Aldous Huxley said Lake Atitlan was the most beautiful lake in the world, and it is! We absolutely loved this place and the people there. We spent about 5 days at the lake, exploring the various towns and villages like Santa Cruz (very traditional), San Marcus (hippy) and Panachel (main town). Transport is by taxi boat which was fun, or you can hike round the old trails from village to village which kept us fit!
Life is still very much traditional in small lake-side villages we walked through. Women wear traditional dress, coffee is the main trade (& tourism) and the lake is the center of life.
At 12 miles long and around 80 square miles, it's pretty impressive and diverse. From every town and village the views are just beautiful. We stayed in a little hostel in San Pedro Laguna for a couple of nights, its a buzzy little tourist town but we had fun hanging out with some fellow Londoners.
Then moved to Jabalito, a tiny village across the lake to stay in what is referred to as Guatamala's most beautiful hotel in all the books, Casa del Mundo. The place was a real treat!
It's the only hotel in the village and it's position gives it the most stunning views of the lake. From our bedroom (and lying in bed) you could look out at the expanse of stars, the whole lake and the mountains. Each night they held family style candle-lit dinners so you would have about 15 people round the table for a 5 course dinner. We met some brilliant people, especially a hilarious father and son, Gunther and Mateus, who were on hols from LA. Brilliant fun!
Here's some snaps: Enjoying the sunset before dinner, crossing the lake, Pete braving a dip, I fell in love with this boy who sold banana cake to us everyday and finally, the beautiful Casa del Mundo.
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