Lake Atitlan para el fin de semana

For the weekend, Cara and I took a short trip to Lake Atitlan. At least, we thought it would be a short trip, some 60 miles distant, but the drive took about 3 and a half hours. road works, windy roads, narrow streets and slow trucks. That's the way it is!

Lake Atitlan is very beautiful, a high, deep lake surrounded by volcanoes.


It's right in the middle of coffee country. Mmmm, coffee!


Couple shots from the Sunday market in Santiago de Atitlan, the town where we stayed. I had to be a bit stealthy with the photos, if you ask the locals for permission, they either run away or ask you for money! But their clothing was beautiful, it's neat how each area and village has it's own style. Santiago was big on purple and stripes, and the men wore white midlength shorts, often embroidered with extremely detailed birds.



Neat door.


Ok, so on the drive in, I saw this painted on the side of a building and just had to stop. Esmeralda is famous!! Really made my day.


Cara and I above the lake:


Chicken bus. I love these things. Except when they're driving on the same road as me, then they're nothing short of terrifying.


Maximon, a minor saint of the region. He moves houses every year in a big festival, and the locals often make offerings to him. I'm told he favors cigars, rum and nice shoes.


Salvador, a local we hired for a couple bucks to tell us about Maximon and the history of Santiago de Atitlan. Those kids snuck into the side of the photo, and then the cheeky buggers asked me for money! No dinero para sus!


My Spanish teacher Mariela scolds Esmeralda and I for not studying over the weekend:


It was a great weekend trip, we stayed in a really nice place right on the lake. Did some swimming, hit the sauna and hot tub, and canoed a bit out on the lake. Got some photos of that on Cara's camera, I'll load up some of them later.