{"id":2149,"date":"2018-05-21T20:59:24","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T20:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/3.8.116.40\/?p=2149"},"modified":"2022-04-29T12:59:19","modified_gmt":"2022-04-29T12:59:19","slug":"lake-atitlan-region-of-the-modern-mayas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maldotravels.com\/es\/central-america\/lake-atitlan-region-of-the-modern-mayas\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Atitlan – Region of the Modern Mayas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The eastern shore of Lake Atitlan<\/a> is approximately a 3-hour journey on the winding, and at times, bumpy roads from Antigua<\/a>. Once you arrive on the road that perimeters the great lake, you’ll witness dazzling views of the water and mountains that surround it. There are several viewpoints to make a quick stop to take some pictures and pick up some souvenirs if you’re in a hurry. If not, then it’s best to visit the nearby town of Chichicastenango<\/a>. This town hosts the largest handicrafts market in Central America taking over the city’s town center on Thursdays and Friday. There are a vast number of textiles and Mayan souvenirs and you could grab a bargain through some negotiation. Be warned though, the sellers are very persistent and will sometimes follow you to try and get you to buy something. There is also a one of a kind church with Mayan influence in the middle of the market which is a nice break from exploring the market.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Modern Mayans<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

There are many towns around Lake Atitlan with various different lodging options from large hotels in tourist towns like Panajachel<\/a> to homestays in the smaller towns like San Jorge La Laguna<\/a>. I’d recommend doing a homestay if you’d really like an authentic experience of the Mayan culture. A Mayan family will welcome you into their home and cook a home meal and the family I stayed with even let me help out in making the tortillas. Communication may be a little difficult since they all speak Spanish and a Mayan language. Normally at least one family member speaks some English but it is also an opportunity to learn a couple of words in one of the Mayan languages. The family I stayed with spoke Kaqchikel and it was a very interesting experience to learn about their culture, traditions, and the work they did.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Santiago Atitlan<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

To visit the key towns around the lake, the quickest and most convenient way is to take a boat tour. Prices vary based on the number of towns you visit and it’ll be cheaper if you’re with a group; for a group of 12 people, it cost us 120 GTQ<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> each. Do make sure you clarify the towns you’d like to visit with the boat’s captain since the sales rep may have agreed on a certain route with you, but the boat captain may normally do another route. The boat departed from Panajachel and the first stop was the small town of Santiago Atitlan<\/a>. To get a sense of the size of Lake Atitlan, it took about a 45-minute ride on the speedboat to get there; a distance of about 15 km. The town is still developing and has small roads with moto-taxis available to take you around. It’s a short relaxing walk through the town to Parque Central<\/a>; a large rectangular plaza with a beautiful white church at one end and school buildings on the other three sides. The town also has a couple of restaurants and handicraft shops to check out before heading back to the pier.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

San Juan La Laguna<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Once back at the boat, it was approximately a 30-minute boat to the next town of San Juan La Laguna<\/a>. Like Santiago Atitlan, this town also had several restaurants and handicraft shops. Some handicraft shops also offer a tour where they explain the process of making the colored textile threads using different plants and materials. They also let you have a go at the spinning of the wool to make a thread which is a lot harder than they make it look. Finally, they demonstrate the weaving of a hammock or another product. Some of these tours are paid, but there are a few which are free; mainly the ones run by a cooperative of women. After this session, we headed back to the boat for our final destination.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

San Pedro La Laguna<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Another 15-minute speedboat ride and we arrive at San Pedro La Laguna<\/a>. This is a bigger town with more restaurants, bars, and shops. What was interesting about this town was the Jewish influence. Our guide told us that a Jewish community had relocated here hence the noticeable number of Jewish restaurants and shops. There was a small market at the plaza where you could buy fruit and veg. An interesting and tasty dessert I found was fruit dipped in chocolate such as a banana that had been frozen like ice cream. A great view of the town and lake turns out to be a church – Primera Iglesia Bautista<\/a>. You can access the roof of this church for free and take some great pictures.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Located between mountains and volcanos, several small quaint towns decorate the shores of this grand lake. Spectacular views and a region that has preserved the Mayan culture in today’s modern world.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"background-image","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":14376,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","osh_disable_topbar_sticky":"default","osh_disable_header_sticky":"default","osh_sticky_header_style":"default","osh_sticky_header_effect":"","osh_custom_sticky_logo":0,"osh_custom_retina_sticky_logo":0,"osh_custom_sticky_logo_height":0,"osh_background_color":"","osh_links_color":"","osh_links_hover_color":"","osh_links_active_color":"","osh_links_bg_color":"","osh_links_hover_bg_color":"","osh_links_active_bg_color":"","osh_menu_social_links_color":"","osh_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,30],"tags":[109,50,55,47,225,44,76,99,186,110,70,188],"class_list":["post-2149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-central-america","category-guatemala","tag-boat","tag-culture","tag-lake","tag-landscapes","tag-maya","tag-mountain","tag-nature","tag-tourist-sites","tag-tourist-town","tag-town","tag-viewpoint","tag-village","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maldotravels.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maldotravels.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maldotravels.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maldotravels.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maldotravels.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2149"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/www.maldotravels.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28132,"href":"https:\/\/www.maldotravels.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2149\/revisions\/28132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maldotravels.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maldotravels.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maldotravels.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maldotravels.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}