Trek from Xela to Lago Aititlan

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Last weekend I walked from Xela to Lago Atititlan with some friends from the language school and a local guide. I guess the first thing to point out is that the trek didn't actually start in Xela, instead we were driven for about 15 minutes to a small village where we commenced walking for 2 and a half days to San Pedro La Laguna on Lago Aititlan. In total we covered around 27 miles.

We met at the house of the owner of the tour company at 6am on the Saturday morning and distributed the tents and food amongst ourselves, before eating a hearty breakfast. From there we were driven to the start of the trek and we started walking just before 8am. Despite losing about 800 metres of altitude in total over the course of the course of the trek, we immediately began to ascend steeply and perhaps I was a little naive to think that just because I had been living at altitude for a while I would be able to cope! How wrong I was, it was a tough slog! After a while we reached what was almost a plain and from then on for the rest of the day the walk was mainly downhill, getting progressively tougher towards the end. We passed though remote villages where the children were very welcoming, as they seem to be in any remote place in the world, with repeated cries of 'hola, hola'! In one village I asked a little girl if I could take her picture and she said yes and immediately began to tuck herself in and generally make herself presentable for the photo!

We arrived at our camping spot by a river at around 5pm and I was able to wash in hot water, making use of a small trickle from a hot spring, and that was a welcome relief. Our guide, who didn't show any signs of fatigue for the whole trip, cooked us dinner using the stove he was carrying in his backpack, which was double the size of any ours. I meant to pick it up to see how heavy it was, but never got around to it.

After a bad night's sleep, lying on what in theory was a camping mat, but in reality was a piece of felt (I am sure it is the same stuff used on crazy golf courses!) we set off walking at around 9.30am for another hard slog upwards for the first 2 and a half hours before a very welcome, and long, lunch stop in a house where our guide made use of the wood-fired stove to cook us lunch. From then on the walk was relatively easy 2 hours to a town where we ate in a local restaurant and slept in a simple shack.

We arose at 5.30am on Monday morning and walked 10 minutes to a view point and waited for the sun to rise over Lago Atitilan. Little by little the sun peeked above the distant mountains before its rays began to illuminate and then sparkle and dance over the water. Truly magical. Lago Aititlan is a beautiful place, especially when the sun is shining.

After breakfast we had a relatively easy downhill walk to the shore of the lake and then around to the town of San Pedro where we had a good lunch before being driven the 2 hours back to Xela.

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