Guatemala: Spanish at Lake Atitlán & Volcano Pacaya adventure

The border crossing into Guatemala was easy going. Similar to entering Mexico there is a lot of going back and forth to different offices (see our border crossing guide for further details). The customs officers were really friendly and even gave us a map of Guatemala. After 2 hours we were ready to enter the country!

So far we had survived a month in Mexico with the only Spanish knowledge being how to order tacos “Cinco (tacos) con todos por favor, carnal! – and of course  “una cerveza por favor”. It was time to go and learn some Spanish!

Lake Atitlán is known for it’s many Spanish schools and is said to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, similar to Lake Como in Italy. The villages around the lake are inhabited by Mayan people and the women wear colorful traditional dresses. The ride down to the lake was a fun one! Amazing views with an extremely curvy road with heaps of switchbacks and loads of potholes. We stayed in the small town of San Pedro for a week and studied Spanish at the Community Spanish School right by the lakeside. Days were spent with 4 hours two-on-one lessons and chilling out in the afternoon, shopping at the local market and cooking. It was great to be stationary after months of traveling.

Leaving Lake Atitlan we took backroads heading to Antigua, riding through small villages and along unpaved roads.
In Antigua we meet up with Greg, a fellow WR-rider and were invited to stay at his place. Antigua is surrounded by volcanoes and so the plan was to hike Volcano Pacaya together. This volcano has been active for the last 4 months and if lucky, you can see the lava flushing out of the crater. We hiked for 2 hours to the bottom of the volcano and set up camp for the night. At 4 o’clock in the morning we hiked up to the crater – it was a steep hike up through loose volcanic rocks, in extreme winds and fog. At the top the fog blew away for a few seconds –  just long enough to get a glimpse of the volcano erupting and lava spraying out of the crater only 150 meters away! Goosebumps and a memory for a lifetime!