from Dublin to........Mirissa, Sri Lanka: Hippies & Volcanoes, San Pedro La Lago, Guatemala

A place where hippies come to die.... or at least attempt to circumnavigate the large lake on foot in around ten days fuelling themselves solely on a bag of mushrooms and weed. Others may inadvertently come here to get incredibly drunk with their loose change, to "find" themselves (falls into the spiritual enlightenment basket of bizarreness if you ask me) or perhaps make

stuff out of aluminium cans and wire.

I found it an unusual but intriguing mix of people. The first tourist I saw was a young girl (a hippie I suppose) who was on the water-taxi with from the main town around Lago de Atitlan to the village of San Pedro, whom had the most sincere and content smile on her face that made me wonder what on earth was on the other side of the lake that could make someone appear so happy (without the influence of drugs!). I'm not sure I worked out exactly what it was either.

San Pedro is split into two.....gringoville at the lake's edge and the local precinct at the top of the hill. The vast majority of accommodation and bars and restaurants and cafes are in gringoville unsurprisingly. The town has a funny layout, with narrow paths and alleyways joining gringoville together. It can be a bit confusing upon arrival when you are trying to find your accommodation.

The whole area is quite beautiful. Volcanoes at the perimeter of the lake, the Indian Nose and many little villages lining the lake's shore that can be easy reached by water-taxi. It is advised that you don't walk around the lake due to safety concerns - this appears to only be an issue at night but who knows.

Other than doing a lot of sweet FA, I did manage to squeeze into my busy schedule the follow:

* Walk to San Juan from San Pedro for a long lunch - it is all of 30 minutes maximum but it is a world away in terms of tourist numbers. It really has been largely untouched by tourism, that is, hotels, cafes and bars etc. That being said there is a phenomenal little cafe, Cafe El Artesano, run by a Swiss guy that has four, perhaps five, tables in a large garden setting behind some high walls covered in murals. He basically specialises in serving cheeses in various guises which seemed an unusual step from having spent a few years working in Melbourne at a number of Italian restaurants. His most well known dish is the cheese platter which comes with a mountain of bread and nuts and other little bits and pieces to help seamlessly move you through the wide selection of cheeses. It is only open for lunch and reservations are highly recommended. He has some nice wines on offer - half a litre of the Chilean Sauvignon Blanc hit the spot for me.

* The Clover - is supposedly an Irish bar/restaurant but I can't figure out for the life of me exactly why. It offers a couple Irish things on the menu. I believe the owner may be Irish too but that was the extent of the Irishness for me. It is by no means a pub, just an open cafe with a bar. The staff are reasonably friendly and they do a Steak Saturday that I missed out on as it was too busy. People rave about the Tom Yung soup (? - different to Tom Yum) which is massive but tastes nothing like anything I have had before, a poor Asian soup if you ask me. Soy sauce mainly.

* Buddha Bar - is a big American style pub with a free pool table (and comp on one night) and dart board. Meet some nice people in there. Has reasonable food, but not outstanding. Can't quite understand why people rave so much about it. Non-Guatemalan food in Guatemala is sub-standard, and that's not the fault of Guatemalans either, it's the foreigners whom move there and think they know food.

* Pepian chicken - available all over the country and something you must try. It is essentially a Guatemalan curry with somewhat similar spices to that of Indian food. Extremely tasty and a little spicy.

* A surprising number of Israeli people here which means that you can find a disproportionately high number of Israeli cafes or restaurants serving pretty decent food.

Oh and you can climb the nearby volcano as well which takes 4-6 hours. I couldn't be arsed so didn't. Alternatively you can climb up the Indian Nose which affords good views of the lake and the volcano, probably a better hike to do if you want decent photos.