shuttle.
Thirdly, is you can get to San Pedro by taking the chicken bus. Very cost-effective, yes, but it takes the longest as there are many stops. As the name may suggest, this is a local form of transportation. Expect to be crowded and very adventurist to the ordinary tourist. The drivers know one speed, fast. We thought of taking it while in San Pedro but were advised not to. Your option.
Getting to San Pedro From Antigua
Shuttle only have one thing on their mind, dropping you off and picking others up, so the speed is the key. Our shuttle was to take us to San Pedro directly. Other shuttles can take you to Panajachel and then take a boat across to San Pedro. I would not recommend this route as the road into Panajachel is extremely curvey. The boat crossing could be upsetting to some as you never know what the lake conditions will be like.
Our shuttle was to take approximately 4 1/2 hours from Antigua. Our driver was only concerned about getting there quickly, not passenger comfort. Consequently, after about 3 hours of driving, my wife was beside herself, needing to visit the lady’s room. Considering we had passed several potential locations in which she could have relieved the increasing pressure on her kidneys. Furthermore, tears had started to swell from the increased pain. In asking the driver to stop, his response was we are almost at our destination. My rebuttal to this was this is not a request but a necessity. The driver found a location that would serve the purpose of a restroom. After getting out of the shuttle, it was revealed that most passengers were also under similar discomfort as my wife. So speak up if the need arises.
Just outside San Pablo near Lake Atitlan that the road was closed due to road construction. We were told that there could be a 30-minute delay (actual was 6 hours). It was suggested that we take a TukTuk into San Marcos and catch the boat taxi across to San Pedro. So this is what we did.
Arriving In San Pedro
Arriving in San Pedro, we caught a local TukTuk that took us to our Airbnb stay. This was going to be home for the next 8 weeks, sort of. Initially, we’d stay 4-weeks, then a week in El Paredon (Guatemala’s Westcoast) followed by another week in Tikal and Flores. Then back to San Pedro for our last couple of weeks, which included Christmas and New Years’. After which, we were heading to Mexico. Starting point Mexico City, and then another 3 months exploring the Gulf of Mexico areas.
Our Airbnb accommodations a one-bedroom unit (Cedella’s Guesthouse #2) with a kitchen (stove with oven), living room, bathroom, and dining area. In addition, a large deck looked over Lake Atitlan. An incredible place to call home for a total of 6 weeks.
Our guesthouse was located approximately 2 km from downtown San Pedro. The location was ideal as it was quiet, away from town noise, and a nice walk to downtown. We are a couple that likes to walk; we try to get a minimum of 10,000 steps a day. San Pedro added another level of activity as it has very steep streets. We’re always going either up or down; it’s was easy to get 10+ floors in a day (we use Samsung Gear Sport watches to track our activity).
San Pedro The Center Of Lake Atitlan
Having settled into San Pedro it was time to make time and explore some of the other towns on the lakeshore and see what they had to offer. San Pedro can be considered the center of Lake Atitlan as you can get anywhere from here. Hop a boat and go experience somewhere new for the day or longer if that is what suits you.
Panajachel
Panajachel (Pana for short) is known as a tourist town. Larger than San Pedro it offers more for the tourist, shopping, excursions. We only visited Pana for the day and found it an interesting place but too busy for our liking.
San Juan La Laguna
We heard of San Juan from our Indian Nose tour guide Matt’s Geo Travel; he told us that it had an excellent weaving demonstration at one of the local Co-ops CASA FLOR IXCACO. San Juan is a very laid back community strong in its Mayan heritage. Beautiful murals painted on the sides of downtown buildings tell of Mayan stories. San Juan is a good hike from San Pedro as well, which we made several times, including a hill that leads to San Pedro, an excellent workout.
Santiago
Santiago is a short boat ride from San Pedro. We spent a day there viewing the town with its church and the local Mercado. It was told that the Mayan men of Santiago are the best dressed in beautiful pants; they do not like to have their pictures taken.
Scorpion in the bed Story
Traveling and living in countries that have warmer climates than our own you never know what kind of creature you might end sharing space with. One evening I was reading a blog about a woman’s experience at a hostel in San Pedro. This particular part of her blog told about an encounter she had with a scorpion. Evidently, she was stung several times in the leg while in bed.
This woman went into great detail about this scorpion sting along with her anxiety about the consequences of being stung. Her story was hilarious and her attention to detail painted a picture of every aspect as she told it. Telling about her incredible pain, concern over her life or death paralyzes, and the fact that she knew nobody there that could help.
Finishing the story and relaying the details to my wife, I turned to notice a scorpion crawling across the floor of our living room. With a dustpan and broom, I quickly took care of our intruder. Thinking what an odd coincidence after just reading about a scorpion.
Shortly thereafter it was time for us to go to sleep ourselves. Early the next morning I was awakened by Cindy shrieking and convinced that she had been stung in the leg. We talked about what she had thought could have been a scorpion sting. Within a short time, Cindy had calmed down as it was more the story of the scorpion than actually getting stung by one.
Scorpion Reveals Itself
After getting out of bed, we decided to change the sheets to be safe and reassure Cindy that there was nothing to be concerned about. No scorpion here, I was certain. Well, sure enough, after removing the bedsheet, low and behold, we had our own scorpion in the bed story. This scorpion was indeed on Cindy’s side of the bed. Needless to say, the bed was checked for critters on a nightly basis for the next week or so. So be careful what you laugh at; it may come back and bite you in the ass. Here is a picture of the scorpion, not the best, but the priority was to take care of the present situation.
A follow up to this scorpion story is that we ended up with a similar experience in El Paredon. You can never be too careful
Mercado
Once settled into our apartment, we needed to find the market (Mercado). Talking to our host Maria, we got directions to the Mercado. Shopping at the local market is something that both Cindy and I enjoy. Simply put, it’s quality and the freshness of the vegetables, meats including seafood. In addition to the vibrant colors, different varieties of fruit, vegetables, and the smells (this one can be tough, I’ll admit).
Finding the Mercado, we needed a little help from a local, but we were close. Our initial purchases included produce and meats (pork chops, chicken, hamburger, chorizo). Well, the only meat we repurchased at the Mercado after our first purchase was the pork chops as they were delicious. The hamburger meat had an off taste to it, the chorizo was not good and the chicken was a tough old bird that resembled more shoe leather than chicken. The fruit and vegetables were fresh, plentiful, and tasty.
Mercado is an interesting place to people watch. Seeing the girls and women dressed in traditional Mayan clothing was beautiful. In society today, this is rare; most youth rebel against anything and everything. Walking down the streets, you see women with baskets on their heads carrying their wares or the staples they had picked up at the Mercado. You see the young up to the very old at the Mercado. Traditions are nice to see.
Orange Juice Lady
Walking the San Pedro streets was a constant pastime of ours as we needed to fill our days with activities. In town, you would find Mayan women selling fresh, squeezed orange juice. Although we were never really sold on the juice until one day we had no bottled water with us, we decided to give it a try.
This sweet older Mayan lady was selling freshly squeezed orange juice, so we bought a cup and thoroughly enjoyed the taste. The juice was refreshing, sweet-tasting, and truly a delight. Consequently, we were hooked; we switched to the 1-liter size. That way, we could take it home and enjoy it with our breakfast.
There are several places in San Pedro where you can buy fresh-squeezed orange juice. Besides, we had established a connection with our juice lady, so it was hard to go anywhere else. The orange juice lady had a partner that sold smoothies; it wasn’t long before we would stop for a refreshing smoothie. Just goes to say that you never know what you’re missing until you try it.
Pappas Fritas (French fries) & Cerveza
What’s a trip to town without stopping at your favorite watering hole for an order of Pappas Fritas and Cerveza or Cuba Libra. Our favorite place for a mid-afternoon Cerveza was a little hole in the wall called Jakku; it seemed like a place where locals liked to hang out.
Order of Pappas Fritas (french fries) at Jakuu is the best anywhere that I have experienced. In addition to a couple of Cervezas or Cuba Libras, you are on top of the world, literally. The plate of fries is large, enough for two, always heaped and freshly cooked. Just like the homemade fries, my mom used to make, but sorry to say better (sorry mom).
Furthermore, Guatemala has this green sauce called Picamas. Let me say that this Picamas sauce adds another level of heaven to these french fries. I now know what people who eat ketchup feel like as this Picamas adds that bit of zing that adds to everything it’s added to. We would use that Picamas hot sauce like ketchup, giving the French fries a nice zing. We wanted to buy some to bring home, but because we are backpacking, we didn’t want to pack it around everywhere we go as this was the beginning of our time away. P.S. once we got to Mexico, we found out that you can only get it in Guatemala!
New Years Eve
On New Years’ Eve, Greg and I were on one of our walks around town and stumbled upon a parade. People dressed in costumes danced down the street at the far end of the market. They were dressed in the day of the dead, misc characters, superheroes, etc… They danced up and down the street to loud music while the community watched on. After about 20 – 30 minutes, they moved on to a different part of town.
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Recommended Travel Essential
Cindy and I call ourselves nomadic so with this lifestyle, we use certain essentials to make this way of life easier and more comfortable. With this in mind, we have composed a list of what we feel are essentials and some tips you might use to plan or take your next travel adventure.
- Travel Packing Essentials to help organize and make this task less stressful
- Travel Safety Essentials to make your life on the road a little safer, giving you peace of mind
- Living Essentials to make life a little more comfortable, be this resting, working, or playing.
Accommodation Options While Traveling The World
- Booking.com is one of our go to’s when we are looking for a place to stay for a couple of days or longer
- Agoda.com we find is best to use when in Southeast Asia, but hey you never know what you might find
- Airbnb.com used to be our go-to but some of their cancelation policies are reasonable, give them a try as well
Travel Insurance
We always travel with some sort of travel Insurance be it just medical or complete trip coverage. We use Heymondo as we find their costs reasonable. Remember don’t travel and without coverage, the savings are not worth the possible costs.
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