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Published: April 6th 2011
The Highlands, and particularly Lago de Atitlan where we were going to spend the next few days - still values the traditional customs of the Mayan indigenous tribes. In fact the Mayan languages are more widely spoken then Spanish. Lago De Atitlan can be found in every advertisement of Guatemala - it’s a volcano ringed lake about 8 klms in length, the edges of which are dotted with tiny villages, some can be reached by road but some only by boat which is the main form of transport in the region.
We arrived in San Pedro (one of the villages which has become a bit of a tourist mecca though less so then Panajachel on the opposite side of the lake) after dark - it had been an entertaining shuttle ride as one of the ‘gringo’ expats who owned a bar in San Pedro was telling us also about the corruption in the area and how the police regularly raid the bars in town. The local mayor is against the tourism in the village and is doing his best to make it unpleasant - not so much for the tourists - but for the Westerners and Mayan families who run tourist
orientated businesses there. To the extent that there is a virtual 11pm curfew in the town now. On the way to San Pedro we passed through a few of the other lakeside villages - San Marcos, renowned for it’s holistic learning centres and full of some very odd looking Western tourists and San Juan, which we resolved to go back to during our stay.
It was Saturday night and though the town looked surprisingly quiet the first hotel we tried was booked out so we took the room offered in the next - clean, very basic, cold water shower and a hole in the wall for ventilation which looked into the Mayan family, who owned the hotel, living quarters. But for $8 a night we weren’t complaining!
A great meal in a French restaurant - being a tourist area you had your choice of café cuisine - and an early night.
Woke next morning to the sound of family life next door and roosters outside we headed out to check out the lake in the daylight. It was very pretty, blue sky, calm waters, tiny dug out fishing canoes, all overlooked by volcanic peaks and a hill called Indian Nose,
because it looks like an Indian with a big nose lying on his back. The highest volcano is called San Pedro (3020 metres) and you could climb it if you wished. Whilst eating breakfast we spoke to a couple who had just checked out of a room, complete with balcony and hammock overlooking the lake. And hot water - though I was always a bit worried using it - check out how the water was heated in the photo. We took the room and spent the next two nights there. The view was better, though we still woke up to the sound of roosters as well as Evangelists singing each morning at an outdoor church across the lake. The Evangelist religion in Guatemala is gradually taking over from the predominant Roman Catholic religion - today nearly 40% of the population are Evangelists, mainly Pentecostal. Over the last few dictatorships in the country many of the Catholic priests were murdered because they have been outspoken defenders of human rights in the country.
We planned to explore a few of the surrounding villages so headed to one of the docks - however are all the same - very basic - narrow plank
walkways with wooden pole supports. 45 minutes later we arrived in the village of Santiago Atitlan where the local market was taking place. To get to the market we had to walk up a hill past dozens of tiny shops selling brightly coloured scarves (how many scarves can a person buy?), woven bags and cloth, wooden carvings and paintings. We bypassed it all and climbed towards the big white church that we could see at the top of the hill. In the plaza in front of the church we found the non tourist market where we spent a happy couple of hours wandering - and didn’t see another tourist in that time at all! Obviously they don’t go past the stalls further down the hill. What a joy the market was! For the first time in Guatemala we saw the stunning traditional dress being worn by everybody - including the men - which is most unusual. The women all wear wrap skirts - a big round woven tube of a heavy weight of hand woven (mainly in patterns of indigo blue or black) around which is wrapped around the body and held in place with wide heavy woven belt. Some
of the belts were made from intricate bead patterns but most were brightly coloured finely woven but very thick webbing The blouses they wore were amazing - either like a big T tunic, quite stiff or a softer fabric gathered sleeve blouse. They were all made from pale colours, with a stripe through it. Over the stripe they were heavily embroidered, either by hand or by a sewing machine. The workmanship was unbelievable - I couldn’t take my eyes off the detail and colours. Many featured birds or flowers. They were for sale in the markets at around 1000 Quetzals each - about $125 - and we found out later that was the correct price to the locals. They take weeks of work. In one shop selling embroidery threads I spoke (?) to a young girl trying to match thread to finish hers - she had run out of thread half a dozen birds off finishing. The women also carry a short scarf, thrown over their shoulders or folded on just laid on top of their heads. The scarves were too short to act as shawls so I think they must be mainly used on the women’s’ heads to soften
the load - most women carry their parcels on their heads.
The men’s dress was just as startling. The majority of man, young and old, wore three quarter length trousers made from the same fabric as the women’s blouses. Most of them were also embroidered though with much smaller designs then the women’s clothes. Some even had on very heavily embroidered shirts. All wore long sashes, about 6 inches wide, wrapped three or four times around their waists, as well as the requisite white panama cowboy hat worn by all the men here. Check out the photos - not the best I’ve ever taken - not too sure I like my new camera which is a nearer version of the one I took to India twelve months ago.
As I didn’t have any real need of - and the suitcase certainly didn’t need the weight of one - an embroidered blouse, I visited one of the tourist shops on the way back to the dock and bought a small panel of the embroidery as a keepsake.
The boat trips were fun - we did a few over the next few days - and a great way to travel around the
lake. We spent the remainder of the day enjoying the view and breeze on our balcony before finding a glass or two of wine in a bar overlooking the main jetty. We had the biggest plate of nachos and guacamole I’ve ever seen there - all for under $3! We ate there the next evening as well - you find a good restaurant you stick with it! Next day we visited San Marcos La Laguna (the holistic village which is considered the nicest of all) but we felt it over rated and didn’t stay long. We did watch some of the local kids at their school concert dancing to music which would have broken sound regulations in Australia. One little girl was wearing a diamante tiara and sash which looked very sweet over her indigenous dress. She was princess for the day - children are the same the world over.
From there we went back to San Juan village which was our favourite of all and where we would stay if we ever returned to the area. The town is known for its artists and many of the walls were painted with colourful murals. We had heard that the mayor
in this village is trying to encourage tourism but to keep it more low key then San Pedro. He has the right idea - even the shops selling woven bags and shawls were only selling them in naturally dyed colours - pale blues, creams, soft greens and mauve, taupe and chocolate - which makes a handbag a much more acceptable purpose if you planned on carrying it to work everyday once you returned home. We visited a women’s weaving co-op and purchased a couple of small pieces. A tuktuk took us back to our hotel - we were hesitant about walking around the area because the guide books were full of warnings about muggings and bandits and we had been told by the bar owner we spoke to on the shuttle that they do happen regularly. It would have been a great area to trek in however
We spent the remainder of the day quietly - we’ve been having a fair bit of ‘off’ time so far this trip. Have taken up the Latin American siestas happily…..
Left on a shuttle early the next morning to visit the second largest city in Guatemala, Quetzaltenango (shortened to Xela). Everybody thought we
were mad to visit there but time will tell. It appears nobody goes there to do anything except learn Spanish. Teaching Spanish is the second industry in the country - we seem to be the only people who can’t speak it! Though I guess we’ll know a lot more by the time we arrive back in Australia.
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ginny
non-member comment
Hi guys, lovely to talk to you today, you are certainly having a lovely time, i love the blogs and the photos. What a beauitful country. I love the birds on the shirts and pants, just georgous, and i can certainly understand you buying one. As i said to you, all is good here and i'm so glad you are having a relaxing time, enjoy it all. Love Ginny. xxxxxx