After a couple days exploring Antigua, we headed north to Lake Atitlan, a volcanic crater lake in the highlands of Guatemala. Lake Atitlan bears a somewhat similar resemblance to Lake Tahoe, if Lake Tahoe was surrounded by 3 huge active volcanoes and a bunch of small mayan villages. We were very excited about Lake Atitlan because it had received glowing reviews from people before we even left, and all the people we met on the way who had been there raved about it as well. Luckily for the lake, it did not disappoint.
Lake Atitlan, in addition to being dotted by small maya pueblos, has a few more developed, more touristy little villages with hostels and some fancier hotels. There's San Pedro, the party town, San Marcos, the hippie yoga retreat town, and Santa Cruz, which has a traditional village up in the hills, and a cool, outdoorsy little hostel right on the edge of the lake. Knowing the authors of this blog, can you guess which one we chose to start at?
La Iguana Perdida is the name of the hostel, and it was a wonderful place to spend a few days. There is not much of a town there, per se, just the hostel, a few other fancier hotels and restaurants, and a beautiful lake to look at. We stayed there for 3 days and nights, lounging around in the hammocks, going for some short hikes, exploring the other little towns on the lake, playing cards, watching movies, and basically just relaxing and recharging. Dinner each night was family style, so we got to know a bunch of the other guests, including an awesome german couple and a bunch of friendly brits. The hammocks were very comfy, I finished reading one large book and started another, and I think annie finished 2 before we left.
I also took my first yoga class ever, and it was very interesting since it was apparently not a beginners class and it was very, shall we say, high impact. I think the yoga term for it was "dynamic," but at any rate it was quite a workout. After 90 minutes of bouncing from downward dog to mountain position and back (back in the days of club soccer training we called those "burpees", apparently they are popular in yoga as well), both Annie and I were ready for some serious food. One of us ordered the "Gordo breakfast," I won't say who it was.
La Iguana Perdida also had kayaks to rent, a pool table, darts, and board games, but somehow we never got around to using those. Reading and swaying in the hammocks was heavenly. But after 3 days, we had had enough relaxing and were ready for more adventure. We decided to go back to Panajachel, the main city on the lake, and catch a bus back to Antigua, where we would stay for the night before catching a 4am bus for Managua, Nicaragua (more on that bus ride in the next entry). On our ferry back to Panajachel, a man got onto our boat, looking very excited. He looked like a gringo, and after a minute, he couldn't hold in his excitement anymore, turned to us, and blurted out "I just bought a motorhome!" We were both speechless, and then he explained that he had come to the lake for vacation, his first vacation in 40 years, and decided he wanted to stay, so he bought a motorhome parked on the volcano ridge overlooking the lake. Talk about decisive. He was very excited about it, and started to tell us about how he wanted to retire here and start a motorized paragliding business on the lake. He then told us how he had crashed 3 times in the past month paragliding around the lake, including crashing through powerlines, getting stuck in a tree, and having to be cut down with a machete by the gardener. Not a great sales pitch, but he was a hilarious guy. And a Canadian, no less.
I highly recommend Lake Atitlan as an amazing vacation destination. But if you are looking to do any paragliding, watch out for the crazy canadian guy in the motorhome.
A sailboat hostel is a great way to see things that would otherwise be inaccessible or too expensive on a shoestring budget.
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