We were glad the fact that we could leave Guatemala town center and again once went it the mountains highly. The road fuhrte us direction the west toward 2800m and down there to the Lago Atitlan on 1600m, surrounded by volcanos. Here in the mountains there is to be many bandits and as we experienced one week before our arrival a Motorradfahrer to attack and was expenditure-robbed. On the road are very much police and military, until to the Zaehner arms. We reached however completely undisturbed the small city Panajachel on the bank of the Lago Atitlan, where we announced ourselves for two weeks Spanish course. Approximately around Pan live many foreigners, usually retired Americans, who live here many more cheaply than in the states. The city has 14,000 inhabitants and is eigendlich rather uninteresting. One does not have the feeling also at all that hierso many people live. There are a main street of full tourist business and the restaurants is expensive. Before the moisten business armed guards stand and at all are present in Guatemala for very much police. The first two days lived we in a hotel and are then to a family moves, where we could turn the motorcycles off surely in the garage, which was used now eigendlich as handle room. The family consisted however only of one older woman and two employees. We got three meals on the day and also September advice of the “family”, soda a whole rather pension character possessed, as becoming acquainted with the culture and way of life of the Guatemalesen, how it became to angepriesen from the school. In addition, that had the advantage that we had our peace, if we wanted that. In the morning we had o'clock instruction with our teacher Veronika in the garden of the language school always from eight to twelve. Under banana trees and coffee shrubs passed the four hours private instruction as in the flight. The afternoon or evening went usually for the house exercise drauf. With the school we undertook trips in the closer environment. We visited a small cave above the lake in a steep cliff, which is used of the Maya as victim place. Therein fires warden kindled and the Opfergaben, usually food or alcoholic beverages burned. Are also body lotions, which there are really for or against everything, like completely e.g. against to geschwaetzige women… Fire works are also much like and slam it in such a way constantly to each daily and nighttime. Once we were in a close nature reservation and over wobbly suspension bridges went it through the jungle. From Veronika we received also much over the life in Guatemala and on weekend carried forward them us on the birthday celebration of their nephew into the neighboring place Solala. There we became acquainted with also their three sons. On instruction-free Sunday we had to worry about our camping equipment, which had a general cleaning urgently necessarily. In dry mountain air and the strong sun everything dried very fast. The 10 days in Pan passed and with our again acquired Spanish knowledge made themselves rapid we on the way after Antigua, where we wanted to mount the active volcano Pacaja.
