Lake Atitlan

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Antigua to Lake Atitlan
This morning we had Mass in an alcove in the hotel with Dr. Ron Hicks as the celebrant. It was an honor to have him with us on this tour. His heart is in this region despite having left over a year ago to act as Dean of Formation in Chicago’s St Joseph Seminary. He hopes to someday come back and work with the children of NPH.

We boarded our bus at 8:00 for our 3-hour trip to Lake Atitlan. Our tour director was excellent and very knowledgeable about the country. He told us about the history, the politics, the indigenous people, the farming (the soil is very rich here and can grow just about anything). After making a few photo stops, we arrived in Panajachel. Lake Atitlan is a beautiful volcanic lake in the Western Hemisphere of Guatamala. It is ringed by small towns many of which are favorites among backpackers. The region encompasses the lake and towns around them. Panajachel is the best known and a good entry point but more off the beaten track are San Pedro La Laguna and San Marcus La Laguna. Due to the region’s popularity, other towns along the lake such sa Santa Cruz and San Juan are starting to see growing tourism.
Our tour group consisting of 20 people maneuvered ourselves onto a motor boat to take us across the lake to San Pedro as our 1st stop. The first part was very choppy (we were asking for chiropractors for our backs) and the second part more like a mirror. Once we were off the boat we were besieged by street peddlers selling scarves, jewelry, shawls, blankets, and musical instruments. We kindly said “no thanks,” but they were everywhere and relentless. The city is on a steep hill so some of our group stayed behind while we made the trip to the top to see a church, which unfortunately was closed, but the grounds were beautiful. We stayed for awhile and then walked back down to the boat to go to our next stop, San Marcus. Once we arrived at the dock, we were told that we would take a tuk-tuk (2 person taxi—like a small golf cart) to the top to save time, stopping at the restaurant to order before being taken to another church). This one was opened so we went inside and our tour guide gave us a history lesson. A beloved priest had been murdered during the 30 year civil war (from 1968-1989) and his heart was buried in the crypt in the church. This Catholic church also shared its space with the Mayan people. We walked back down to the restaurant and had a nice lunch before it was time to go back on the boat. We were scheduled to go to another town but time was passing very quickly and we were just running out of time, so the decision was made to go straight back to Panajachel for the 3-hour bus ride back to our hotel.
Once there, a few of us made a reservation to go back to Casa Santo Domingo for dinner so we could see the hotel illuminated in candlelight. It was magnificent. There were 7 of us and a couple of them were or had been on the board of Friends of the Orphans, so we spent a good amount of time discussing how things could be done better and trying to find ways to raise more money for this very worthwhile cause. It was time to leave, so we called for a taxi to take us back to the hotel. It was another awesome day.

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Photos

Woman in San Pedro
Woman demonstrated how to assemble headdress.