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The Dogs of Panajachel, Guatemala
 
 
 
Jeff Burgess / Travel Invasion
There are times in life when it feels like the pendulum has swung mightily in one direction. Less than a year before, I was silently floating in the Caribbean Sea with my girlfriend strattled on my back soundly asleep. The water was warm and the sun even warmer. I had a vacation rental villa on the island of St. John waiting for me. Honestly, at that moment I felt as though life couldn't get any better.

Fast forward to a year later and the girlfriend was no longer. Work had become both boring and overly regulated. My friends were off doing couples things. The weather had been gloomy, and extended family illnesses were wearing me down. In the last 12 months if felt like the pendulum had shifted so far in the other direction, that it was just about to knock my ass to the ground. 

My only option at this point in time was to do something I only consider in dire emergencies. It was time to make a spur of the moment decision. I would get on the Net and just look for something or somewhere I could retreat to for a little spiritual healing. For some reason the first travel deal I came across was just about too unbelievable to be true.

A newer low cost airline Spirit Airlines, had just announced the were starting up a Los Angeles to Guatemala City, Guatemala route that would fly out of LAX once a day. There would be a return trip once daily as well. The amazing part of this whole announcement was that they were offering limited seats on a few of the planes for $88 roundtrip. For less than a tank of gas, I could fly somewhere really far from my home base. Spending about 12 seconds  thinking about the deal, I pull out the credit card and started making the reservation.

A few minutes later I began to think "what the hell did you just do"? Truth be told, I had never really given much thought about Guatemala. A long time before I had dated a girl who had performed some volunteer dental work for a week there.  Other than that, I was clueless.

So it was time to scour the Internet for a final destination. An hour or two later, I seemed to be zeroing in on a region known as Lake Atitlan. Various villages surrounded this massive lake. I decided on one of the larger bases known as Panajachel. The town had a decent amount of lodging choices as well as some intriquing food options. It also had a great location on the lake which would allow me to travel by boat to some of the neighboring villages.

I booked four nights at Hotel Dos Mundos and basically turned the computer off. Everything else would just be a come as it is experience. A few weeks later I was landing in Guatemala City wondering "now what"? I made my way in a shared van to the ancient city of Antiqua.
The van's driver told me this was the end of the road and I was only two and a half hours away from Panajachel. I walked the cobblestone streets for little over a block and found a small one employee travel agency. The woman told me to wait just a few minutes and I would have a ride. Sure enough less than ten minutes later a car about the size of a Ford Fiesta mixed with a Ford Pinto pulled up. The driver told me I could have a ride all the way to Panajachel for 5 bucks.

The only problem was that there was about 3/4 of one seat left in the back. The other passengers included a middle aged couple from Canada and a young single guy from New York who explained that he was traveling through Central America on a slow and easy pace. For five dollars, there was no way I was going to pass this adventure up.

Almost three hours later we began a descent into the Panajachel area. The view of Lake Atitlan was starting to overwhelm. Three massive volcanos border the lake, as I started to realize that I had never seen anything like it. We pulled into Panajachel and the driver dropped all of us off on what appeared to be the main road in town. He pointed towards the water and said my lodging choice was just a short walk away. I was thinking "we just drove three hours in a small little bubble, and you can't at least let me off in front of my accomodations"? Maybe he didn't want other locals to know he was working as a gypsy cab.

As I made the walk to Hotel Dos Mundos, something already was ringing my alarm. Dogs were everywhere!  Big dogs, little dogs, skinny dogs, even skinnier dogs and finally really skinny dogs. Some were just chilling while others appeared to be roaming for food. I was thinking "I sure hope they all know their way home"?

After checking in to my room which seemed like a steal for $35 a night, I decided to take a stroll around the area to let my senses accquaint to a place  so foreign to where I had traveled from  less than 12 hours before.  I headed north from the hotel looking for something to eat. Within three or four blocks I had already passed about 15 or 20 dogs. I was beginning to realize these dogs didn't have a home to go to.  Their stares were vacant. A few let me pet them, but most just seemed to cower like a crime victim revisiting their assailant. Did they not sense that I was a huge lover of dogs? I have spent thousands of hours volunteering my time for animal causes. A few years back I was even proudly awarded the SPCA volunteer of the year designation.  But obviously they couldn't read my resume' or know about my past. They were just hanging on, in some form of canine survival mode.
The rain was also starting to fall, with a huge cloud blanket heading in my direction. I ducked into the Circus Bar & Restaurant for some food, and also as a way to escape the now pounding showers. Reading a travel guide about the Guatemala region, I looked out the window to see that everyone had moved inside or under cover. The only life left roaming the streets were dogs. They seemed immune to the showers, too busy seeking a better life. I asked the bartender if there had always been so many dogs in Panajachel? He told me that there is a big problem, but every few months something terrible usually happens and many of them disappear. For some reason I really wasn't ready to learn about his definition of terrible. 
Finishing up my meal, I decided to walk back to my hotel instead of catching a ride on a pollution spewing Tuk, which is basically a motorcycle which an attached rear seat for two that is enclosed in some type of casing. The sky was still pouring but since I come from a rain starved desert style climate, the falling water seemed like a good idea. Soon I ran across my first Guatemalan photo opportunity. There was a medium sized shepard mixed breed curled in a ball against the wall of a store front. A small awning was barely protecting it from the elements. I was shocked to see that the dog let me pet it without showing any fear or hostility.  After a few minutes, I decided to move on while the dog retreated back to its curled positioning. I was beginning to realize the reason why I was in Guatemala.
                    

                             THE REST OF THE STORY IS COMING SOON

 
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In memory of Lorna