Panajachel, my new home

View from the shore of Panajachel

Panajachel , or “Pana” as it is called by most of its inhabitants, is Kaquchikel for “place of the Matsanos.” The Matasona is a fruit tree native to Lake Atitlan, which is supposed to have healing powers for diarrhea, fever, burns, and even heart disease. The town has roughly 11,000 inhabitants. Panajachel is indeed a multicultural town. Matter-of-fact, it has been dubbed Gringotenango for the heavy tourist traffic and many restaurants and hotels run by Westerners. Indigenous, Ladinos (descendants of Spanish conquistadors), ex-pats who came here as early as the 1960’s, missionaries, and tourists who are mostly North American and European all live here and co-exist peacefully. In contrast to the many small towns around Lake Atitlan, Panajachel has a marked international flavor, but it is still in many ways a Maya community. It is not an architecturally aesthetic town, probably due to its rapid commercial development. But it is the launch pad for anyone eager to take a boat to the 13 indigenous villages located around the lake and it offers many modern conveniences in its hotels, such as hot water and internet.

I first stayed in a hotel called “El Chaparrel” located on Calle Santander, the main drag, for only 20 dollars a night with wireless internet access. I then thought I had found the place I could rent until the end of my stay June 17^th, but the packs of stray dogs that congregated in an open field to one side of the apartment and then commenced to give a midnight concert that lasted all night and the rooster that began crowing at 4:00 AM on the other side of apartment made my long-term rental impossible. I was out of there in two days, suffering from profound sleep deficit.

Calle Santander, the main drag in Pana. Notice the tuk-tuk in the middle of the road. These little moto-taxis are ubiquitous in Guatemala. They are actually produced in Thailand.
It only costs 5 Quetzales (75 cents) to take one to any location in town.

The main street in Panajachel.
They began digging it up with no end in sight which caused a street protest.

I moved into a bed and breakfast place called Los Encuentros which is run by renown author and Latin American researcher Richard Morgan Szybist. He has written three books, two of which are displayed in all bookstores in Guatemala: “The Lake Atitlan Reference Guide” and “Fables & Other Mayan Tales of Atitlan.” For more on Richard Morgan and his interesting work in Guatemala, please click on: http://www.adventurestudy.com/

Richard Morgan Szybist and I at Los Encuentros

Los Encuentros, my home for my first month in Panajachel

Here I will stay until I move into a house at the end of January. His bed and breakfast only consists of five rooms. However, he is in the process of building bigger accommodations. Los Encuentos is a delightful place to stay with an impressive herbal garden in its center. The biggest plus, however, is Richard who is happy to converse with his guests and tell them ANYTHING about Guatemala and his own extraordinary life adventures. Breakfast (Richard makes the best coffee in Pana) is included as well as a hot tub and sauna. The only setback is a dog that persistently barks close by the vicinity throughout the night. Dogs in Guatemala are a whole chapter in itself, which I will comment on in another entry.

German restaurant in Panajachel with German Consulate next to it

Panajachel boat landing