Despite the current problems with the lake it really is a wonderful place to spend some time. We chose San Pedro, one of the larger towns, with 13,000 inhabitants. Actually, first we ended up being in San Marcos. Our driver decided that was where the majority of people in the minibus wanted to go, therefore that was where he would drive to. Never mind that the bus had San Pedro written on the side, or that our tickets said San Pedro on them!
The town has a definite divide. On the shore front it is heavily geared towards tourism. There are plenty of cafes and places to book activities. If you go up the hill away from the lake, you see the real town and get a feel for the standard of living - most houses are concrete with corrugated iron roofs. The superior quality buildings are of course the churches. But they have a football pitch in a reasonable condition which boasts some impressive background views.
Back down on the tourist side of things there are many hotels, some with lake views. We chose a very basic one (£6 a night and home to more spiders than my Dad's shed!) but the lake view made it worth it and the family running the place were very friendly.
The ex-pat influence of San Pedro can be seen most of all when looking for a place to eat. There is a grand choice of restaurants and bars, most of which adopt a chill-out mood and all having a happy hour or two at some point in the evening. In fact it works out very well. You can hop from one happy hour to another until hopping turns to staggering. Two rum and cokes for less than £1 is quite dangerous!
The food, though, is of high quality and large in portion. For some reason Thai green curry was a popular dish at most places.
The highlight of the place has to be the opportunity to climb Volcan San Pedro. We didn't think too much about it before booking. We didn't pay much attention to how far it was or how high we'd climb. A couple of days of no exercise and lots of food meant that we just wanted a physical challenge. And we got one!
see vivalatinamerica!
The views were probably the best I've ever seen. And because we'd put in 3 and a half hours of solid climbing, I'm glad I can say that!
After our descent, we'd earned some time to relax and definitely earned a few beers. There was only one place for it, La Piscina. Another ex-pat run joint, it had a decent sized swimming pool, a BBQ, live music and a lively bar. A great place to spend Sunday afternoon in the sun, if you've just climbed a volcano or not!
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