Lovely, Laid-Back, Lakeside Life

The last time I came to Guatemala, about thirteen years ago, I came to Lake Atitlan but only stayed at Panajachel for one night. I thought I’d seen the best of the area, as Pana, as the locals call it, is the most visited town on the lake. But I had missed the point: Lake Atitlan’s draw is it’s calming tranquility, and I wasn’t going to find that in its busiest town. So I was kind of happy this time to be forced to try some of the other villages that nestled lakeside in the volcanoes’ shadow.

We arrived in San Pedro just as the sun was going down only to endure a 30-minute, backpack-laden hike to a meet up with some friends of Mitchell’s in a quiet guest house that boasted some of the cheapest accommodation in Guatemala. It was my first time trying out dormitory life on this trip, and it was good; staying in a room with several other people is a great way to widen one’s circle. Together, a group of about eight of us explored the town, which, for the most part, consisted of a necklace of very cool, very pretty bars and restaurants that line the paved path which weaves its way through the quiet town. A bitter-sweet aroma permeated the air, its source revealed as we hustled past large plastic sheets filled with drying coffee beans and mounds of exhausted and now moldy husks.

I liked San Pedro. There were cafes and restaurants I could happily have stayed in for days, with colourful furnishings, natural settings, music to lounge to, and some fantastic vegetarian food. I stayed two nights, and spent most of my time relaxing in D’Noz, a popular dockside restaurant that offered not only free wireless Internet, but Marmite sandwiches to boot. Canoeists quietly paddled the water beyond my laptop screen, while lancha pilots called out their destination to beckon stragglers to board. There was no room for improvement; I had found my paradise.

I have learned from my travels so far that, no matter how much I like a place and want to stay, there is a destination just down the road that will please me just as much while also offering something a little different. But still I was quite sad the morning I decided to head out. I sat on D’Noz balcony and enjoyed the lake view, the breeze, and a flurry of cheeky sparrows who came one by one to take advantage of a bowl of sugar that was lacking a secure lid. I bade them farewell as I finished my breakfast and limonada and traipsed downstairs to the dock to haggle a ride to San Marcos, known to be the hippiest of hangouts on the lake.