Guatemala Day 4: Solala area tour and Mayan sacred caves PART 1

First a photo from last night. Aunt Beth had marked a restaurant in her guide book that served pancakes. Since those are one of Ally's favorite foods we went there for dinner. She ordered chocolate chip pancakes and ate almost the whole thing!

Today after breakfast and some relaxation time admiring the view from our room we met our guide Lee and he drove us around all day from 845 this morning until about 230 this afternoon. We saw the towns of Solala, Panajachel, Mercedes, and Concepción. We visited a waterfall, a local market, one of the oldest churches in Guatemala (1621), had lunch at the most popular fast food chain in Guatemala, hiked a short distance up a mountain to see some sacred Mayan altar sites and amazing views. Finally our guide took us by a local school so Ally could see what one looked like. 

It was a lot to take in and see in one day. We are glad to be poolside now resting before heading out for dinner. It will be early to bed tonight, tomorrow we meet up with Lee again for a fun day on the lake of kayaking, swimming, cliff jumping (if we dare) and rock climbing. 

Pictures from today:

 At the waterfall Beth and Ally decided to climb up a bit.

Selfie from up high.

Then our guide told Ally to follow him. He took her up even higher.

How often do you get to walk across a waterfall?

We told him how Ally likes to do gymnastics poses, so he did yoga with her. 

Getting some help to cross the crevasse.

We stopped briefly at a Mayan sacred site, an altar where we met a Mayan priest who was about to start a ceremony to honor a man turning 82 or 76 tomorrow. We got conflicting answers on his age. Lee explained that is because Mayans think of age differently and their calendar is different. Soyears don't   mean the same to them. 

This is a painting that represents a period in Mayan time which is 13 400 year cycles. The last ending of this was December 21, 2012. This is why many people said that would be the end of the world. But it's not, it was just the end of a period in the Mayan calendar. And a new period started and is now only 5 years old. 

We went to the market at Solola, which is where most people around here shop for all kinds of things, from western style shoes and clothes to all kinds of food and an area that sold traditional Mayan clothing and wares. 

Lee bought some lychee fruit for us to try. 

Beth took this great picture of us. 

I'm going to do a part 2 of today hoping it will post easier.