The towns of Lago De Atitlan, Guatemala

San Pedro La Laguna

Now I’m not sure if anyone else struggled this much to get to San Pedro La Laguna, but 3 chicken buses, sat in a road full of only cows, and then a hitchhike I finally made it to the lake. I travelled from Xela which may be why it was difficult, but from Antigua or Cuidad de Guatemala, you can easily access a shuttle. 

First impressions of San Pedro

Many people I met travelling told me I would fall in love with the lake, 3 hours in and I loved the true backpacker vibe. Everything in San Pedro is so close together with everything you need, the streets are colourful, and art is everywhere. For my first night, I stayed in Mandala’s Hostel, it’s relaxed and friendly with a great view of the lake on the little terrace. Also, some of the rooms aren’t bunk beds, so I was in a large single bed with two girls filling the other beds. I ate in Hummus – Ya which was nice for £4 and headed to Mr. Mullets Hostel for live music and it’s always known to have good parties. If you like a party San Pedro is for you. After I stayed a night in Zoola, a bit out of the centre. It has a restaurant, bar, and pool and if you share a private room, it works out around £6 each. 

—— I then went to El Salvador and came back to the lake 2 weeks later with a fellow traveller- my mum and a fresh perspective———

Returning to the lake with my mum, we stayed first in Hotel Villa del Lago, we had great views and the room was okay. But there was no hot water and no Wi-Fi, also we were given no blankets and the lake is freezing at night, so I quite literally slept with a towel covering me. It was around £18 a night, I didn’t like it that much so we moved to Hotel Santa Elena for the remaining two nights. Santa Elena was under construction when we arrived, but it was pleasant and only £6 each in the centre of the street. San Pedro is a hotspot for accommodation so when you arrive it’s easy to walk into a place and they will most likely have a bed, unless you want to stay in a party hostel then I would book some days in advance.

A lovely place to eat was TLV, they call San Pedro little Israel so there is plenty of falafel and shawarma to eat. TLV was a great restaurant to eat in and I’d say it has the cheapest restaurants of all of the lake towns. Another nice vibe is a reggae bar 4/20, they often have karaoke and live music, I love reggae so of course, I loved this place for a drink. Another good food spot is Pizza de Callejón, if you keep walking down, more of the town opens which is a bit more lowkey. It’s full of massage parlours and yoga retreats with some garden pubs, definitely explore more than just the main road.

My mum has horses at home, so doing a 3-hour hack by horseback around the lake was a must for her. We rode up mountains and to a beach with sand made from volcanic dust. I felt bad riding the horses like I wouldn’t go to Thailand and ride an elephant, but after a long discussion with our guide and seeing the horse’s health, everything seemed fine, and the tourists end up providing the money to then give the horses good care. I learnt about the politics of the country and its history which will be written in another post. On the final day, we treated ourselves to a full body massage for £15 each and then when I saw a pedicure for £3, yes £3, I had to get one. After all, it isn’t often, I get treated as a backpacker and it wasn’t long before mum was leaving and I was back to living like a scrub. 

San Marcos

The next day I saw San Marcos in a different light, we woke up and went to The Eagles Nest, one of the most popular places for yoga around the lake. We did an hour and a half session of yoga for $10 each where you pay online, and it did not disappoint. The view was spectacular overlooking the whole lake and volcanoes among it, and the teacher was great. It wasn’t just yoga, but meditation and breathwork, a perfect start to a perfect day. We walked down into the main streets full of hippies and vegan restaurants. We ate breakfast in Samsara with a very Moroccan feel (I’ve never been to Morocco, but I can imagine that’s what it’s like). After walking around and unsuccessfully getting a matching tattoo with my mum, which we eventually got in Panajachel we packed our bags and caught a boat to a nearby town, Santa Cruz. 

Santa Cruz

The instant vibe from Santa Cruz was perfect, I felt the most relaxed here and based off first impressions it was my favourite town around Atitlan. We checked in to Hotel Arca de Noe, ran by a lovely Guatemalan family. It was around £35, but when I was trying to find accommodation that was the cheapest. If you go anywhere around the lake I recommend booking in advance, I’m a pro at not doing that but my friends told me about great places to stay around the lake like Free Cerveza but there was no room. Some places are easy like San Pedro to find a cheap hotel as you walk around but the smaller towns are much more difficult, and you can end up paying a lot for somewhere that isn’t particularly pleasant. 

After chilling in our perfect hotel which felt like I was straight out of Mamma Mia, we got a beer and relaxed. The next day we went to rent paddleboards and kayaks, in Free Cerveza they had them but if you walk a further 5 minutes, they are available to hire at a local place for half of the price. It was around £5 for an hour; I always find that if you try to do any excursion through a hostel it’s double the price. And remember it’s best to do activities run by locals. 

Panajachel

Driving through Pana when I first visited the lake I wasn’t impressed, but when I actually walked around, I began to love it. Mum and I stayed in Selina Hostel, which is not something I would usually do, but I wanted mum to have a proper bunk bed experience and the Selina was beautiful and worked out quite cheap. We only went to Pana because it is the easiest way to access the Chichiestenango market on Sundays, but I don’t regret visiting this main town around the lake. There are so many options for restaurants, hotels, and shops. If you are around the lake, I wouldn’t miss Pana, it has a city vibe and doesn’t feel like a lakeside town at all. It’s also the best place to access buses to a wider variety of places in Guatemala. You are spoiled for choice with a variety of restaurants, souvenir shops and nightlife. A tattooist @mr._dragon_96.tattoos came into our hostel to give mum and I our tattoos late in the evening before he headed to a techno party some towns away. Driving through Pana isn’t impressive, but when you walk and explore it more, I think it has charm.  

San Juan

San Juan is small, and most walls are filled with graffiti and art. There’s a main road full of art galleries, coffee shops and traditional clothing. It’s a nice town to visit and has a mirador at the top that maybe I’d have climbed if it didn’t feel although my legs were going to fall off. But it is definitely not my favourite town, it would be nice to visit for lunch and a wander around to see the art, other than that I don’t think there is that much going on/, It costs 10Q (1 pound) to get a boat or tuk-tuk from San Pedro to San Juan, the cheapest boat as they are neighbouring towns. 

Santiago

I had no intention of visiting Santiago because I hadn’t heard much about it. But the night before we were in the reggae bar 4/20 and ended up having a great conversation with a Swiss guy for a few hours, after our insightful talk about life and its meaning, he told us we must visit Maximon in Santiago. The town is large and has 60,000 people, with 60% of its profits coming from tourism, however, we walked around the entire town and I saw no other tourists. This is the town I felt the most out of place in, there were a lot of stares because they weren’t used to people that looked like me. We went on what felt like a treasure hunt to look for the Maximon, we walked through cobbled streets and found him. Each year the location changes, he is based in someone’s house and constantly looked after, the family hosting Maximon doesn’t need to work for a year and only looks after the ritual. It was a great experience to see a true Mayan ritual, even if you didn’t have a clue what was really going on. Santiago is the most local place I have been with a street market every day in the main square, it is so interesting and I’ll remember the feeling of that town.

Overall, I went to the main towns around the lake and more, the size of the lake is gigantic and beautiful. Upon talking to locals i learnt that the lake is polluted and so the lake became a mix of fresh water, salt and algae. Locals wash and often drink the water, but it is so polluted and not recommended to even swim unless you are far out away from near towns. (A post about the politics of Guatemala coming soon will explain this in more detail) This is what I heard from a few Guatemalans whom I asked, so although the lake is beautiful, in a few years it may not look like that.