Truth be told, when we arrived after noon (despite leaving Antigua at 8:30 in the morning; Holy Week traffic perhaps), it was cloudy/foggy, and we couldn't see much of the lake. We had a quick lunch at one of the mirador restaurants along Calle del Lago before checking in our hotel.
 |
| Lunch after being stuck in the shuttle for four hours |
Since it was quite overcast, we decided to just walk around Panajachel a bit and get some errands done. We changed some cash at the bank, bought tickets for Tikal, booked a boat tour for the lake, and confirmed some shuttle trips.
 |
| Calle Santander in Pana |
Panajachel, or
Pana as it is fondly called, is the gateway to the lake, and is the lake's main tourist town. Most shuttles will bring you there, and from there travelers take boats to the Mayan towns and villages around the lake. It's a very small town made up of two main streets --
Calle Santander and Calle Principal -- that you can walk up and down in a day. We walked a bit around the north of the city stopping by this pretty church pictured below, and checked out the municipal market.
 |
| Iglesia de San Francisco de Asis |
Then we went back down to Calle Santander, checked out the
artesanía market, and just walked around a bit more. It was a nice place to stay in for our first time visiting the lake, but the other towns around the lake are so much prettier and relaxing, as we learned when we did the boat tour (later on in this post).
 |
| Always such beautiful finds at the artisanal market |
While I did enjoy Pana, between walking around and the cloudy views we had of the lake, I wasn't too impressed. But upon waking up the next morning, we saw the sunrise and the view from our room, and it was beautiful. We quickly got dressed so we could bask in the view and take pictures before having breakfast and going on our day trip to Chichicastenango. It was truly an amazing sight to behold, and I finally understood what all the fuss was about.
 |
| The gorgeous Lake Atitlán |
After taking a lot pictures (we stopped several times along the road because the view just kept getting prettier and prettier), we had a quick breakfast at
Deli Jasmín, before heading back to our hotel to await our shuttle to Chichicastenango (more on that in a separate post!).
 |
| Hearty breakfast to prepare us for the day |
When we got back from Chichicastenango in the afternoon, we dropped our things off at the hotel, rested for a while, then walked around a bit more. Even though there were quite a number of tourists in town, and Calle del Lago (the street by the lake) is too touristy for my liking, Pana still had a good vibe.
In particular it had really nice restaurants. We had dinner at
Circus Bar, which a friend recommended, and which deserves to be on this post, because it was so good.
 |
| The pizza was amazing |
The day after, we woke up early yet again to take more (and better pictures), since we were "in a rush" the previous morning.
 |
| I swear, the views got even more beautiful the next day |
My mom was nice enough to indulge in my picture requests (and her photography skills improved throughout the week ;) ).
We had breakfast again at Deli Jasmín since the food and the ambience was good, but we didn't get to enjoy it as much the day before.
Then we then did a boat tour which we had booked with
Atitrans to visit three Mayan villages around the lake. One of the things that makes Lake Atitlán so popular is that it is surrounded by several Mayan villages, each with its own charm.
We had a pretty big group, and our tour was in both Spanish and English. Our tour guide Alex was really funny and informative, and definitely made the tour enjoyable for us. He started off with some background on Guatemala and the Lake, told us about our itinerary for the day, and then we were off!
 |
| Our tour guide Alex |
The first stop was
San Juan la Laguna. We were welcomed on the dock by some music on the
marimba, Guatemala's national instrument. (I actually learned how to play the
marimba in elementary school, and I love the sound and music it makes).
 |
| The marimba |
 |
| The streets of San Juan |
First we visited a women's cooperative. We learned about the process on how they make the textiles that Guatemala is famous for. Our guide also told us about how the garments of the 22 different Mayan ethnic groups in Guatemala have their own colors and style.
 |
| Women doing some demonstration |
We also learned that San Juan was an artist town. We met one artist who had been studying as a young boy, and who was able to use the money he earned from painting to finance his university studies. The town has grown a lot, and is one of the more developed ones because of the importance it places on education and women empowerment. The artist we met would work on the weekdays, and study on the weekends (the university is open on the weekends instead of weekdays to accommodate the working people in the town). San Juan had such a lovely story, and despite its small size, was teeming with art and art galleries.
 |
| so many art galleries |
 |
| and murals |
San Juan was such a charming little town (and my favorite of the three).
 |
| San Juan |
Next stop was
San Pedro La Laguna. Here in Guatemala, when a place has
nango it means "place of." For example
Quetzaltenango means "place of
quetzal" (a bird), and
Chichicastenango means "place of
chichi" (a flower). Our guide joked that San Pedro was nicknamed
Gringotenango "place of
gringo," which is what the locals call foreigners. It's also nicknamed the party town (at least according to our guide), and is highly popular with tourists, especially backpackers, for its abundance of inexpensive hostels, Spanish schools, bars, and restaurants.
My mom took the guide's word to heart, and was not very keen on exploring San Pedro (we didn't even have a guided tour here, just 30 minutes of free time). We just walked down one of the streets, bought some ice cream to beat the heat, then headed back down to the dock.
 |
| Rare picture with my mother |
Our third and last stop was
Santiago Atitlán, the second biggest town in the Lake after Panajachel, with a population of 60,000.
We were a bit pressed for time at this point, so we rushed through the market, then stopped at this church. The
Iglesia Parroquial Santiago Apóstol was once a Mayan temple and the church was later built on top. Santiago is also the hometown of the deity Maximón, which I had written a little bit about
here. You could pay your respects or drop off offerings to him in a little house to the left of the church.
Before heading back to our boat, we had lunch (which we all had ordered before we went to the church; smart guide). Upon recommendation from our tour guide we tried some
mojarra, a native fish that can be fished from the lake. I am not a fan of fish, but I'll admit that it was delicious. My mom and I ordered it grilled and fried, and shared and tried both. I'm torn between which one I liked more, because it was just that good.
 |
| mojarra |
We had just a little bit of time to enjoy a casual walk back to the dock, before we got back on the boat, and speeded off to Pana.
We really enjoyed the tour around the lake. Although it's possible to visit the villages on your own (just get a lancha or boat from the dock; and there are so many more villages to visit!), it was a nice way to get oriented. After getting back from the boat tour we just grabbed our bags, and then were on a shuttle back to Guatemala City for our next leg of the trip: Flores and Tikal. :)
Comments