Christmas and New Year at Lago Atitlán

After a week in Antigua, we took a short shuttle bus to Lago Atitlán - lake Atitlán, where we planned to spend Christmas and new year. 


Lago Atitlán is a volcanic lake 18km long, 6km wide and 325m deep. The lake sits at an altitude of 1500m, and the locals say the climate is ‘eternal spring,’ because it’s always a sunny 25 degrees every day. There are 11 towns around the lake, and each is different with it’s own culture and personality. Lots of the towns are only accessible by boat, and don’t have any road acesss to them. We decided to stay in a few different towns during our time at the lake. 

Panajachel:We arrived from Antigua to our first lake-side destination for a few nights: Panajachel. We had a good view of lake here, and enjoyed sitting by the lake and watching the locals swim (the water here was a bit too dirty for us to venture in!). We spent our time here wondering the colourful streets, looking at the handicrafts and locally made goods, and eating at some lovely restaurants. We managed to catch a good sunset from a bar on the lake too! 


Staying in a house on the mountainside over Christmas:We decided to book a house to stay in over Christmas at the lake; we were both looking forward to having our own space and Ash wanted to have a kitchen to cook Christmas dinner! We found a lovely house on Airbnb between the villages of Jaibalito and Santa Cruz la Laguna. You could only access the house by boat from the lake. The house had its own dock on the lake where we could catch a boat and go for a swim, and it was a steep 10 minute hike up from the lake in the mountainside. The views from the house were worth the hike though! There were even two resident dogs at the house, who greeted us every day.


We spent six days here in total, and loved swimming in the lake each morning, and sitting on the balcony to enjoy the views. In the evenings it gets colder at the lake and we lit a fire most nights to keep warm and toasty. The star gazing from here was unbelievable, often when I got up in the night to use the toilet I would stay for ages looking at the sky! Sunrise and sunset were also beautiful from the house, and we could even see Volcan Fuego erupting most days! 

Ash did a cracking Christmas dinner, it was hard to get some things from the supermarkets here but he made it work! He did homemade pizza for Christmas Eve, and a buffet on Boxing Day. We had bought each other a few small gifts to open Christmas Day, and had lots of video calls with our family - it was so good to see and speak to everyone! The best thing about Christmas at the lake is Christmas Eve at midnight, all the villages around the lake let off hundreds of fireworks - it was an incredible experience to see and hear all the fireworks at once (sadly I didn’t get a picture!). 


Whilst we were at the house, we went for walks to the surrounding villages which were good to visit, and both very different from each other. It was nice to have a relaxed Christmas together after a few months of travelling and moving round, and it was the first time this trip we had our own house which was so lovely. 

San Pedro la Laguna:After a lovely few days relaxing over Christmas, we packed up and moved once again to another town on the lake - San Pedro. San Pedro is the main tourist town on the lake, and has lots of amenities (you can access it by road!). We spent three nights between Christmas and new year here, exploring the town, shops, bars and restaurants, and doing some more chilling by the lake! We walked to the neighbouring town San Juan de la Laguna one day, which is nicknamed the artists village. There are lots of murals and art installations in the street and we really enjoyed wandering around and taking some photos! 

New Years at San Marcos de la Laguna:Though we liked San Pedro, it was a bit touristy and loud for us, especially after having a week of peace and quiet in the Airbnb! So we decided to spend three nights over the new year at another town on the lake - San Marcos. 
San Marcos is known as the hippy town, and there are lots of quirky shops, yoga classes, and various offerings of healings. Most of the restaurants are veggie or vegan, and lots of ex-pats live there. We enjoyed spending a few days here exploring the town, and I went to a lovely yoga class overlooking the lake. We went to a New Year’s Eve party at a bar on the lake, and enjoyed the beer, live music and meeting some of the local ex-pats (we had so much fun I didn’t take any photos!). 

Overall, we had a lovely few weeks at the lake exploring the different towns, and having some down time after our first three months of backpacking. Though it wasn’t the same as being at home and with our family, we enjoyed spending Christmas in Guatemala (and we promise we will be home next year!). Ash enjoyed observing the local culture and customs at the lake, like the local ladies who wash their clothes in the lake and take a shower at the same time! 
One of the things we struggled with was the pollution of the lake, which was really sad. I’m places there was lots of litter, and as there are no sewers, all sewage from the towns goes directly into lake. Locals washed their clothes in the lake which is an old custom, but whereas before they would wash with natural soap, now they wash with chemical detergents which then go directly into the lake. The local people we spoke to said that they wanted the government to put more control in around the lake to stop the pollution. 
Next destination: a week in Spanish school in San Pedro la Laguna.