Healthy breakfast at Hotel Modelo 14 Avenida A 2-31 zona 1, Quetzaltenango 09001.
Art in the hotel corridors.
Rafa in the hotel corridors.
The lobby with beautiful morning sun.
City Square. Yes, that is a McDonald's in the upper left. Yes, we ate there. I've now eaten at McDonald's in about 22 countries. Yes, I'm proud of that fact.
Here we are!
Antique map in the hotel vestibule.
Banco Agromercantil.
Steam from a volcano.
I FOUND HEAVEN . . . in the form of a bakery!
Peacock creampuffs.
Donas!
Crocodile!
Turtle!
Ham and cheese!
The Ionic pillars and The Kiosk, a stone rotunda that celebrates the national composer Rafael Álvarez Ovalle located at Parque a Centro América (Quetzaltenango Central Park.)
This park marks the heart of Quetzaltenango’s Centro Histórico (Historic Center). It was originally two gardens designed by Italian architect Alberto Porta, but was redesigned by Guatemalan architect Rafael Pérez in 1938.
It's a very small city center, but there is SO much to do in that small space, you can spend all day. Admire the 16th-century façade and revered image of Our Lady of the Rosary at the Catedral del Espíritu Santo de Quetzaltenango (Quetzaltenango Cathedral). Check out the grand neoclassical Municipalidad de Quetzaltenango (Town Hall) and the elegant Edificio Rivera.
Go to Pasaje Enríquez, a Renaissance-style arcade on the western side of the park. Visit the Museo de Historia Natural (Natural History Museum), situated in the Casa de la Cultura at the park’s southern edge. See displays of pre-Colombian ceramics and pottery in addition to historical exhibits about the Maya cultures.
After sunset the landmarks that encompass the square are spectacularly lit up by bright lights.
The city, seen from Cerro El Baul National Park.
Rafa will kill me for posting this. Ha ha!
Topiary at a gas station. Looks like a roadrunner chasing something!
Two of Rafa's favorite kinds of candy bar. Also at the gas station.
ANOTHER hotel. Porta del Lago at Panajachel.
Deep in the heart of volcano country!
Lago de Atitlan is in the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre mountain range in the Sololá Department of northern Guatemala. "Atitlan" means "at the water" in Nahuatl.
It is the deepest lake in Central America with a maximum depth of about 1120 feet and an average depth of 720 feet. Its surface area is 50.2 square miles.
It is technically an endorheic (a closed drainage basin that retains water) lake, feeding into two nearby rivers rather than draining into the ocean. It is shaped by deep surrounding escarpments and three volcanoes on its southern flank. The lake basin is volcanic in origin, filling an enormous caldera formed by an eruption 84,000 years ago. The culture of the towns and villages surrounding Lake Atitlán is influenced by the Maya people.
It is renowned as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world and is one of Guatemala's most important national and international tourist attractions. German explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt called it "the most beautiful lake in the world," and Aldous Huxley famously wrote of it in his 1934 travel book Beyond the Mexique Bay: "Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing."
Having now personally seen both, it's a tough competition.
Seen from the Space Shuttle. Volcán San Pedro is at the left of the image; Panajachel (where we stayed) is the largest white patch along the upper right shore. North is to the top of the image.
Another REALLY tall poinsettia.
Feeling a whole lot like Key West . . .
. . . and Margaritaville.
Rafa and Connie.
Alto = STOP. If you don't want to drive in to the lake!
View from the hotel balcony.
Ibid.
Evening walk to the waterfront for dinner.
Some fun with blue colorizing.
Rafa's best "The Rock" impersonation. Unintended.
And to bed!!
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