From the Panajachel side, Atitlan was awesome. Eoin and I decided to go over
to the far side – San Pedro – for our last few days together in Guatemala. He
had stayed at the Corazon Maya Spanish School for a day or two before coming to
meet me in Guatemala City since it was so cheap ($2 per night!) and in such
a lovely area.
We left Pana by crowded boat and took the hour ride over to San Pedro. The town
is very hilly and the climb up the main roads is pretty annoying. However, San
Pedro is a cute little place, and it’s a bit less touristy than Pana, which was
nice for a change.
The walk to Corazon Maya took about 20 sweaty minutes, but once there, the walk
seemed totally worth it. Leafy green-ness edges the path down to each
little house that comes complete with a gas table-top cooker, a humble toilet/shower room,
a steep little staircase, and a comfy bed. The surroundings are beautiful! A
cloud-shrouded volcano provides the backdrop, and the owners have a patch of
land behind the school where they grow their own coffee, onions, and corn. To
complete the eco-friendly vibe (or maybe it’s just the way they do things here)
the “laundry facilities” are handed right down from Mayan days – there’s a stone
for scrubbing, a piece of glycerin soap for suds, and a trough
with clean rain water for rinsing. I really took to this method and even
volunteered to clean Eoin’s stuff. He’s better at ringing clothes out anyway, so
we were a good team.
After leaving our clothes out to dry, we slipped into our bathing suits and walked down through the crops of corn and onion to
the shore of Atitlan. (a note about corn: apparently, the Maya believed that god
made them from corn separate from other kinds of people. Corn was their most
important crop and continues to be a Central American staple.)
The water was really clear and refreshing and the setting
lovely. The evening we went down for the first time, Mayan families were
washing clothes and even scrubbing themselves down in the lake water. The clothes
would then be left to dry on the rocks along the shore. It was a scene right out
of ancient times!
After a dip, we lounged on the warm rocks along the shore to dry off. While we
were resting, my mosquito bite wounds were attacked by tiny flies. I hope I don’t
end up with a leg full of maggots or something.
