Lazy day in Flores, Guatemala

That's our little island of Flores in the background

Today we had a lazy day, which was much needed. We took a little boat across the lake to San Miguel peninsula. We thought it would be a relaxing little boat ride for Q5, but the boat driver kept trying to hustle us into going farther away or on other tours pretty much the entire 10 minute little ride. Then we walked over to the other side of the peninsula and went to the "beach." There was a little dock over the lake, and the water was so warm. It was nice to just swim around and then sit and read for a little while. After this we walked through the jungle, spotted some monkeys, and went up to a look out point. Here we had a 360˚ view of the surrounding area, including our small little island of Flores. Breathtaking.

Colorful market place

Later on we walked through the neighboring town of Santa Elena. There are tons of little 3 wheeled taxis called tuk tuks everywhere and locals on motorcycles or scooters. Often the dad's driving and the mom is sitting right behind him holding a kid who's standing in between them or laying in her lap. I even saw one that had the teenage son sitting behind the mom, making a total of four people on one little scooter. And of course no one is wearing helmets. Very different than America with its strict traffic laws and Britney Spears being bombared by negative media attention for holding her kid in her lap while driving her car.

The walk to the pier

I keep exclaiming to Nate how beautiful everything is. I loved looking at all the trees in the forest, many of which had long vines and branches drooping down. We saw a lot of butterflies as well. There was one species we saw everywhere that was a vibrant blue on the top side with brown on the underside of the wings. Unfortunately they never stayed still so we couldn't get a picture, but they were stunning. Then tonight came with a gorgeous sunset. The setting sun lit up one side of the lake with golden rays, and on the side opposite the sky was made up of beautiful pastel shades of purple which were reflected on the lake. The cobblestone streets and mismatched houses take on a beauty of their own as well.

Beautiful sunset