Sunday, 27 October 2024: A Colorful Sunday at Lake Atitlán
I arrived in Guatemala on a Tuesday and realized by Friday that I would be stuck on the weekends by myself. The other ½ dozen or so volunteers at the school are 50+ years younger than me so I doubted we would be hanging out together. Ten years ago, I’d seen a lot of the city of Antigua in the two weeks I was here. I didn’t want to sit around feeling bored and lonely. Where could I go? Violeta, the owner of the place where I’m staying, had recommended a travel agency four blocks from here. Diana, the other volunteer staying here, gave me a flyer from the agency that listed trips. A day trip to Lake Atitlán caught my eye because it is renowned as one of the scenic crown jewels of Guatemala. The price for a day trip was $55 which included a modern mini-bus ride for the 2+ hour trip each way. Once at the lake, you got a guided tour via boat to three towns.
I’m not much for tours but figured a day-tour would be
okay. So on Friday, I booked the trip
with the agency. And on Sunday morning (27
October) at 6:00AM, a mini-bus came by the place where I’m staying and picked
me up at the front door. It was nearly
full, and I was stuck on the edge of the seat next to a big guy. At least, I could easily see out a side
window toward the landscape as it whizzed by.
The130 square kilometer (50 square mile) lake is almost 2½ times
the size of Crater Lake in Oregon. It sits
in the bottom of a huge volcanic caldera formed by eruptions 65,000 years ago (another
source said 84,000 years ago). At its
deepest point, the lake is 340 meters (1120 feet) deep. The
sides of the caldera are so steep that only a few roads are able to connect the
population of mostly Mayan ancestry with the rest of Guatemala.
Unfortunately, the presence of the lake on so many tourist
bucket lists, the growth of the local population, and the proliferation of
vehicles (including boats) with gasoline and diesel-power engines have had
negative impacts on the lake’s environment.
Tourism may be good for the economy but it comes with a cost. Ain’t no free lunch out there.
Since one picture is worth 1000 words, I’ll let the following
photos and captions tell the rest of the story.
My apologies for the date/time stamps on some of the photos which I
couldn’t crop out without losing important parts of the photo. I hadn’t used this camera before and neglected
to turn of the date/time stamp.
A mini-bus took us to the town
of Panajachel, located on the east side of the lake. In the front of the photo is a tuk-tuk. These three-wheeled taxis come from India and
are very popular in Guatemala.
We took this
lancha (fast motorboat) from Panajachel to three towns on the west and south
sides of the lake.
I took the front seat right up
at the bow of the boat. The tour guide
suggested I sit further back because of the wind. “El viento
no me molesta,” (The wind doesn’t bother me) I replied. Silly me.
What he did not explain was that the wind created waves out in the
center of the lake. The boat was heading
straight into the wind and when we hit a wave, the bow would go up, then crash
down hard with big splashes of water. I was soaked by the time we arrived at
the first town. Fortunately, I was
wearing synthetic hiking pants and shirt which eventually dried out in the warm
sun.
Many of the towns (bottom
center of photos) along the lake are difficult to access by winding roads. Thus, the quickest access is by boat.
The first town we visited on the west side of the lake was San Juan La Laguna. It was chocked full of Sunday morning tourists and streets lined with vendors. Not exactly what I had in mind but you pays you money and takes you chances.
We visited a honey coop in San
Juan La Laguna and received a short presentation on bees and honey
production. Then we were given popsicle
sticks with samples of three kinds of honey.
OMG were they good!!! I had to
buy a little jar of my favorite to bring home for my waffles.
There were paintings along the
streets of San Juan La Laguna of prominent community members. This woman had been a community activist, and
I found it interesting that she was born about 20 days before me. Don’t you love traditional Guatemalan women’s
dress?
At Casa del Tejido (house of
fabric) in San Juan La Laguna, a local woman showed us how cotton is prepared
and spun into yarn as well as how their colorful clothes and textiles are made.
San Juan La Laguna’s catholic
church dates from the 18th Century.
I’ve heard that Guatemala is now only about 60% Roman Catholic as various
evangelical protestant denominations as well as Jehovah’s Witnesses and LDS
Mormons have made large inroads into the population.
These fellas were cranking out
some excellent street music on their Guatemalan marimba along the main street
of San Juan La Laguna.
Photos from 100 years ago at
the dock of San Pedro La Laguna. Lake
transport has become considerably faster since 1920 but those row boats didn’t
have much of an environmental impact.
The last town we visited, Santiago Atitlán, is located on a bay at the south side of the lake. Looming over the bay is Volcán San Pedro, elevation 3020 meters (9908 feet). None of the volcanoes around the lake have erupted since 1853 but who knows what might be cooking down in the devil’s fiery furnace.
Street vendor’s wares in Santiago
Atitlán. There are so many vendors competing
for tourist dollars (I mean, Quetzales) that I wonder how any of them can earn
a decent living.
This was the only half-decent
photo I got from the front window of the van on our way back to Antigua. I suspect that these impressive cliffs are
composed of volcanic tuff (fused volcanic ash).
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