The View

Days 6-8: Lake Atitlan & Tzununa

After finishing up touring Antigua, we hopped in the car and drove straight through to Panajachel, a small town by Lake Atitlan, which I have to admit is one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever seen. Lake Atitlan is surrounded by steep hills, picturesque mayan villages and massive volcanoes, one of which is still active and you can see it "smoking" in the early mornings. The first evening there, we stayed in the Hotel Atitlan and by luck, we were given a suite for the evening, which my parents enjoyed. It overlooked the gorgeous grounds, the lake and the volcanoes.

The following morning, we just walked around the grounds of the hotel enjoying all of the birds and flowers and took a dip in the infinity jacuzzi pool overlooking the lake and volcanoes. It was incredibly relaxing and I almost didn't want to leave the hotel.

Hotel Atitlan was gorgeous and had great views!

Dallin and I relaxing after a swim

Enjoying the infinity jacuzzi pool

After checking out, we headed into town and did some shopping at the mercado. This is where I bought most of our "souvenirs" from our trip. I bought some really pretty textiles, a few nativities and some really cute dresses for my daughter and toys for the boys. I love looking at the native mayans. Their clothes are vibrant and they carry everything on their heads... it's impressive. I don't know how it doesn't keep falling off, but they carry everything from clothing to baskets full of food, etc... on their heads.

Visiting the "mercado"

I love how they carry everything on their heads

We had made reservations at a really quaint (but remote) hotel called Lomas de Tzununa for the next two evenings, and we wanted to arrive there early because you could only get there by boat and then climb 400+ stairs to reach the cabins which were literally built into the side of a steep mountain. The beauty of this hotel was that it was away from all of the "tourist" stops and you had completely unobstructed views of the lake and volcanoes.

So after shopping, we headed over to the pier and got on one of the "ferry" boats heading to the various villages surrounding the lake. By now the wind had picked up a bit and the water was pretty choppy so the boat ride seemed a bit harrowing at times. We got completely drenched from the waves splashing into the boat and after what seemed an eternity, we finally made it to the pier at Tzununa. Like I mentioned, there were 400+ really steep stairs to climb, so we called the hotel who sent down 2 hotel workers to carry up ALL of our luggage. We had 5 pieces of luggage, 3 of which were BIG pieces and those 2 guys carried our luggage all of the way up the stairs. It was incredible. It was a workout getting up these stairs, let me tell you, and we all needed to sit down and rest a few times on the way up. But once you got up there, you were rewarded with FANTASTIC views of the lake and volcanoes.

A view of the hotel from the lake as we were pulling in

Getting soaking wet on the boat

Getting ready to climb the 400+ stairs

The next morning we woke up and enjoyed breakfast while overlooking the lake and volcanoes. Then hopped aboard another one of the boats and headed out to visit the many villages around the lake. Once we were in the villages, we had to board what they call "tuk-tuks." They're kind of what you imagine people riding around in India or someplace like that. They're like little buggies with a driver in front and room for 2-3 people in the back. Anyway, we visited the villages, enjoyed some local food and did some more shopping with the local vendors.

Bartering over a beautiful textile which I ended up buying!

Riding in the "tuk tuk"

Enjoying the views from Lomas de Tzununa

Enjoying a delicious breakfast on the hotel balcony