The Guatemalan Chronicles - Rest of the trip in pictures

Click here to see all posts in the Guatemalan Chronicles

I'm taking the lazy way out: the rest of my Guatemala trip will be displayed in the pictures below. I figure I've stretched this out for long enough.

I'll say it again, though: it was an awesome trip, from start to finish (minus the whole baggage kerfuffle at MEX).

Anyone who wants to do the sailfishing-in-Guatemala thing should definitely contact Captain Tom Boice (@panamaxsailfish) at Panamax Sailfishing.

And you couldn't have asked for a better crew to fish with than Jon from iFished.com and Salty from SoCal Salty, so if they organize another trip, just go!

Note that I took all of my pics on the trip with the Instagram app on my iPod. A few of my faves that have already been posted are included in this batch, too.

Captain Tom & the Que Vela! at sunrise

Jon at the helm

Volcanoes remain "cool" to me

Jon's sailfish...after it bit him

Damage from the sailfish "bite"

My rig, locked & loaded. Spent 1.5 hours at the ready on 1st day of fishing

Sailfish on Instagram = awesome

Salty drawing a crowd

Salty with another satisfied street merchant

Salty must have oozed "rich Yanqui" while out & about :P

Volcano & Lake Atitlan, Panajachel

Local fisherman on Lake Atitlan 

The previously mentioned 'Best Goddamned Coffee Shop Anywhere"

Mural on outside wall of Crossroads Cafe, Panajachel

The best friggin' hairstyle in Guatemala, bar none...

World-famous Latin American chicken buses...

...all pimped out

Salty is a fan of the harp, apparently

'da boyz, loitering in the central square in Antigua

Street musicians in Antigua

Antigua, Guatemala

and again...

Sinatra on tour? Nope, just Salty, lovin' life! (Jealous of that hat, btw)

A persistent seller of 'fine' handcrafted (&slightly used) flutes 

Pic of the dorado, via Salty's camera, which looked Instagram-y

And that's it, folks. Hopefully there will be another awesome adventure to drag out over three weeks of blog posts coming again soon!

Keep it real.

Mat

The Guatemalan Chronicles - Day 5

Click here to read the previous posts in The Guatemalan Chronicles.


After our second day of fishing was done, our heroes of the saga piled their gear & themselves into a minibus and headed up into the mountains to Panajachel.

Jon from iFished.com used his local connections (i.e., Mrs iFished) to set Salty & I up in a nice local hotel for the next few nights. It cost $30USD...for three nights. Awesome.

After checking in, we set out for a late meal at Pupuseria Chero's, which was absolutely delicious. And cheap. Like, 34 Quetzals cheap...about $4.35USD. Awesome.

The "legendary" broken tip

Sunset on the drive to Panajachel

It was a nice conclusion to an awesome day of fishing.

The next morning, we headed over to Chichicastenango to their giant outdoor market. It was sort of intense...and I felt like a giant there, as the average height of the local folk is apparently 5'2" (Salty should have felt like Godzilla).

Someone has coffee growing in their yard. I'm jealous.

Coffee

Market day in Chichicastenango

After picking up some ingredients for our epic meal time to be held later that evening, we piled back into Fish Allen's car and headed back to Panajachel. In Pana, we ate at Chero's (again!) and then proceeded to visit...

THE BEST GODDAMNED COFFEE SHOP ANYWHERE!

(this deserves it's own post...and will get it)

But for now, here are a few more pics of Panajachel.

GODZILLA! Or, no, it's just Salty!

Street merchants saw Salty coming from a mile away...

...and not just because he's tall!

Lake Atitlan & a volcano across the way

The spread at the greatest tweet-up ever held 

The foyer at our hotel

More to come...including the story about THE BEST GODDAMNED COFFEE SHOP ANYWHERE!