Last year during the week of Thanksgiving right before Black Friday Avianca had some amazing flight deals (where I bought 3 tickets) and this trip was one of the deals I booked. If you didn’t already know I’ve been to Guatemala before back in February 2022 and I stayed in Guatemala City and Antigua and really enjoyed my trip. Guatemala has easily become one of my top 5 places that I’ve been to so far. One place that I didn’t get to check out that I heard so much about was Lake Atitlán so I’m back to experience it. The ticket was $153 roundtrip nonstop which is a steal so I didn’t hesitate to book it.

     I booked it for October thinking I’d probably be ready for a vacation around this time and I am (but I also have 2 more coming up within a little over a month and they’re back-to-back). Needless to say this trip has been booked for nearly a year. Excited to be returning to Guatemala I checked the weather and packed accordingly. Now is the rainy season but often with Central American countries it won’t rain all day (just a portion).

     With an early morning flight out of Dulles (that’s a caveat of cheap flights, there’s usually some sort of catch or maybe an inconvenience but I don’t mind early morning flights if the price is right) I was at my gate in time for the 2:35am departure. I was so happy I was given a window seat and had the entire row so of course I was spread across the entire row (the flight was about 70% full). You’d think I would’ve slept ok…I didn’t; there was a child right behind me doing what children do. I managed to dose off a few times but I’ve gotten much better sleep before on planes.

     With only 4 hours and 30 minutes of flight time it seemed as though we arrived quickly and because it was so early it was easy getting through Immigration. I made my way to my pick-up point as a shuttle was going to pick me up from the airport at 6am and take me to San Pedro La Laguna (near the lake) which would be about a 5 hour drive with 2 stops. I met up with the driver and off we went to pick up 2 others before heading to Antigua. I remember the drive to Antigua so I felt ok nodding off to sleep. The driver was booking it though because we seemed to arrive in Antigua quickly.

   There was lite rain in the city and just sprinkles in Antigua. We stopped there as a transfer point and would have to transfer shuttles. We had an hour and a half to roam (I thought an hour and thought I had missed the shuttle but didn’t) so I went and got coffee and went to the ATM. The next shuttle left at 8:30am and there were different and more people on it (4). This ride took a while and you would’ve thought the driver was driving a train. I stayed awake for most of that journey.

     We stopped at a gas station where one guy got off who was going to Panajachel and he transfered shuttles and we continued on. Passing by on the road I saw dogs, cows, horses and chickens. The roads are winding here a lot and I’m glad this wasn’t a drive I had to do. Visibility due to fog wasn’t so great sometimes either as we seemed to go up and down through the mountains. After a long journey we were finally at our destination point and the weather was decent.

     After getting my bearings I stumbled upon some travel agencies and signed up for another tour tomorrow. I ended up having trouble finding my Airbnb as the location on the site was not the same that my host Bany seemed to be giving me. Thankfully my host came to pick me up on a moped and I rode on the back of a moped (1st time). Where the house actually is is across from where I was and I wouldn’t have found it.

     My room looks exactly like the photos with a first class view of Lake Atitlán. I settled in and booked a flight for Bonaire for February next year (if you follow my Traveler’s Montage Instagram page you’d know I posted a flight deal I found for that today and I was debating if I’d buy a ticket). Some things don’t change as I will often book future trips while on trips. I ate some of the pita sandwich I brought from home with me while I took some time to unwind (what I don’t finish will be for dinner). I decided to stay in for the rest of the day to let my body catch up from all the traveling. Tomorrow looks busy with things to do.