Just to conclude the exciting find-a-Subaru-window-in-Guatemala story, next day, turned out the people from the shop in little mechanic-central Chimaltenango drove all the way to Guatemala City to find out they didn´t have the correct window. For less money, and fairly quickly, they constructed a window for us made from acrylic. It took a little longer than they expected, the explained with big proud grins, after it was done, because they actually installed it so the window would still go up and down. So cool. Snowball has a fight scar now to give him street cred.
From there, we did the windy, mountainous, gorgeous drive to Panajachel, one of many towns on the sparkling Lago de Atitlan. This huge lake rests in the collapsed cone of a dormant volcano and is surrounded on all sides by dramatic mountains and volcanoes.
The town is Guatemalan craft central. I´ve never seen so much color in one place. Guatemalan crafts - blankets, clothes, scarves, bags, hats, etc. are the most astonishingly pretty and colorful I´ve ever seen. Walking slowly up and down the cobblestone streets, it´s hard to decide where to look - at the beautiful smiling people dressed from head to toe in color, the open stalls packed with crafts for sale, the stunning lake, or the ground so I don´t trip and fall over a dog or a loose stone. We alternated between staring at the lake over drinks and shopping until we could drop. Stayed just two days; any longer and we would have spent the entire remainder of our money.
From there another stunning drive up into the clouds and back down into Queltzaltenango (also known by its abbreviated Mayan name, Xela), a big city surrounded by beautiful hills. We met a woman from Minnesota last night working in bar/restaurant and she called this city the San Francisco of Guatemala - referring to both the steep angle of the streets and, apparently, the liberal-mindedness of the people.
Fun place so far, it looks like the absolutely perfect place to have started and learnt Spanish. Lots of schools, a city with lots to do, and cheap long-term places to stay. I guess we did this backwards. Ah well, backwards or forwards, we´re loving Guatemala - the people, the weather, the sights, the variety of topography. This is a great town, but probably our last in Guatemala, so we´ll probably linger a bit.
Next major stop, Oaxaca ... because we haven´t gotten into enough trouble yet.
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