Guatemala City to Panajachel.
We were waiting less than 5 minutes in the lobby of the hotel when our ride to Panajachel  (pahn ah hah chale (as in ale, soft ch)) showed up. We had intended and should have exchanged currency in the hotel, they had a good rate, but because of jet lag and still being overwhelmed forgot to. (Day two and still haven't exchanged any significant amount.) The driver and his assistant loaded up the shuttle and we began the last leg of our journey.

Traffic in Guatemala City is heavy and constant. Traffic controls and signage are sporadic; often minor intersections have no signs-stop, yield, or watchout! Get used to it. That's typical in Guatemala.

The trip to Panajachel was relatively uneventful, only one near collision.  I am amazed vehicles aren't more banged up than they are. Cars, trucks, cycles, and scooters merge into or cross over traffic without waiting for an opening. Because of the endless stream of vehicles,  one really has to make their own opening. Drivers seem used to this and courteously let them in. I don't recall hearing a horn the entire trip.

Toto, we're not in Guatemala City anymore. When? I don't know. At some point you just aren't. I was waiting for countryside,  and waiting, and waiting. The road was lined with commercial businesses as typical in the States, and slowly gave way to small businesses and eventually mom and pop businesses. But no countryside.   The cities just merged one into the other. No telling where one ended and the next began. Eventually there was some rural areas about three quarters of the way to our destination,  but never isolated jungle as I sort of  had imagined.

In addition to the mom and pop businesses alongside the ride, there are many street stands and vendors. (This was a fore taste of Panajachel, whose streets are lined with little shops and crawling with vendors.) At one point,  our driver slowed and called out to a roadside vendor. The vendor grabbed one of his jugs of ware and began pacing our van, handing the jug through the passenger side window. Price negotiations and the scrabbling for currency were carried on as we crept down the rode and the vendor ran alongside our vehicle. This is how you do roadside business in Guatemala.

The road from Guatemala City to Panajachel is relatively straight for most of the way.  The last part, though, is like a dog chasing it's own tail. The road winds around mountainsides and at times seems to be only a few hundred yards across a valley from where you started. The end part is perhaps the most scenic, twisting down the mountains and suddenly providing dramatic views of Lago Attila not. From high up the lake is just beautiful.

And then you make the last descent into the narrow busy crazy streets of Panajachel.