Vacation from the World
Day 53
Up early for the bus to Lake Atitilan, Chichicastenango had returned to its normal self. The market stalls were down but would be back up in just a few days for the Sunday market. We made the short walk to a corner from where buses left for the Interamerican highway, there we could find another bus heading to the lake. After no more than 2 minutes of waiting we were approached by a skinny man named Juan. He asked where we were going and then offered to take us in his minivan which was going direct to the lake. Sounded good but I figured his minivan was really just one of the tourist shuttles you see here. They are good if you want to travel with foreigners and pay about 15 times the local bus price. Although they do go direct and will drop you at any hotel you want. I told him thanks but it was too expensive for us. I guess they didn’t have many people in the van because he then offered to take us for $5 U.S. each, the regular price was $10-12 and the bus we were waiting for would be about $3 so we agreed. As they accepted our money they made it quite clear that we were not to discuss what we paid with the other tourists.
Close to 2 hours after we left Chichi we were just outside of Panajachel, a large settlement on the lake. The driver was a large man and I couldn’t help but laugh at his apparent attempt for tips. A few examples; as we passed the town of Soloa, he pointed and said “Soloa.” Then as we caught our first glimpse of the lake, “lake”. I figured he was aspiring to be a tourguide but the travel agency was holding him back. Well now we knew why. As the road curved down towards the lakeshore we were presented with a postcard view of Lago Aititilan. Our driver even stopped at a lookout so we could snap a few pictures. That and so we could buy from the souvenir stalls setup on the roadside. He also took this opportunity to pull out a map and explain something about the lake to another girl in the van. I stood snapping pictures ans listening, it didn’t sound like much real info. The lake sat shimmering far below and on the far side rose three volcanos, all around was deep green hillsides. I could see now why this has been called one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.
We arrived in Panachael and made our way to the docks to catch a ferry to the small lakeside settlement of San Marcos. The small fibreglass boat was packed and we had to place our packs on the precariously on the roof. The crossing took just over 40 minutes till we arrived at the small wooden dock of San Marcos. San Marcos is a small settlement on the lake with a path that leads up from the lake through coffee and banana plantations. Its a friendly place where the people we passed offered a “Buenos tardes”. About 300 meters from the lake we hit the main road and turned left and walked up a steep hill to the entrance of Hotel Jinava.
After the steep hill up we climbed down just as fast through the gorgeous landscaped grounds of the hotel. The lake lay sparkling blue down below and we were really excited about getting a room and our stay here. We scored a bungalow with privacy and postcard perfect views. The next 3 days were not much to write about. We lay on the dock and when the sun became to hot we would slip into the cool clean water of Aititilan. It felt like summer in the Muskokas back home except there were 3 volcanos looking down on us.
That’s about all I can write about our time at San Marcos on Lake Aititilan. Its an amazingly beautiful place and the sort of place where you disappear from the world. No TV, no newspaper, no radio, pretty much no outside world contact. World war III could have began and we wouldn’t have known from here. For the next few days we pretty much did disappear and its never felt so good.
Tags: central america, Guatemala, lakes
Michael Coroneos
It’s minus 23 herre today…..just sayin