Western Highlands Travel Guide

Trippin - a great hostel - cheap, nice people San Pedro is a great place - nice, friendly and open people. Good Food in most of the restaurants Buddha Bar - has good food and a good place to hang out

Panajachel was great! We timed our visit just right to see the Festival for Saint Francis of Assisi, which was one of the most impressive fireworks displays I have ever seen, mostly for its enthusiasm and uniqueness. You can take a boat trip to all the different towns around the lake. It is lots of fun, beautiful scenery and each town is unique. You get the best rate for the boat trip at the door of the boat on the docks. So don't bother with the travel agencies on the main street. What is good with the travel agencies though, is they arrange a mini bus to take you to the Chichicastenango markets, keep your bags on the bus while you wander the markets for a few hours and then drive you on to Antigua. This is a great way to do it if you are on a time limit. Otherwise, the local buses will be a lot cheaper. We stayed at Mario's Casa (maybe not that name but similar.) There was a beautiful flowery courtyard and the rooms were nice, but the shared shower was a little iffy. The owner however was one of the friendliest people we have ever met. Even though we don't speak Spanish and he didn't speak English we seemed to understant each other easily. We thought the festival was over and came back but it turned out it was still leading up to the finale, he explained this to us and told us we could make it if we ran, and then he waited up for us so he could lock the door when we came in. Really went out of his way to be nice to us so definitly stay there. If I remember the name properly I will re-post it.

Although intimidating, this little stop on the bus route to Guatamala city, is well worth it, a quiet small boarder town with amazing welcoming people (close your eyes to the guns), stay with a family and learn Spannish here, local food is great, hospitality is wonderful, and i got a real kick out of visiting the cemetery, i'd never seen such a bright and happy place to bury your loved ones. It is dangerous, don't go out after dark, take a small easy to conceal camera, i used the pocket digital camera mostly, until we went out with my host family, i took my SLR.