Visit the villages of Lake Atitlán

Day 4: Lake Atitlan: Panajachel, San Marcos la Laguna, Santiago de Atitlán- Antigua - Guatemala City - Night bus to Flores

We continue with a kind of jetlag that seems not to want to leave us since we arrived in Antigua a couple of days ago. We woke up at 5 in the morning, taking advantage to leave everything fixed before going to visit the villages of Lake Atitlan. Yesterday when we arrived from the Mercado de Chichicastenango to Panajachel, we were informed at the Regis Spa that the price of the room did not include breakfast and not only that, but that they did not start serving it until 7:30 in the morning, without possibility to advance the schedule, so we have to go out to the street to find a place to start the day with a good breakfast.

We have been lucky and right in front, we have found a bar / restaurant, in which we have been told that despite being 6:15 in the morning, we would prepare a full breakfast with pancaques, which we have certainly vitiated, with juices and coffees for 80 quetzales.

Initially, when we were immersed in the preparations for the trip to Guatemala and Honduras for free, we decided that we would spend a full day visiting the villages of Lake Atitlan. The idea was to get up early and stay until 4 pm approximately here, at which time we would take a shared van that would take us to Antigia and from there Enrique de Guatemala Destinations would take us to Guatemala City to connect with the Golden Maya bus to 9 pm, which would leave us in Flores, in Petén at 6 am the next day.
We have had to modify this initial planning because of the ratification of the complaint that we have to do in the Public Prosecutor's Office of Antigua against Hektor Salazar of the agency Guatemala Land Royal Tours or Guatemala Royal Tours, Isauro Garcia Garcia of the agency World Maya Tours and Luis Miguel Laureano of the agency Gt Adventures Tours & Travel, 3 agencies that orchestrated by Mr. Hektor Salazarhave committed a scam in Guatemala against us. We will soon dedicate an unpleasant episode to this episode, in which we will explain everything that has happened to us and the steps we have taken to get justice to act against these charactersthat all they do is stain the name of their country committing Guatemala tourism scams.

All these days we have been in contact with Ángel de Proatur who told us that we would need a maximum of 2 hours to do this ratification, something with which we ensure that the authorities do the relevant investigation and there is a high probability of recovering our money and for Of course, take measures so that no more tourists are scammed in Guatemala, as we know today several more cases that have fallen into the networks of these unpresentables.
All this implies having to leave at 12 in the morning of Panajachel, so the only option to visit the villages of Lake Atitlan, as we had planned, it goes through to hire a private boat for 450 quetzals that will take us to travel only 2 villages, having to suppress the other 2, since for times it was unfeasible to do everything in the time that we have since 7 of the Tomorrow until 12 noon.
We put the situation of the Hektor Salazar scam in a balance and really the heart asks us to take advantage of the trip and leave the complaint aside, but the reason tells us that we must try by all means that this does not happen again with any tourist and being realistic and professional, we consider this to be Lastly, what we must do, although this entails giving up the full day we had planned today in the Lake Atitlan and we should keep only part of the scheduled visit.
It's 7 in the morning when Juan Gabriel, our boatman hired by Hugo from Guatemala Destinations arrives at the reception of our hotel in Panajachel to take us to the pier and start our tour of the villages of Lake Atitlan. Another good option is to book this tour of Lake Atitlan and its villages in advance.

Villages of Lake Atitlan

They say of Lake Atitlan what is he most beautiful lake in the world. We will not be the ones who deny this statement and we have to say that in this corner of Guatemala we have discovered one of those places where we would like to spend a season.

Lake Atitlán is a lake of volcanic origin, which is surrounded by 3 volcanoes: Tolimán, Atitlán and San Pedro, the 3 visible from several points of the lake, giving a unique image to this incredible place.

The lake is surrounded by several villages, 12 of them with names of saints, which are one of the reasons for visit Lake Atitlan. We leave you a selection of the most tourist and visited, so you can get an idea of ​​the visits to the villages of Lake Atitlan what can you do
- Panajachel: Also know as Corduroy, this is the most tourist town and also more used as a base to visit the rest of villages of Lake Atitlan. It is also the most accessible by road from Antigua, something that has a lot to do with this. Although many travelers tend to run away from it, considering it too touristy, we have to say, after our experience, that it is an excellent base if you're only going to be here one day. If your idea is to spend several days, it would not be a bad option to spend the first day here and then spend the night in some quieter one, where you can enjoy the incredible landscapes of this area of ​​Guatemala.
From the Pana pier, we can also confirm that it is the place from which you have the best views of Lake Atitlan.
- Santiago Atitlan: Between the volcanoes San Pedro and Tolimán, in front of Panajachel, we find Santiago of Atitlan, one of the essential visits. This is the place where you will probably be longer if you only do one day at Lake Atitlan, since it is not only the largest, but also the one with the most places interesting It has to visit.
- San Pedro La Laguna: Located at the foot of the San Pedro volcano, this is also one of the most visited Lake Atitlan villages. With a much more relaxed atmosphere, it is a good option if you feel like spending a few days relaxing and doing activities, depending on the time of day.
- San Juan La Laguna: Only 2 kilometers from San Pedro La Laguna and on a hill, San Juan awaits us, a place where tranquility is assured and also the contact with the traditions of the place, since the Zutujil have made sure of it.
- San Marcos La Laguna: They say he is the most beautiful village of Lake Atitlan. Here we will find two quite differentiated parts in the town, the highest, where the indigenous people live and the lower part, on the shores of the lake, where visitors are, attracted by an energy that they say is only found at this point in the country. This has proliferated countless businesses focused on meditation, yoga and alternative therapies, which dot the lower part of town, giving the place a more attractive environment.

How to visit the villages of Lake Atitlan

the best way to visit the villages of Lake Atitlán It is by boat. Be in the town where you are, there will always be a boat available that can or wants to take you to any of the other villages of Lake Atitlan. Of course, unless you hire private, it will leave when it is complete, so schedules are not insured.
The price of one private boat on Lake Atitlan for the whole day, touring about 4 villages, it is 450-500 quetzales.
If you want shared boats, the price is reduced a lot, about 25-50 quetzals per route, depending on the origin and destination.
The boat service can be hired directly at the jetty of the villages, recommended if you have enough time, since prices are cheaper or through an agency or accommodation.

A good option to visit this area from Antigua is to book this excursion to Lake Atitlan which includes a boat trip to Santiago with a guide in Spanish.
Another way to visit villages of Lake Atitlan It is to do it through the roads or paths that run through them, something that, according to the information they gave us, is not too advisable for the assaults that have occurred in recent times.

More practical information to prepare your trip to Guatemala

- 10 essential places to visit in Guatemala
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Guatemala

Wind Xocomil Lake Atitlan

Wind Xocomil is characteristic of Lake Atitlan that occurs, in general, from 2-3 in the afternoon, when the winds from the south collide with the cold air of the highlands, causing whirlpools that cause strong waves that can cause boats to tip over.
This is a reason to plan your visit to the villages of Lake Atitlan in the morning and so at this time, be on the mainland to avoid setbacks.

It does not take more than 5 minutes to travel along Santander street and be in front of the Panajachel jetty, from which you have the best views of Lake Atitlan, as we mentioned previously.

We take advantage of these hours in the morning, in which there is practically no one, to enjoy the place and above all enjoy the views that we currently have only for us, views that will undoubtedly remain in our retinas as one of the most beautiful of this trip to Guatemala and Honduras.
Juan Gabriel does not take more than 10 minutes to appear on the Panajachel jetty with the boat that will take us to know the two villages of Lake Atitlan After many laps, we have decided to meet: Santiago Atitlán and San Marcos La Laguna.

Following the advice of Juan Gabriel, the first of the towns we will visit will be San Marcos La Laguna, located about 20 minutes or so from Panajachel.
At this time of the morning the lake is calm, much more than we intuited yesterday when we arrived from the Chichicastenango Market and we saw it under the Xocomil that showed us its most part grumpy.

Book the best rated tours and excursions in Spanish from Guatemala by travelers:

- Lake Atitlan + Boat trip to Santiago
- Excursion to Copán
- Excursion to Tikal by plane
- Guided tour of Antigua
- Chichicastenango Market and Lake Atitlan

- Many more excursions and tours here

These 20 minutes of navigation, under a completely clear sky, is another of the gifts that this trip to Guatemala is giving us that we wanted to do so much and that we are so pleased, although we only have a few days.

Upon arrival at San Marcos La Laguna We understand the reason for that adjective, the most beautiful town of Lake Atitlan And it is that from the jetty we enjoy beautiful views of the surroundings.

To get into San Marcos La Laguna We have to take a street or path that goes directly from the jetty, where we begin to see on both sides the accommodations and businesses dedicated or focused on different practices of meditation, yoga or alternative energies, of which we had read so much.

This street takes us directly to the central square of the town, where we find the church, several establishments and also several restaurants or food stores in which it still seems not to have started the activity of the day and we can not forget that they are not Not even 8 in the morning.

San Marcos La Laguna, if you do not want to stop to eat or drink something, you can travel it in just over 45 minutes. We know this is a sin, since this town, like the rest of villages of Lake Atitlan They deserve much more time to know and savor them, but this time, we relate our experience, in which we have only had a few hours to know this area of ​​the country and we believe that they can be important data for travelers who can only dedicate one day to Lake Atitlan.

It's almost 9 in the morning when we finish this brief visit to San Marcos La Laguna and go on our way to Santiago Atitlan, one of the villages of Lake Atitlan more known and also more visited.
Soon we arrived more than 20 minutes, this time already fully surrounded by the Tolimán and San Pedro volcanoes that seem to want to protect this incredible corner of Lake Atitlan.
There is no doubt that we are not especially friends of tours or guided tours, but this time, first because of the short time we have and secondly because of the importance of the place, we believe that best way to get to know Santiago Atitlán It is with a guide. Upon arrival we have several around us that offer their services, although we finally opted for a professional guide, authorized by INGUAT, which for 200 quetzales includes guide and tuk tuk service to take us to the different points we want to visit and advise us of the municipality Santiago Atitlán.
We make the first stop at a woman's house, to see a demonstration of the use of tocoyal, a traditional garment worn by women of the place that only women of today use high rank in celebrations. The tocoyal has the perfect dimensions so that it turns twenty times around the head, something with a very special meaning, being related to the Mayan calendar, which consists of 20 days.

After this demonstration we have the motocarro at the door, which takes us directly to one of the viewpoints of Santiago Atitlán, from where we have beautiful views of both the lake and the volcano, which is presented just in front of us.

After being here for a while listening to the explanations of our guide, about the history, culture and many interesting notes about Santiago Atitlan, we approached to see the women washing in one of the washrooms of the municipality and it is that here it is not machine washed, if not by hand, inside the lake.
The elderly say that this activity massages the feet of women and keeps them alive and prepared for daily life.
In Santiago Atitlan There are 4 points to wash, which offer unique views of this ancient tradition, which we definitely recommend you know.

From here we go to Peace park, where 13 people died in 1990, motivating this fact to the signing of La Paz in Santiago in 96. These facts are told by our guide precisely and we can only listen, since we feel in his voice the pain caused by these facts and the closeness in time that still manifests itself in many of the acts of the place.

After this stop the time has come to make one of the most famous visits in Santiago Atitlán and on the lake, meet Maximón.

Maximón, the God of Santiago Atitlán

Maximón, also known as the god smoker, is a deity that is worshiped, who does not worship, in this area of ​​Guatemala. It is represented by the figure of a man, supposedly a mixture of Mayan gods with Judas and San Pedro de Alvarado whom Guatemalans worship and are going to ask for all kinds of blessings, showing their respects with offerings of all kinds, among which we find food and alcohol
The most curious thing about Maximón is that this changes annually from House, so if you are going to visit it for free, you must find out before, where it is located.
The reason for this change of location, according to experts, was to maintain a local balance of powers, although to us the guide tells us that the reason for this was after the conquest of the Spaniards, to prevent the deity from being found and eliminated , as it was considered a bad practice. In this way, they managed to prevent it from being localized, being able to maintain their customs until today.
To be able to take pictures, a donation is required, which is marked in 20 quetzals, collected by the person in your care.

Going with a guide, allows you to know all the history and at the same time know first hand the local customs.
It's 10 in the morning when we go to the Parish Church Santiago Apostle, the most important point of Santiago Atitlán and also one of the most important.

The Franciscans were the ones who built this church in the middle of the 16th century, the nerve center of the town today and an essential visit. On the walls of the church we find several wood carvings, symbolizing different saints, which are venerated, not knowing if it is directly to them or to the Mayan deities that are still preserved in the lower part.

After this visit we approach until Central Park or Plaza del quetzal, where we find a monument to Concepción Ramirez, whose face we can also see in the 25 cent coins of quetzal and a Relief map of Lake Atitlan, very useful to be able to locate the different towns.

At this point we end the tour, also leaving the motorcar and enter the local market, a super interesting visit that is not usually included in the Santiago Atitlan tour and where we check first hand what the guide told us a while ago, that there are 70% more women in Santiago Atitlan, due to the genetics and armed conflict of a few years ago.

Visit Santiago Atitlán

The best way to get to know Santiago Atitlán, if you don't have much time, is with a tour of the most important points.
For this you have two options:
- Motocarro or tuktuk: It costs about 120 quetzales and the same driver acts as a guide, explaining a bit the points you are visiting
- Motocarro or tuktuk plus authorized guide: It costs 200 quetzales, although they usually ask for 400. You can haggle and for two people reach about 200 quetzales for a 2-3 hour tour.
Our experience tells us that the best is the second, since the history of all the important points is very interesting and helps to understand the reality of this area and its inhabitants
After this visit today, we have even clearer that Guatemala is a country for feel it. There are incredible places, but the most incredible is its essence and its history. On this trip we have realized more, if that is possible, the need we have to start enjoying the slow travel, something we have been thinking and dreaming about for a long time and that we increasingly believe is closer.

After touring the local market, stopping to enjoy all that collection of colors and smells, we arrive at the main street, where we find the typical souvenir shops, at this time and much more lively than when we arrived a couple of years ago hours.
We enter several of them and we can verify that they have practically the same souvenirs as in the other stores, although here we observe that they do multiply the initial price by 3 and agree to sell if you raise that third by 10%.

It's almost 11 in the morning when we leave Santiago Atitlán to Panajachel, enjoying spectacular views of Lake Atitlan, which at times reminds us of Lake Titicaca that we could meet on our trip to Peru.

It's almost 11:30 when we arrive in Panajachel and seeing that we still have a few minutes left for the time we have left, we take advantage that practically there are still not many people on the jetty, to take some more photos and this is the best time , along with the morning, since in the afternoon this area is already filled with people and boats and it is quite cloudy, apart from the appearance of the Xocomil wind that "dazzles" the landscape a bit.

We also take the opportunity to buy some stamps, in Guatemala you can only buy them at Post Office and send some postcards, then go to the Regis Spa to pick up our bags and wait for the shared van that will take us from Panajachel to Antigua, which at the end is presented at 12 : 30, although we had met at 12, something that we will discover later is quite normal, since it has to pick up all the occupants for their hotels. The route from Panajachel to Antigua It takes us about 2 hours or so in which we return to enjoy a unique landscape and more when we see that we are traveling a stretch of the Pan American Highway, that legendary trip that we know we will do one day.

We have stayed with Angel of Proatur, he called us this morning, that we will call him when we are near Antigua so that he can come find us and take us to the Public Ministry, where we will ratify the complaint against Hektor Salazar and we will terminate the paperwork, at least on the days of this trip.
And so we spent the next hour in which we met again with Antigua, that city that so much fell in love with us a couple of days ago, in which we do all the procedures being on time at 5 in the afternoon at the Cafe Condesa, where we were with Enrique a little sooner, to make sure we arrive in Guatemala City before 9 pm, at which time our night bus leaves to Flores.
The usual time between Antigua and Guatemala City It is one hour, but we have been told that if there is traffic, this can be extended to 3 hours, so we prefer not to take a risk and leave a little earlier and thus ensure that we can connect with the bus.

The journey between the two cities may not be as pleasant as we do with Enrique, from Guatemala Destinations, never stop talking about Guatemala and Spain, comparing customs and of course exchanging our phones to keep in touch.

We have to wait a while in Guatemala City, in a terminal "a little" ramshackle, until it is time to leave our luggage and get on the bus where we will spend the next 8 hours on the way to the next icing on the cake of this travel: The Petén

Maya de Oro buses Guatemala

Although the seats, whatever the category, are all reclining, if you want to go more comfortable, especially on night trips of several hours, ensure first class, on the ground floor of the bus, since these are much better. They are more spacious seats and also have a wider angle. To us in the end, despite having commented that we wanted first class, they booked us in the upper part and although we have been comfortable, it has not been as much as if we had gone in the lower part.
To spend the night it is worth paying a little more and making the trip more comfortable.
Two minutes past 9 at night and we get going. It is already closed night when we cross Guatemala City on the way to El Petén.