…is what Atitlan means in the local Mayan dialect. A charming name for a beautiful place, or as both Ant and Aldous Huxley described it – “the most beautiful lake in the world” and likened it to lake Como with volcanoes, and how right we all are.
It is a large closed basin lake of volcanic origin in the Guatemalan Western Highlands. While Atitlán is recognised to be the deepest lake in Central America, its bottom has not been completely sounded. Estimates of its maximum depth range up to 340 metres. The lake is surrounded by three volcanoes, on its southern edge. Most notable are Atitlán at 11,598 feet and San Pedro at 9,900 feet. It’s a 50 km walk around the edge – and no, we didn’t try this walk!
Many villages of the Maya people, mainly Tz'utujil and Kaqchikel, surround the lake shores. These very traditional communities blend with the tourism and ex-pat culture that has evolved mainly in Panajachel, but also spread over to San Pedro and San Marcos. What has surprised us is that the cultures seem to exist side by side and remain unchanged. When we took the local ferry boats, all the women are still dressed in local attire, with babies and toddlers harnessed to their backs, wrapped in a backstrap woven blankets. Young and old women gossiping, as the young one breastfeeds her baby. It was the local version of the tube with locals travelling with the very few tourists.
We wanted to stay on the lake shore and so for nights two and three we moved to Jaibalito and the Casa del Mundo. Accessible only by boat and built on the sheer cliff face, it is in the most spectacular setting with unbelievable views of the lake. We have used up loads of computer space with the thousands of pictures we have taken. The downside however, is that Ant had to climb 186 steps to get to bed. And climbing up from the dock to his room with backpack on back, it looked like some sort of iron man contest… Gill of course had bagged the room on a lower level! The day we arrived, we just hung out (literally) by hanging in hammocks – again!
The hotel is “cutesy / folksy”, lots of plants, Mayan textiles, terracotta ornaments and pine woodwork – reminiscent of an Alpine chalet, if there is a spare space fill it with an ornament. And when we were told that dinner would be “en famille” with the other guests at 6.30pm, that’s what it felt like. But there ‘aint nowhere else to go – the boats stop running on the lake in the late afternoon, so dinner “en famille” it was. Not something we were looking forward to, all 15 of us sat down around a long candlelit table expected to make polite conversation (see pic). But actually we were very pleasantly surprised!! Despite all the other guests on both nights we were there being from the US – they were American ‘lite’ Interestingly from coastal US – looks like the inland Americans don’t travel. It was really good to hear about the American’s view of Obama and his health care reform, Iraq and where else they had travelled.
The rooms were lovely with clear views across the lake to the volcanoes, although it was a bit worrying to read in the hotel bumph that you needed to check your shoes in the morning to make sure no scorpions had crept in in the night… But at night it is breathtaking. The sky, as there is so little ambient light, is so dark that the millions of stars are really clear. And the remnants of the recent geminoid shower give us yet more shooting stars. We realised that it actually peaked the night we were watching the turtle lay her eggs in Montericco, hence the great display we had there. The lake is pitch black – no boats out at night and the lights of the little surrounding villages twinkle away in the distance. And it’s silent apart from the sound of the waves lapping at the shore. What a place!
The second day we were here we took the local boats to a couple of other villages on the lake. The transport is the “lancha”, rather worn out little white and blue motor boats that pick you up as you hail them from whatever jetty you are on. It’s really quiet here (credit crunch is still crunching in this area….) so we were sharing with the locals and their gas bottles, vegetables, chickens and other paraphernalia. Our first stop was St Pedro, known as the hippie/druggie community along Atitlán, (a sign as you arrive at the jetty warning of the dire consequences of drugs obviously isn’t making a lot of difference). It is meant to be the cheapest and chillest community along Lake Atitlán. We wander up the steep hill to the local market and even though we are not real experts in the nuances of local costumes, we notice the differences – the ladies’ tops are more euro Spanish in style with puffed sleeves and more jazzy designs. The streets are narrow and cobbled and we discover it’s up to you not the chicken bus to get out of the way! We then go over to San Marcos, a village with a very different vibe. The lower half of this village nearer the lake has been taken over by Westerners – dropouts or people following their dream, depending on your point of view. The narrow sandy path up from the lake is full of pyramid shaped huts, yoga, reiki and meditation centres. We were going to be “regressed” but decided that we didn’t have the time, so just bought some stones each instead. Gill bought one that will help her solar chakras and give her courage (mainly for the boat ride back) and Ant bought two for his calmness and to help meditate. He also bought a book of spells, so be careful of upsetting him! We are debating whether to come back for the month long course to “find ourselves”. We have to get the diary sorted as it starts on a full moon only and after three weeks of meditation and all sorts of other therapies, you spend the last week in silence. Not sure how you get room service that way though…. It was interesting to read the comments book – and so many entries talked about how people had found inner peace, enlightenment and fulfilment after their month, perhaps there really is something in it – or is it just the “kings new clothes”? Wholefood cafes and bars abound, and everyone is dressed in the uniform – loose trousers, long skirts, dreadlocks – you know the style! But the good news was that you could still get a “ron” so we went wholefood this time and had it with fresh orange…. And it looks like Ant has taken this whole hippy dropout no hygiene thing too far – take a look at the pic showing his green teeth…
At the top of the slope the village becomes local again and is dominated by two churches – both evangelical from the missionary days, and small corrugated structures form the local shops.
The weather pattern on the lake means that it is mirror smooth in the morning and then a wind whips up from about midday which can make any journey a bit “choppy”. Gill almost regretted wasting time sipping a ron as it meant we were travelling back to our casa on a rather choppy lake! But it was funny getting in. As we both stepped in the boat tipped rather alarmingly to one side – our side of course. There appeared to be a whole village on the other side of the small boat but it still couldn’t compensate for the weight of our huge Western bodies…. It did get a smile from all the locals though!
This morning we catch a lancha back to Pana and check back into our first hotel here, the Dos Mundos – almost like coming home – Gill even has the same room. Ant has gone off to Santiago across the lake, but Gill wimped that one – 45mins on the way there on a smooth lake is one thing, but a 45min trip back in a tiny boat on a very choppy lake in the afternoon was another – obviously the stone bought for “courage” yesterday still has a bit of work to do!
