Lake Atitlan

Wow! This is one of the most picturesque areas we’ve ever been in. A large volcanic crater lake surrounded by….more volcanoes. Some active-ish. The last one erupted sometime in the mid-1800’s. The safety odds are probably better than being next to Volcan de Fuego but the lake mysteriously rises and falls every few years, like about 50 feet, so you never know. When it was formed some 80,000 years ago the ash covered an area ranging from Florida in the north to Ecuador in the south. It is very beautiful though and considered by many to be the most beautiful lake in the world. Tourists come here for the mystic qualities, vortex energy, and general healing the lake is said to possess. Over the years, the lakeside towns have sprouted yoga schools, meditation centers, and a whole lot of hippies. Many of the restaurants here in San Marcos are vegan. This is all mixed in with the Maya culture that has been here forever, and you can hear a lot of Kaqchikel spoken.

You can get to some of the numerous small towns and villages around the lake by road,  while others you need to use a water taxi. The local Tuk-Tuk’s will take you between towns where there are roads. So, lots of taxis and boats everywhere. Every town has local markets where you can buy the colorful clothing and textiles with Panajachel being one of the best. There are many fruit, vegetable farms up on the hillsides and coffee is grown here as well. It’s good coffee. There is an abundance of produce and the lake used to provide lots of fish for the locals. Not so much anymore.

As with many places on the planet, the dark undercurrent of overpopulation is leaving it’s mark here, and that undercurrent runs just under the surface of the lake itself. Lake Atitlan was relatively unknown up until the 1950’s. Someone decided they needed tourists, so they stocked the lake with black bass to attract anglers. All that did was wipe out most of the native fish and kill off the Atitlan Grebe. It went extinct. Today, the infrastructure can’t cope with all the tourists and overcrowding, so sewage goes directly into the water. The resulting thick algae bloom of cyanobacteria has strangled the life out of the lake and made it too toxic for human use. If this continues, the lake according to scientists will be dead by 2020. There seems to be no action being taken though. It’s very sad.

We spent most of the 11 days at Lake Atitlan in San Marcos with one trip over to Panajachel to visit some friends we met in Antigua. They are ex-pat Americans who are doing what we are doing. Roaming the planet, looking for some place to put down roots. Nice people and we seem to have much in common. They weren’t the only couple we met doing this, as there were several staying at Carlos’ casa and they had friends in the area also trekking around. Seems to be a thing, so we aren’t so nuts after all.

We were part of that 1/3 demographic – Travelers passing through for a few days or maybe up to a few weeks or so. Some just visiting, others here for yoga training.  Another third consists of long time ex pats that either fell in love with the lake or are escaping something and put down roots. Most of those we met had been here for 10 or 20 years. Can’t say it appeals to us. Most of the smaller lake towns are the same, not a lot to do unless you are heavily into yoga. That brings us to the last demographic, the locals who run the small shops, most of the restaurants, and the markets. Besides the produce farms they rely heavily on the tourists. Some do ok, some not. We saw a fair amount of poverty. Poor people, poor living conditions, much alcoholism, and abundance of stray dogs. Everywhere, people trying to make a buck just to get by and the dogs scrapping for what was left. It was sometimes hard to take, sticking out like sore thumbs as privileged white tourists. On the plus side though, the tourism does bring in much needed funds to the area and a lot of the permanent ex pats do volunteering, funding, and helping with community projects designed to bring a better standard of living. There are some good things here and good people, like Carlos, our host, who has opened a portion of his restaurant to provide  free internet  for the local kids and our friends Jesse and Connie who try to volunteer for something wherever they stay.

On our last day, we wandered through a nature reserve right on the lake. It was very picturesque with some nice views, some Mayan relics, and even had rock cliffs for diving. The water sure looked enticing as it was hot, and the lake looked very clear and clean. Knowing what we know about the flourishing cyanobacteria, we didn’t jump in, but I suppose if you didn’t manage to swallow any water and you took a long hot shower after, it might be ok.

If you don’t like insects, this may not be the place for you. Much of central and south America has large bugs. We’re not partial to them but down here you go with the flow and Carlos’ place had its fair share of critters. Mostly large spiders and scorpions with an assortment of beetles, centipedes, and other multi-legged things. We would have taken some pictures of the bigger ones, but we were too busy being freaked out and wondering if the vacuum cleaner hose would be large enough. And besides, by the time you go get a camera, they have scurried away and then you are left lying awake at night wondering if they might crawl up your nose later.

The shuttle back to Antigua was the usual confusion. We had to take a Tuk Tuk back to San Pablo even though the shuttle was ‘supposed’ to pick us up. And yes, they wanted extra $$ for that ride as well.