Aspiring Travel-Writer

An alternative road is being prepared as an option for entering the Lake Atitlan basin through Sololá. From Sololá you take the normal road down to San Jorge where you go down through the ‘Jaibal finca’, an old school coffee farm, to the shores of the lake from where you can take a 5 minute boat ride to Panajachel.

ALTERNATE ROUTES Guatemala – Panajachel: All alternative routes will be properly marked. The PNC (Police) supported by the army will provide permanent security on these routes:

- Take the road to Las Trampas to reach Las Cruces-San Andres Semetabaj and to Panajachel.
- Via Patzun to reach Godinez and then to Panajachel
- The road to Escuintla-Cocales-Godinez and then Panajachel
- And via Sololá – San Jorge La Laguna to the Jaybal beach. Private boats as well as Municipality boats, identified with banners and stickers, will pick up passengers to bring them to Panajachel.

Fuente: la Muni de Panajachel y Hotel Atitlan.

Forum Discution: www.inxela.com/forum

DON’T USE “5B” ATMs NEAR PARQUE CENTRAL.

In fact, maybe you’d be better off not to use ATMs near Parque Central at all, but the ones we’ve heard of people getting their card cloned from are the 5B ones.

Be careful!

Chingá A Tu Cuate: This is the Latin-American name for what we in the states call Cutthroat. Three-player game where each player has 5 balls, (1-5, 6-10, and 11-15). If your 5 balls are pocketed, you are out. Pocket anything and get another turn. José dice que tenés que meter las bolas de tus enemigos antes de que te chinguen. Translated: you have to sink your enemies’ balls before they screw you over.

Bola Ocho: Eight ball. Special Guatemalan rule: you have to sink the eight ball in whichever pocket you sink your last ball in. Makes the game really difficult if you put your last ball in a side pocket. Other than that it is pretty close to standard American bar rules, though many Guatemalans play that you have to call all your shots.

Uno-Quince: You can only hit and pocket either the lowest or highest number ball on the table. Each ball is worth its number in points. Whoever gets to 61 first wins.

Uno-Corrido: Scored the same as uno-quince, but you always have to hit the lowest number ball on the table.

Then we come to “XELAMAP” a ‘monthly map’ that combines one of the better works of cartography with useful tourist info, such as events, hikes, Guatemalan slang, travel information and more. Think foldable XelaWho, only with a map that’s actually useful. So how does that saying go…isn’t it “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?” No worries, folks, no bloody feuds will be ensuing among us publications that shamelessly parasite off of tourists. In fact, the brains behind XELAMAP wrote a great article in this issue on kayaking Lake Atitlan.

It’s true, the style of our map is similar to that of XelaWho. And like the editor writes, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” We’re big fans of XelaWho, and think that our map complements the magazine nicely. Hope you agree!

We’re making lots of little changes for the August / September edition. You’ll see it soon!