Leisure In and Around San Pedro

With classes at Cooperativa Language School being the focus of our weekdays, we fill in the remaining chunks of our weekdays with kid-friendly activities and the few errands we need to do locally.  Visiting la cancha (the public basketball court) in the center of town is an almost-daily routine.  Often Baxter and Atticus start a pick-up game of basketball at a hoop on the side of the basketball court while another group of kids is playing a half-court game on one of the main hoops.  To boot, during the busier times there are up to three soccer games transpiring simultaneously in the same space.  The chaos seemed crazy at first and though we still get beaned by the occasionally errant soccer ball, we’ve learned to take it all in stride just as the locals do when they pass through la cancha area to get from the market to the park.

But the majority of our leisure comes on the weekends when we have a break from our Spanish lessons.  Baxter and Atticus have routinely started their Saturdays with basketball practice run by our host Mauricio.  An hour of drills is followed by 30 minutes of scrimmages.  Our boys excitedly don their red or yellow bibs and put into practice what they’ve learned.

Baxter represents the red team as Coach Mauricio looks on.

On the first weekend, we explored a bit around town but also enjoyed a visit to Playa Dorada—a local small beach—via horseback.

A horse for each of us.

Though the tour group we chose for the horseback tour was recommended via online reviews, we were a little disappointed when the tour operator passed us off to our “guide” who got us on horses and then passed us off to a teenager who rode his bike or walked along side us for the duration of the horseback ride.  The boys were quite amused with their first real horseback ride even as Shelly was a bit terrified leading the way through the narrow streets alongside motorcycles and tuk-tuks and then the rocky path up the final hill.

The boys left their steeds atop the hill and ran down to the beach.

The beach was narrow but that didn’t stop the boys from having a great time digging in the black sand and discovering shells.  Evidently, the water level of the lake is a few feet higher than it used to be which means most of the beaches (and some houses) around the lake are underwater.

A fun break on the horseback tour.

A week later, we took our first voyage across the lake in a shuttle boat destined for the biggest town on Lake Atitlan: Panajachel.  As the boat only leaves the dock when it has 12 or more paying passengers aboard, we were glad to only wait a few minutes both going and returning.  The 30-minute ride across the lake was scenic and especially enjoyable for our boys.

Shelly and the boys pose on the dock in Panajachel.

Beautiful way to traverse the lake.

Panajachel is the most tourist-oriented town on the lake thanks to its relative proximity to Guatemala City and ease of driving access.  In retrospect it might have made more sense for us to drive to Panajachel and then board the shuttle boat to San Pedro upon our initial arrival in Guatemala rather than the harrowing drive circumnavigating the lake.

While in Panajachel, we briefly visited the famed Calle de Santander touristy strip of street vendors and enjoyed a meal at an outdoor cafe.   But the majority of our time we spent at a beautiful hotel enjoying the pool, trampoline, and even some television in the room.  Boys were excited to watch New Hampshire's Bode Miller claim a medal in olympic skiing while we watched.  A truly hot shower with strong water pressure seemed like a luxury.

View of Santiago and San Pedro volcanoes from near the hotel.

A bit more luxurious than our daily digs.

On upcoming weekends, we're entertaining other types of leisure. Paragliding. Zip-line tours.  Yoga classes.  Volcano hikes.  Boat tours to other lake towns.  Or perhaps we travel a bit further to Antigua or another Guatemalan destination for a couple days.  What would you do with your leisure time if you were here?  Whatever we do, it can only start after Saturday morning basketball practice!