Sittin' on the Dock of the Lake

I am admittedly jaded. After so many years on the road, i have had the honour to see the biggest, tallest, oldest and whatever other superlative there is. Compared to the best 2^nd or 3^rd place pale in comparison. Central America has been rather underwhelming. It's one carbon copy colonial town after another. Beaches which are all the same to me. And a series of ruins that sort of blend into one after a while. But in the Guatemalan highlands lies a special treat. A place that has moved somewhere into my top natural places on Earth, a volcanic crater filled with water, Lake Atitlán.

The region around what is now Lake Atitlán has been volcanically active for over 100,000 years. But it's was some fateful date around 85,000 years ago that the mighty Los Chocoyos blew it's top, literally. Ash and debris were scattered as far as Panama or Florida. The massive expulsion of magma caused a kind of sink hole that collapsed into a roughly circular cauldron. This dent in the Earth soon filled with water creating was is now Lake Atitlán. As the years passed (and we're talking 10,000s of years) a few smaller (but not small) volcanoes popped up around the lake. Ranging in size from 3020 metres to 3537 metres above sea level, they certainly aren't tiny. The lake, 8km X 18km, covers 128 km2 and is up to 300 metres deep. But it's not the history nor the impressive figures that sets this place apart.

To call Atitlán beatiful would be a tremendous understatement. On a calm day, with reflections of huge volcanoes disturbed only by fishing boats of the locals, the site is truly awesome. I honestly cannot even remotely compare it to any other place on Earth. But to add to the shear beauty of the place, there's is the bonus of traditional Mayan lifestyle in the villages surrounding the lake. Kaqchiquel and Tz'utujil people still live a relatively traditional lifestyle, speaking their Mayan dialects as a native language. Of course with the magnitude of the site, mass tourism was bound to catch on. And that it has. And, sadly, the side effects have been less than positive.

The main town of Panajachel (known as Pana or Gringotenango) is a perfect example of tourism gone wrong. The ridiculous haphazardly built hotels and restaurant are literally building overtop each other for that ever increasingly elusive lake view. The place is downright ugly. The backpacker ghetto street of Santander has less charm than Kao San Road in Bangkok (BTW i hated Kao San Road). It has gotten to the point that it's down right dangerous. A recent tropical storm saw a dramatic flash flood in the river through town. The subsequent erosion washed newly built homes and hotels into the river (and therefore into the lake). Speaking with locals, one of the number one topics is how unbelievably dirty the lake has become. In fact it's so bad in parts, you need to wade through the garbage for several metres before getting to “clean” water. However, even with the absolutely lack of concern of the negative impacts of development, Lake Atitlán will impress even the most jaded of travellers. It impressed me.

Getting to the lake can either be easy or hard. There are a couple of rumoured direct buses, but i found no evidence of them (i didn't really look all that hard). So the next best choice are shuttles. At twice to 4X the price of local buses, they are much more convenient and comfortable. That said, for me there's nothing better than an overly full Guatemalan “chicken bus”, that is except for 4+ chicken buses which is likely how many you'll need to take to get to the lake from any “major” city in the country. Either way, it is absolutely worth it. Natural beauty, cultural purity and endless backpackers make for an unforgettable stop in your Guatemalan holiday (ok it could do without the backpackers).