Day Two/Three: Lake Atitlan

On Thursday afternoon we drove from Chichicastenango to Hotel Atitlan, which is located in Panajachel on the shore of Lake Atitlan. This lake is considered one of the most beautiful in the world, and I was so excited to finally see it after hearing Paul speak so highly of it all the time. It was even more beautiful than I imagined. Here's the view from the pool area:

 

And the view from our room:

Those mountain-like things are actually volcanoes (not active ones). In the morning you can see them very clearly, though clouds move in as the day progresses. After settling in a bit, we spent some time just relaxing in the jacuzzi, which overlooks the lake and the volcanoes. The hotel has breathtaking gardens surrounding it. We spent a while walking through beautiful, forested paths with exotic flowers:

We finished off Thursday with dinner in Panajachel, which is a pretty lively place with a popular nightlife for locals and tourists alike. On Friday we awoke fairly early to catch a boat to some small villages around the lake. We had stunning views out on the water:

Our first stop was Santiago, a traditional Kaqchikel village at the base of Volcan Toliman. We hired a couple Tuk-Tuks to give us a tour of the area and take us uphill:

We went to the small town of Panabaj, which suffered tremendously after mudslides destroyed most buildings and killed hundreds. You can still see some of the wreckage: 

We received another sobering history lesson at a Panabaj memorial where 13 citizens (some as young as 8), armed with sticks and stones, were gunned down during the civil war in 1990. After being thoroughly depressed, we returned to the main area of Santiago for some shopping before boating away. We also drank a very large coconut. They literally just open up a coconut and stick a straw in it. It's really good! Most people around town are in traditional dress, which I found very beautiful:

After buying far too much, we set off for San Antonio. This is a smaller, less touristy town known for it's textiles. People here were desperate to sell their work, offering deals like 5 scarves for 1 quetzal- the equivalent of about 4 cents each. We got to watch some women at work:

 

Paul's family convinced me to let the women dress me up in their traditional outfit, which actually ended up being really awesome:

They made my hair really pretty, too:

We returned to Panajachel to gather our belongings and headed towards Antigua, where I am now. Tomorrow we're off to Tikal to climb around some ancient Mayan ruins. Expect a big picture-filled post from that!