Lake Atitlan

Thursday, September 27^th

We got picked up by our shuttle at 5:30am for a two and a half hour ride to Lake Atitlan. Once we got to Panajachel (the entrance town to the lake), we walked around for awhile before heading to the docks to catch our boat tour. The lake is actually just a huge volcano crater and is about 1000 feet deep. It is a huge and gorgeous lake. 

 The dock at Panajachel

 A view of San Pedro from the boat

 

On our tour, we first went to the town of San Juan de la Laguna. It was a cute, quiet, and small town. Right when we got off the boat, we noticed that a bunch of the buildings were flooded. I guess a tropical storm hit Guatemala a couple years ago and the water level rose dramatically. We spent our hour in town walking around and going into a bunch of the weaving shops hoping to catch a glimpse of a demonstration. We didn’t get a demonstration, but we were able to look at the equipment and materials that they use to make the natural tinted dye. We also bought the best tortillas I have had down here. We wanted a snack, so we stopped into a small shop where a woman was making some. They were fresh, thick, and absolutely tasty.

 One of the flooded houses

The next town we visited was San Pedro. It was much bigger and had more of a touristy feel. We stopped at Café Las Cristillinas, so that Jordan could have some coffee. A guide said it was the best coffee in Guatemala, so he had to stop and try it. Afterwards, we walked into some shops to look at the brightly colored paintings that are unique to this region. Jordan got a small painting for his mom and I got a small painting of a Quetzal (the national bird) for myself.

The last town we visited was Santiago. It was the biggest of all, but felt less touristy than San Pedro. We took a tuk-tuk to the restaurant El Pescador for lunch. I ate a cheeseburger and Jordan got fried black bass in a white wine sauce. Our tuk-tuk driver offered to give us a tour of the major points of interest in Santiago, so we accepted. We got to see Maximon, who is the Mayan trickster god. Every year he is moved to a different house and people go to that house to pray to him and offer him gifts of money, cigars, and whiskey. Next, we went to the lookout point of Santiago and got a nice view of the town as well as the lake. Finally, we went to the local church. It was kind of plain compared to the churches in Antigua, but it was still nice.

Maximon himself

On the boat ride back to Panajachel, we drove right into a storm. Jordan and I were the only ones smart enough to bring our raincoats. The storm made for a wet, bumpy ride. It was fun though especially because lightning was striking all around us. When we got back to Antigua, we ate dinner at Café No Se. We at pizza and tried the local moonshine, Quetzaltecal. It was better than I thought it would be! Later, we headed to the nightclub, Sal, to dance for a little bit. It was a fun night out! I haven’t had a night like that since being back in the States.