Our accomodation – La Villa Atitlan– was lovely. 2 bedrooms, a pool and lawns leading to the edge of the lake. A perfect spot to chill for a few days and rest our weary legs. First stop was the laundry and then a supermarket to stock up on brekkie and booze. The nearest supermarket was a bit of hike up the hill – not ideal after walking 47kms – but we got to explore the village of San Pedro. As soon as we arrived it started bucketing down (you can set your clock to the timing of it every day) so we huddled under a canopy of a street stall and had the best fresh tacos ever. A$6 for 3 each. I then grabbed some hot chips – she held up fingers saying they were 2, 3 or 5. I thought she meant 20Q etc. No, she meant 2Q – 40c. That night we enjoyed the luxury of going to bed early tucked between nice clean sheets with it bucketing down outside.
The next day we did very little. I caught up with the blog while Deryn explored the town visiting the local market and wandering around the many little laneways. We were both still tired from the trek so enjoyed just lazing around on the hammock and outdoor chairs with the odd dip in the lake. We tried Jamie’s recommended falafel restaurant – Ha Falafel– and were not disappointed – fabulous. Deryn booked in a horse ride for the next day – 80Q ($16) for a 2 hour ride.
The horses and our guide met us a 100m from out villa and we proceeded to ride through the town. It was brilliant – dodging signs, tuk tuks, people etc. Before long the traffic thinned out and we were in the forest around the lake edge. Pedro our host’s English was very good so we got to hear a bit of history of the place. The water of the lake is rising because of the introduction of Black Bass by PanAm in the 50s – they thought they could sell the fishing to Americans. The introduction damaged the natural ecosystem. The bass ate all the local fish and none of the algae which in turn meant the algae bloomed. The algae plugged the vents at the bottom of the lake which helped drain it. Now the water is rising. Go figure. We headed out for 75m, taking only 45 to return. It was brilliant cantering along the paved roads and then winding our way back through the village. Best $16 we had ever spent. We stopped at Ha Falafel for another falafel on our way back to our villa. Spent the rest of the afternoon chilling before heading out around 4 to the hot springs on the other side of town. We were told upon arrival that they needed 30 minutes to heat the water up (not geothermal then) so we headed to a local bar for a quick couple of bevvies and a game of cards. Upon return the water was ready and we got to spend a lovely hour chilling in the hot pool, punctuated by a quick dip in the cold pool . Bliss.
We grabbed a boat the next morning to take us across the lake to San Marcos. It was sad leaving San Pedro, we really enjoyed the back packer vibe of the place. We waited at a local cafe to be picked up and taken to our new home as it was a wee way out of the village. San Marcos is known as the hippy haven on lake Atitlan and we could certainly see why. There were quite a few older, bedraggled and guant westerners around the place – maybe they looked worse before they arrived?? The village was cute. Eventually our host arrived to take us in a tuk tuk to our accommodation – about a 1km out of town. Baraka Atitlan was perched on the side of the cliff with stunning views of the 3 Lake Atitlan volcanoes – Atitlan, Pedro and Toliman. There were steep steps down to a small wharf to jump off into the lake. Magic.
After relaxing and taking in the serenity we headed back into town to grab some food at a Restaurant Fe – pizza and salad. We bumped into both Oded and his girlfriend as well as Teal and Brook walking past the restaurant. Deryn headed home while I travelled for an hour in a tuk tuk to meet a local person. 200Q tuktuk ride. I think I was ripped off but in the context of the bigger picture, not too bad. We did however have a fun night playing cards, boozing and interspersed with some vigorous debates. The next morning was spent enjoying the tranquility and view of our accommodation. Apart from the 2 climbs down the steps for swims and having to move from the upstairs apartment to the downstairs one on account of us being put in the wrong one, we did little activity. The downstairs apartment was still really nice but did not have the deckspace and as much sunlight. Best view from a toilet ever though. Around 4 we headed to Cerro Tzankujil (Nature Reserve) for the well know jump off the platform into the sea. It was 20Q entry fee and then we followed the path along the cliff face until we came across the platform. It was probably about a 10m jump, so not easy. I did a couple of jumps, including a back flip and even Deryn after some deliberation plucked up the courage to jump but landed slightly off so had a bit of a sore bum. We bumped into a couple of Kiwis from the Naki which was nice. I jumped again to encourage a small kid to do it – which he did. Brave wee fella. We made it home just before the heavens opened.
The next morning we grabbed a boat to take us to the town of Santa Cruz – known as the vertical town. The boat trip there was lovely – stopping at smaller towns and wharfs on the way and marvelling at some of the houses built on the edge of lake. Expats or locally owned we wonder? The climb from the wharf at Santa Cruz to the town itself was over 200 metres. There was music blaring from the top of the town – purpose unknown but certainly the speaker system was impressive. The actual town itself was a lot more indigenous than Pedro or Marcos. It was fun winding our way through the little alleyways and streets avoiding the copious amounts of dog poop. We found a tienda selling locally manufactured goods so stocked up on a few local wares.
On the return journey on the boat we bumped into some Aussies from Perth although one of them was now living in Mairangi Bay in Auckland. Small world indeed. We stopped at Restaurant Fe again for the same pizza and salad. The owner recognised us from earlier and returned Deryn’s water bottle which she thought she had lost. We returned home for a kip, followed by our now regular daily exercise routines then it was into the cards and booze before our favourite home made meal of taco shells, tomato, onion, cheese, avocado, jalapeños and spicy sauce. Yum!! It was a reasonably early bedtime to start watching the next series of Mindhunter.
And to finish of course with a dog..
