Atitlan Adventure

Last weekend, Chris and I headed over to Lake Atitlan. You can check Chris’s blog for a description of the harrowing journey. This is the lake. It is huge. Since we were mostly in the clouds, we weren’t able to see the other side. It was like the calmest ocean you ever saw. It reminded me a bit of Lake Tahoe, except cheaper and with Mayans, and much dirtier hippies.

We arrived in Panajachel the first day (me a little out of it from the Dramamine I took before our chicken bus ride). Pana is filled to the brim with dread-locked white kids, most of whom appear to be tripping on something. We wanted to get out of Pana as quickly as possible, but first we needed money. We went to every ATM in the entire town. None of them would let us take out money. We were trying to take money out of savings (because I forgot to transfer money from savings before we left). After going from ATM to ATM and getting very cranky, I finally remembered that I had disconnected the savings account from the ATM card. Duh! No one should ever let me do anything after taking Dramamine.

Any ATM aggravation disappeared once we got on the boat to go to the town we were staying in. That’s Chris enjoying a boat ride. Riding across the lake is amazing - cool air, surrounded by mountains and pine forests (and, of course, ridiculously huge vacation homes). In the mornings, the lake is so calm, you just glide through the water. The town we were staying in, San Marcos, had a lot of yoga people and meditators. One place offered “transformation therapy” which allowed you to be released from childhood traumas, get a glimpse of your dharma and meet your inner-healer, among other things. Chris and I did not indulge.

Aside from the yoga studios and a couple stores, there is not much else in San Marcos. To keep ourselves amused, we hopped over to a couple other nearby towns. Santiago is a pretty large town that we hit on market day. It is known for its paintings and galleries, as well as the usual textiles and whatnot. Here’s a pic. It is definitely a tourist oriented market. Everyone shopping was from the US or Germany or the UK. . We also went to another town called San Pedro. There, the locals were putting on a little karaoke concert. Only problem was, the “stage” was the outside of a store and the audience sat on bleachers across the street. Every time a truck drove by, it drove right between the performers and the audience. Very low budget.

Chris and I really wanted to swim in the lake, but when we went down to the rocks near our hotel, there were a bunch of teenage Mayan girls bathing. They were in their bras and had shampoo in their hair. Somehow this was a cultural line that Chris and I just could not cross. I can’t explain why. I jumped right in to the ocean with half naked people on South Beach, no problem. Bathing suit, fine. Topless, fine. Bra and shampoo, can’t do it. Instead of swimming, Chris decided to fly. Here’s one for the Chris’s most embarrassing pictures collection.

Now that I have embarrassed Chris, I must also tell you that he is the only person that bothered helping people in and out of the boats. This included one older Mayan woman carrying a huge basket on her head. The basket looked very heavy. Turned out it was full of Cup-a-Noodles. Traditional Mayan Styrofoam?

On our way out of the area, we passed by the hotel we were thinking of staying at. It was filled with retirees out bathing in the lake. Picture a scene from the movie Cocoon, but with a boatload of tourists gliding by.