Crowded Beach or Stay Home?

photo by:  Estuard

Puerto San José, Guatemala

on the Pacific Ocean

I am sure glad we stayed home this week.  Many people make their way to the beaches on the Pacific side, the Caribbean coast or even the mountains and lakes such like Lake Atitlán.  We decided to stay home.

This has been Holy Week.  Things start shutting down on Wednesday and virtually everything is closed by Friday, with just gasoline stations and a few fast food restaurants open for part of the day, closing by 3pm.  The streets are virtually empty.

Glenn and I always try to take the opportunity to "explore" our city and learn new locations that we would normally not go to.  Thursday, we decided to drive to the end of San Juan Ave.  Just before the end of the road, we made a sharp turn to the left that took us up and up over the mountain on a small winding road.  We noticed there were lots of furniture stores along the way.  (We learned later, this is the Guatemala Furniture capital).  

We made our way up to San Pedro Sacatepequez.  Instead of driving back the same way, we learned there was a road that was supposed to connect to San Lucas, Sacatepequez.  We were told it was only 5 kms away.  Hello - as the crow flies!  So, continuing along the ridge on the mountain road, we headed northwest.  Just 1 hour later, we were finally back on CA-1, the Panamerican Highway.  Along the winding road, we came across several other small Indian villages which were also celebrating the Easter Holiday.  There were a few small processions.

Friday, Glenn and I discovered some other communities.  Because of the holiday, many of the "communities" guard houses were unattended, so we were able to make our way into some nice areas.

~J