Lake Atitlan is in the highlands of the Sierra Madre Mountain range in Southwestern Guatemala about a 2-hour drive from Guatemala City. It was formed some 80,000 years ago with the collapse of a super volcano. It is surrounded by 3 other volcanos – Atitlan, San Pedro and Toliman.
The last volcanic activity was Atitlan, it erupted in 1853. While there have been no volcanic eruptions since, the area is subject to seismic activity. In 1976 a large earthquake shook Guatemala. It killed some 26,000 people and fractured the lakebed causing the water level in the lake to drop 2 meters in 30 days.
The lake is considered endorheic in that it has 2 rivers that feed water to it, but no rivers drain the lake. Water level is controlled only through evaporation from the lake surface and surrounding wetlands.
The lake has been the site of 3 separate, yet coexisting, ancient Mayan cultures each with its own language and each occupying a different area of the lake shore. The Mayan culture is still very strong in the area and many people can be seen in traditional Mayan apparel.
There are 15 communities located along the lake. There is no road that circles the lake. While it may be possible to drive from one town to another, it is often up, over and around the mountain so water taxies are the preferred transportation. Its easy to take a water taxi from the docks and check out the other towns and that’s what we did.
Santiago is the largest town, but Panajachel (or Pana as everyone calls it) is the most popular location and where we stayed. It is exactly what you would expect. The town is full of small hotels, bars, and restaurants. The main street is lined with thousands of shops and street side vendors with all the trinkets any tourist would want to buy. They are not afraid to approach you trying to sell their wares as well.
There is a nice nature reserve just outside of town that we checked out one morning. It had a trail with suspension bridges, a monkey viewing area, waterfall along the way and a butterfly pavilion. If you were adventurous, zip lines and a bicycle zipline were also available. We took a pass on the last two.
San Pedro is known as the backpacker’s town. It has a less expensive “hippie” kind of vibe. Still with a lot of bars and restaurants but here its more likely to have a vegan, fresh squeezed with seeds kind of menu.
San Juan is the art town. Lots of painters, weavers, ceramic and other artisans in this town. If we had more wall space, we may have come home with some artwork.
We hired Samual and his tuktuk for an hour-long ride and tour of Santiago. As the area is volcanic you can imagine that the area surrounding is steep. Riding in a tuktuk became appealing when looking at the steep roads. Samual drove us around and stopped at the look out area, The Peace Park and the church that was built in 1547 so we could get out and take some pictures. He also stopped at the textile shop and the art shop so we could help out the local economy.
One of the more interesting stops was at what looked like a store front but upon entering we discovered it was the location of Maximon. He is the Mayan idol that is a combination of Mayan Deities, Catholic Saints and Spanish Conquistadors legends. This representation is still honored by much of the local Mayan population. We were asked to donate 10 Quetzals (about 2 Canadian Dollars) to keep the gods looking favourably upon us.
La Casa del Mundo is a boat access only, cliff side hotel that offers a day pass to visit the grounds and restaurant with stunning views of the lake. It was built basically by hand, one stone at a time over the span of ten years. There were several spots to pull up a chair and just take in the view. It was a very cool spot.
Next stop Guatemala City for a few days then the long flights home.