Tuk Tuk Tourin'

One morning, we hopped in a tuk tuk and took a trip to the next two towns down the road, Santa Catarina and San Antonio.  They are much smaller than Panajachel and they have retained more of their indigenous roots.  The road to get there winds along the mountain side with incredible views of the lake, towns and the volcanos.  

Our tuk-tuk driver/tour guide, Manuel, was awesome and he took us to some pretty cool places that I don't think the standard tours include.  

We did however take advantage of some of the awesome touristy activities, like getting dressed up in the typical clothes of the town.  Each town around the lake has their own color and style.  In some of the smaller towns, every woman from small girls to old ladies still wear the traditional clothing.  Not many men do anymore but that didn't stop our old lady from dressing Brett up.

It's a pretty great sales tactic.  Sure they say "Sin compromiso" but once Kaytie was all dressed up and everyone including our tuk-tuk driver saying how beautiful she was, it was hard not to buy the whole outfit.  There were no mirrors and she couldn't see how great she looked, so she declined.  I was actually a little disappointed.

Manuel also knows the guys that have the best window office in all of Atitlan.  He took us down a stone staircase into a small ceramics factory set on the side of a hill.  These dudes were incredibly talented and they ship their art to galleries and shops all over Guatemala and many places in the US as well. 

The trip wasn't all views, ceramics and dress-ups.  At one point on the way back during a particularly remote part of the road our tuk tuk driver said "Tenemos una problema..."  He then started to pull off to the side.  For a split second I thought, Oh great, here it comes.  Manuel is going to rob us.  Then I remembered that Manuel was awesome and there was no way he'd be the first one to rob us in Central America.  It turned out to just be a flat front tire.  So what do you do when you're a long walk away from a town and the front tire goes flat on your tuk-tuk?  In the US, you call roadside assistance but in Guatemala, you swap out the front wheel for one of the rears and you continue on your way!