Kayaking and Hiking at Lake Atitlan

Lake Atitlan is considered one of the must-see sights in Guatemala. Surrounded by several volcanoes, the lake was formed by a volcanic eruption ages ago and has a depth of over 300 meters. Lacking an outlet for water, the run-off from the surrounding mountains and volcanoes collects in the lake and varies its depth drastically over a short period of time. Occasionally, local earthquakes have opened cracks that have served as drains, but these outlets have later been shifted closed by subsequent tremors. Overall, it is said that the water level of the lake has risen about 40 feet in the last 50 years.

Lake Atitlan is about a 3-hour drive via shuttle from Antigua. Four other companions and myself piled into a van Wednesday afternoon around lunchtime and slowly weaved through the crowds that characteristically populate Antigua during Semana Santa (Easter week) into neighboring cities where we ran into just as much excitement with political rallies (given the impending presidential election) and even a murder scene in the middle of the street, with the victim still laying on the ground surrounded by swarming police and onlookers. We finally left the cities to enter the mountains, speeding along barrier-less roads that hugged the slopes and, marked with “dangerous curve” signs, curved left and right so drastically that it was hard to keep track of which direction we heading in. The mountains were truly awe-inspiring, jutting up into the clouds and yet apparently having no slope too steep to be feasibly farmed by the locals.

Once we arrived at Panajachel, a famous lake-side town sickeningly saturated with both Guatemalan and foreign tourists, we found a little motorized transport boat, sloshing with water that had collected in its plastic interior, to take us across the lake to Santa Cruz where we were staying in a eco-friendly lodge for the night. I loved this lodge (called Iguana Perdida) – which had open-air, tree-house style dormitory beds, and which provided us with a hearty family-style dinner of homemade vegetarian curry, spinach soup, fresh-baked bread, and carrot-pineapple cake, served around big tables that allowed us to interact with the other guests. I had a really lovely conversation with a couple from New Zealand who were traveling around Central America and had literally been to nearly every other country in the world over the course of the last several years. Talking with them got my gears going about thinking of all the places I’d still like to visit…

Purely by coincidence, I also ran into my friend, Abby, from high school who has been serving in the Peace Corps in Guatemala, and who was vacationing at the same lodge with another Peace Corps volunteer friend of hers for the night. It was fun to chat with them, and while we were doing so, a whole swarm of Peace Corps volunteers from Honduras came in – the subsequent conversation proving that, no matter the country, PCVs can instantly relate given our experiences in the program.

The evening we arrived was unfortunately rainy, but by 6AM the next morning, the clouds had cleared enough to allow for a pleasant 2-hour sea-kayaking trip across the calm morning lake (fortunately not sunny enough to remind me of the fact that my 80-cent Togo sunglasses, in bad timing, had finally met their demise the night prior). Kayaking was so fun! I wish we had had more time for it, but we stopped around 9:30AM at another tranquil spot along the lake to eat at another eco-friendly joint (called MoonFish) that provided food made with locally-grown, organic ingredients. I had a wonderful breakfast of made-from-scratch whole-wheat pancakes with yogurt, papaya, pineapple, and locally harvested honey along with freshly-squeezed orange juice – all for a price of less than 5 dollars.




After breakfast (ignoring the 30 minute waiting rule), we scaled along the rocks neighboring the breakfast joint to find a spot to dip into the deep-turquoise colored waters before the incoming clouds made it too chilly to swim. We found a platform that had been set up high on the rocks to allow for a 25 to 30-foot high jump into the waters below – which just one other person from my group and myself decided to try. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I did it twice.


After drying off, we embarked on what ended up being a 3-hour hike along the elevated mountainside path that provided a scenic view of the lake below. By this point, the clouds characterizing the start of rainy season had unfortunately billowed in, preventing us from having as spectacular of a view – but perhaps it was a blessing in disguise in its service in shielding us from the hot sun. We got back to our lodge by mid-afternoon, in time to catch a boat then shuttle back to Antigua by evening. Not a bad way to spend the day!