San Marcos de Atitlán, Guatemala

Lake Atitlán, with Volcán San Pedro in the background

Hola amigos!

Lake Atitlán was certainly an interesting way to begin my trip, very different from anywhere else I've been. It's a tiny but bustling little ecosystem, filled with people from very different walks of life - indigenous Mayans, Guatemalan tourists, American expats, hippies, party kids, Europeans. An odd mix of world travelers, and people who have spent their entire lives in a single village.

The lake (an ancient, deep volcanic crater), is ringed by more volcanoes, with 9 or 10 villages nestled between their folds. To get from one village to the next, you can take a little 3 wheeled taxi (a "Tuk-Tuk") for 10Q (~$1.50) - but be warned, the roads between villages are very rocky, and the Tuk-Tuks are barely faster than walking!

Tuk-Tuks navigating the streets of San Pedro

A better option to go between villages is to take a boat across the lake, for 10-15Q ($1.50 - $2.00).  Boats come every 20 minutes or so in each direction (like most things here, there's no fixed schedule). They're a lot of fun, but when the waves are high and the boats are fully loaded, it seems like they barely stay above water!

Each village has its own flavor, and certainly merits more exploration than I had time for. Santiago de Atitlan, for example, is the town which retains the most of its indigenous culture. The market there is quite a thing to see! They sell everything from food to underwear in open air stalls - I didn't get good pictures because I felt too self-conscious snapping pictures like a gringo tourist, but it looks something like this:

A non-market day

I spent most of my time in the little town of San Marcos, which has much more of a hippie/expat culture. And when I say little, I do mean little. Most of the storefronts and restaurants line the single main street on the way to the dock (not even large enough for a Tuk-Tuk, let alone a car!) There is a residential neighborhood of sorts in the hills, but there's nothing there for tourists. You can see the entire town in about half an hour of walking!

"Main street", with women carrying their wares

Yet despite its size, San Marcos boasts an impressive number of restaurants, hostels and new age spirituality/self-improvement workshops, all catering to the travelers and permanent or semi-permanent expats. The billboards in front of the hostels are full of advertisements for cacao ceremonies, yoga classes, massage courses, ecstatic dance, sound healing, tarot readings, etc, etc. It's easy to roll your eyes at these, but I found that there was a lot to be said for entering into them with an open mind and simply enjoying the experience. Were they empty contrivances? Sometimes. But even a placebo works if you believe in it, and usually what you get out of an experience depends on what you put into it.

Speaking of what you put in to an experience, the first night I was here set the stage in some ways for the rest of my time. When I arrived, fresh off a red-eye flight and 5 hot, smelly, bumpy hours in a taxi, I was ready for a hot shower and an early bed. But I found out from the hostel staff that there was a full moon ceremony that very night!  In the spirit of adventure and trying new things, I decided that was the right way to start my trip, so I took a quick shower, downed two cups of coffee, and headed out for an all night party.

It started with a private boat to the middle of the lake, where our group (about 50 people) danced to a local DJ and welcomed the sunset.  Then the boat dropped us off at one of the communities just outside of San Marcos, where we ate dinner (yummy vegan stew, rice and coconuts), and spent the rest of the night sipping cacao, chanting around a bonfire, dancing, meditating, or whatever else we felt like doing ;)

Sunrise the next morning was magical. People welcomed it each in their own way: doing yoga, tai chi, swimming, or just sitting quietly and watching. I stayed long enough to see the full sunrise and share another cup of cacao, then headed home to sleep away the rest of the day.

Sunrise over the lake

The rest of my time in San Marcos was less extreme: I did some yoga, some hiking, some shopping and quite a lot of lying in my hammock. Mostly, it was a place for me to relax, collect my thoughts, and adjust to being out of the Bay Area. The most striking difference to me is that people here are far less guarded; they're not afraid to look you in the eye and smile as you walk down the street, or have an emotional connection with a total stranger. I can't tell you how refreshing that is after the guardedness and emotional barriers of Silicon Valley.

All in all, San Marcos was an incredibly peaceful and relaxing place to spend a few weeks, and definitely an important part of my journey (especially my inward journey...) I wouldn't have minded staying longer, but there are so many more places in the world to see! Next stop will be Buenos Aires, Argentina - talk about contrasts, from a town of 2200 people to a city of 3 million! See you all from the Southern hemisphere!