Lago de Atitlan is located in southwestern Guatemala and according to Maya legend, is one of the lakes that marked the corners of the world. The present-day shape of the lake was formed around 30,000 – 40,000 years ago when the double-coned Santiago volcanoes formed. The local museum says the lake is a volcanic cauldron created by the fast drainage of a large amount of magma. Our beautiful campsite in the city of Panajachel is located on the edge of Lago de Atitlan. We are parked in a large grassy field on the grounds of a beautiful hotel with a pool that has great potential. It is just far enough outside the bustling city to have a wonderful sense of peace to it. Our view consists of several volcanoes on the other side of the lake firmly standing guard, creating an unforgettable silhouette against the sky. They provide an immaculate backdrop for the lightning shows that present themselves every night. Sometimes the lightning is so rapid; it looks like there is a disco ball outside! The cooling altitude of Lago de Atitlan makes the mornings refreshingly crisp while the days easily warm up under the strong sun. (Read on …)

We left Placencia around 9:30 and started our trek north to the Mexican border.  It was Friday morning and we cross on weekdays in case there are any issues with the dogs that need to be resolved with an office that isn’t open on weekends.  Although there were still some major potholes and muddy washed out parts of the road, the dirt road leaving Placencia wasn’t as bad as we were expecting.  It’s all of about 23 miles and it took us two hours!  As soon as we hit pavement we figured we might actually make it to the border in time!  We were only about 2 hours from the border when we passed through an inspection on a key intersection turning onto the Northern Belizean Highway.  Aaron wasn’t wearing his seatbelt and the officer told him it’s required in Belize and that he was going to issue him a ticket.  Aaron handed him his license and then walked back to the roadside “office” with the officer.