Mona and I visited Lake Atitlan
from Thursday to Saturday. We stopped at three pueblos...San Marcos, San Juan and San Pedro. The lake is about a 4 hour shuttle ride away on very bumpy(amazing potholes) roads up and down mountains. The first hour or so is on highway passing Chimaltenango and then dusty roads with deep ravines. You pray that the brakes are in good condition. The Guatemalan countryside is dusty, with clusters of unfinished buildings and dilapidated homes. The rides shows you the true Guatemala. It is very sad to see the conditions that so many people live in.
We arrived in San Marcos and found a room by the water. Check out the pictures of the lake from our terrace as well as sun rising over the volcanoes and lake. I got up early so I could get these pictures for you. You could actually see 5 volcanoes from our terrace. Unfortunately I could not get a picture of all five.
San Marcos is a hippie town with yoga and wellness centers. The town is full of hippie foreigners. A nice young man from New Hampshire took us around the small town. The streets are too narrow for cars. It was a very relaxing evening listening to the waves breaking on the shore. Had the best meal since arriving. linguini with pesto, spinach, papaya and goat cheese.
Friday morning we took a small shuttle boat (a lancha) to San Pedro. (20 minute ride with a great views). Found a basic hotel room San Pedro, and took a Tuc Tuc to San Juan. The driver was taking hair pin turns so fast I had to tell him that we were not in a hurry.
San Juan is a beautiful village full of painter and weavers. The walls all round town are full of paintings. Spent the day walking around looking for my painting. See the pictures of San Juan. It was a lovely day in a very Guatemalan town. The Guatemalans outnumbered the foreigners. We ate a Comedor Elenita with all locals. There were not many other choices of restaurants.
In the afternoon we walked all around San Pedro, a very busy town full of foreign young people having fun. The Sections were the Guatemalan's live are poor, dilapidated and full of signs reminding Guatemalans that Jesus is coming to save them. Only the churches are clean, and immaculately painted. We sat thru a "velacion" at the cathedral. The men and women sat in the pews saying rosaries and prayers out-loud.
Since we got up early for the sunrise and walked all day, we had a pizza and called an early evening. I was very disappointed that with such a big lake there was no place to go swimming.
The pictures in the photo galleries under each town should give you a good flavor of Lake Atitlan.
