Guatemala – Lago de Atitlan

As sad as we were to leave Antigua, the breakfast view from our accommodation in Atitlan had us feeling so much better! 🙂

The journey down into the crater of the volcano ,(which is Lake Atitlan), the night before was treacherous and arduous. Seriously you don’t want to think too much about it as you are doing it! Between us, Rich and I could only think of maybe one or two other roads in the world that we have experienced that were as “adventurous”, the steep, narrow, winding, gravel roads that seem to go on forever, with imminent danger of hitting something coming the other way or simply just falling off the road always a high possibility! :). The drivers think nothing of it of course, and chat away while taking the bends at speed going wide, beeping in case someone coming in the other direction. As I said you just don’t want to think too much 🙂 !!!!

We were met at the entrance to our accommodation by Lucas, who could not speak English, and at first we were unsure if he was just randomly there and wanting money to carry our bags, or part of the accommodation setup. We had not told them what time we would be arriving, so how he would know, we had no idea, but the path down to the accommodation, was on par with the drive down into the volcano crater, so we happily followed him. Turns out he does work for the hotel and became an integral part of our stay there, such a lovely man.

We made it safe and sound and after a very cold shower ,(no hot water, it is an eco hotel 🙂 ), some soup for supper and a good sleep, we woke to the breathtaking view, so it was all worthwhile 🙂

Here is the link to where we stayed

Home

After breakfast we realized we were the only ones in the entire place and that the staff were there just for us. Sarah, Rosa and Lucas were all so lovely and during our time there we got to know in a way we would not have if there had been others around.

Here is Sarah, the Mayan people are so tiny, Luca was taller than her! Rich kept saying he felt like a giant 🙂

Sarah would bring her son Benjamin in with her, and he and Luca played a lot, they had a lot of fun, and also did school work together.

I have Luca on a regular school work schedule while we travel. In 2-3 hours we can fit in easily what he would do in 1-2 days at school so it works well.

Not a bad classroom eh?!!!!!!!!

We spent our 3 days there exploring the different villages, (you can take a water taxi to each one dotted around the enormous lake).

Our hotel from the water..

We could walk to the 2 nearest villages, our favorite San Juan, was via this corn maze field…

Here is a view of San Juan from a hill we climbed….

San Pedro, a much bigger town in the opposite direction, we could walk to via the road, which we did on occasion..

Here is the view of it from the same road…

We went to San Marcos, another village we liked a lot, and did some buying of locally made products. The Mayan tradition is strong in Guatemala, and the traditional hand made products are wonderful. Tourism is a dominant income earner for many. Most of the women wear traditional clothing, the work that goes into making them is incredible.

We went swimming, and jumped off a very high platform!!!!

Here some of the typical village scenes…

Luca of course yet again found friends. The white kitten he wanted to bring home, when its owner offered it to him! We settled on buying a hammock from her instead. She had not made a sale in 2 months and her husband had left her and her 7 year old to manage alone, needless to say she was grateful for the sale! She told me all this after the sale, so I feel the story was genuine and not done to get a sale. She warmly hugged us all before we left and so our hammock will forever have meaning to us in more ways than one. I am not sure Luca was convinced it was the best compromise to get the hammock instead of the kitten, but he does love the hammock! He wrote a persuasive essay for me on why he should be allowed a kitten, hmmm, it was pretty persuasive have to say 🙂

We really notice the contrast in how the indigenous culture here is preserved, to what is happening to the indigenous culture in Costa Rica. It is really held on to here. Luca has become really interested in learning about it all, including the Mayan calendar. He found out all our Tzolkin ,(sort of like the Chinese horoscope).

Here we are lined up behind what Luca told us were our Tzolkin, he roped in one of the local guys too, who was incredibly patient while Luca went through it all 🙂

Luca would notice the symbols all over the place, he was much more observant than us,,,

Anita is a local that originally introduced Luca to it all. He wanted a key chain with his Tzolkin symbol, and she said she would find one in the women’s coop she leads. I was not around for the original conversation, Luca had gone off shopping and found her himself. Anyway when I found Luca, he said Anita said to come back in the morning and she will have it for him. All evening, and at breakfast, Luca kept reminding us we had to go back, so we set off early only to discover Anita had been called away and would be back around 2pm.

However I began talking to an English girl,(Katherine), who happened to know Anita, as has been working with her. Katherine had left a high powered career in London, UK, 2 years ago, to start her own business aiding women through ethical trading. This basically means she finds women run cooperatives, within small villages and works with them to market and sell their products, in a way that the co op receives back the majority of the profit, (into the hands of the actual producers), not the middle man. The money is then is filtered out by leaders like Anita, back into the community where it is needed most.

It is my firm belief, that if you empower women to become organized, give them control over their own lives and allow them to determine where the funds they earn go, (they are after all, the ones who know best what is needed), it is a way out of poverty for everyone in their community . Katherine and I connected immediately over our shared belief, and so our conversation began.

Katherine has spent the last 2 years going into villages, finding places like this particular co op, seeking Anita type leaders, and taking it from there. The business is doing well and they are expanding. Katherine was incredibly inspiring, she said she has never been so poor, (has put all her money into the project), but also never been so happy, being able to make such a tangible difference. My admiration of her is huge!

We went back after 2pm and there was Anita, she recognized Luca immediately and off they went to find what he wanted. I saw instantly why Katherine gravitated to Anita as her contact, she was amazing, her community is lucky to have her. Katherine and I swapped details, as I want to pick her brain about a few things. I feel incredibly lucky to have crossed path with both these women, and it was thanks of course to my boy 🙂

Our last evening we discovered we could walk along the edge of the lake, to an amazing swimming area. The water is not cold as warmed by the volcano underneath. How cool to be jumping into and swimming in the crater of a volcano!!!!!!

Too soon it was Saturday, and time to catch the bus back to Guatemala City..

On the bus someone called out to us from the back. Another traveler Tom, an English guy whom we had met while in Montezuma. He had recognized us! What a coincidence! We had a catch up and asked after his girlfriend, Sarah, who had been unwell when we last met. All good now, and he is off to Spain, having been learning Spanish in Guatemala, to start an ESL job just out of Barcelona, very very cool!

We also started chatting to a couple of Aussie sisters, who by the end of the long long journey have our details, and are coming to Monteverde, so will look us up, again both very inspiring people!

We left Guatemala so very grateful to have spent time in such a wonderful country, meeting so many amazing people, and learning so much along the way.

Absolutely, if you get a chance, go!!!!!!!!