We travelled to Lago de Atitlan (Lake Atitlan) in Guatemala after several excellent weeks in Mexico. We weren't sure if Guatemala would top Mexico, but were really looking forward to this part of our trip - particularly as we didn't really know what to expect.
Lake Atitlan is in the Guatemalan highlands and is about 1,500 metres above sea level. The lake itself is over 130 square kilometres in size and has an estimated maximum depth of 350 metres. It is surrounded by three large volcanoes and many small villages; one of which - San Marcos - we stayed at.
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| Panoramic View of Lake Atitlan |
The whole area is very lush, very green, and the temperature seems to be perfect all year round.
San Marcos is a tiny village with only a few hundred people living in it. There are only a handful of small shops, a couple of restaurants, but lots of new age/alternative centres (yoga, healers, numerology, etc). We chose this particular spot because we knew it would be quiet and relaxing - at the end of the day we were looking for a place to put our feet up for a while.
Our hotel was carved into the mountain side, and our room was dominated by an enormous piece of rock (i.e. the mountain) that served as one of the walls. A small natural waterfall was the main feature of the room - hence the room being named 'Cascada'.
The view from our room was superb - overlooking the lake with two of the nearby volcanoes casting a dramatic backdrop just for good measure.
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| View from our room - San Marcos, Guatemala |
So it was here that we spent four or five extremely relaxing nights. Doing little else than reading books and wandering around San Marcos enjoying the beautiful weather.
After taking it easy in San Marcos, we made the trip to Antigua; a small colonial town halfway between the lake and Guatemala City. Here we spent three or four days wandering around the cobblestone streets admiring a city steeped in history. There are many markets, cafes, bars, and restaurants here, but most people seem to come here to learn Spanish - apparently Antigua has a reputation for having great Spanish schools.
As much as we both really enjoyed our time here, there isn't a huge amount to say about Antigua - at the end of the day it is a small city. A couple of things do come to mind about Antigua though: 1) the local football team is known as the "green bellies", and play in green and white hoops; and 2) every bar we went into we were both frisked and metal detected by security guards at the front door.
We both found this second point very strange indeed. At no time during our stay here did we feel unsafe, yet the pubs had extraordinary security measures. We've never seen anything like it.
Both Lago de Atitlan and Antigua are places we would definately come back to if we're ever in the area again, and would highly recommend them to others.
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