Tour of Lake Atitlan
Description:
145 km west of the capital of Guatemala at an altitude of 1500 m is one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, Lake Atitlan. When he saw the famous English writer Aldous Huxley, he said that there are beautiful places in the world, but it exceeds all expectations.
According to scientists, Atitlan was formed 85,000 years ago due to the eruption of a huge volcanic caldera. Therefore, the shape of the lake resembles a volcanic crater. Lake Atitlan is the deepest lake in Central America, with a depth of 350 m. The area is 125 km2.
The lake is guarded by 3 cone-shaped giants: Toliman and Atitlan on one side and San Pedro on the other. Translated from the language pipyl, Atitlan means Atl-water and Titan - a place or hill, i.e. a place or hill among the water. On the shores of the lake there are 12 small settlements, where the Mayan peoples of Kakchikeli and Ttsutuhili live. 10 of these villages are named after the apostles of Jesus Christ (San Pedro, San Juan, Santiago, San Marcos, etc.). These people are very different in their colorful clothes and their religion. Tourists begin their acquaintance with Atitlan from its transshipment point, the city of Panahachel. Many tourists call Panahachel-Gringotenango or the place where gringos or foreigners live. In the 70s, hippies settled here, so walking along the local Arbat, Santander Street, you can still see the elderly hippies, as well as their children and grandchildren who keep restaurants, cafes and hotels.
In Panahachel there are restaurants for every taste and hotels for every wallet. The most visited city on the lake is Santiago. Santiago, founded in 1547 at the foot of the Toliman volcano, is the largest city with a population of 32,000 people, 95% of whom are Maya Tsutuhil. The local population lives off of fishing, agriculture and kayukos (local canoes). Craftsmen specialize in painting, woodwork and weaving. Santiago is the city of worship of Machimon, a pagan deity or god of the Maya people, who receive donations in the form of alcohol and cigars. He lives in the house of the head of a religious fraternity or cophradia for a year; and the family in which Machimon lives is not employed. Their only job is to take care of God. It is also worth a look at the local Catholic Church, where two religions – Catholicism and the Mayan faith – have merged and a stroll past the local city hall, where the elders of the city sit dressed in white striped shorts and embroidered birds.
It's a real flavor. All men in Santiago wear shorts striped with birds on the edge, and women wear a wiipil (blouse), with bird embroidery. Also in Santiago, women wear a special headdress – Tokoyal. Also worth visiting is the cleanest and most neat town on the lake, San Juan. There are many art galleries, whose artists write in the style of Naive or primitivism. There are many women's cooperatives in San Juan. You can visit a women’s textile factory, see the processes of hand-weaving and natural staining, and also get acquainted with a group of mosquitoes or midwives who grow different types of medicinal herbs for natural medicine.
Traditional agriculture, fishing, weaving reed mats and the production of high-quality textiles are an integral part of the life of the local population. Extreme lovers can visit the natural park "Reserve natural" near the Atitlan hotel and walk on suspension bridges or ride over the treetops and waterfall on the "canopy".