Antigua is a gorgeous colonial town hidden between three volcanoes - Agua, Fuego and Acatenango. With cobblestone streets, terracotta roofs and lush courtyards everywhere you look, this is the sort of place people can get stuck. Many travellers make a beeline for Antigua and use it as a base to do a Spanish course, or volunteer in some of the local communities. A busy tourist destination in its own right, I mostly used Antigua as a jumping off point to visit many of the sights in that part of Guatemala.
First up was the highland market town of Chichicastenango, which hosts vast markets every Thursday and Sunday, with locals travelling hundreds of miles to sell their handicrafts at the market. This was by far one of the most pleasant market experiences of my life, with very little hassling or aggro. The market is situated between several large churches and many religious processions take place right through the market which was quite a sight. I took some fab photos of Mayan market traders against a backdrop of misty churches but unfortunately these photos are no more (see below).
Back in Antigua after this foray to the highlands, I decided to head off to stay at Lake Atitlan for a few days, accompanied by a Kiwi, Simon, who I'd met at my hostel and was also heading in this direction. Atitlan is recognized to be the deepest lake in Central America with a depth of around 340 metres. The lake is surrounded by deep escarpments and by three volcanoes. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, and Aldous Huxley famously wrote of it: "Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing."
We arrived at San Pedro on the lake in the middle of a storm and trudged with our backpacks through alleyways and drains (never take a shortcut) trying to find a nice hostel with a view of the lake. We finally found one that looked pretty nice although we were later to regret that decision as someone went into my room while we were out at dinner, and stole my camera and mobile phone. However, it could definitely have been worse, as my laptop, money and bank cards were also in the room - although not visible, leading me to think it was a very quick job, with the thief grabbing what he could see. The door was definitely locked so it was clearly someone with a key, which did not lead to a good night's sleep for me that night! Early the next morning I reported the theft to the family managing the hotel who were very apologetic but maintained that as only family members had access to the key, they couldn't understand how it could have happened. I went off to the police station to report the theft for insurance purposes, and thank God Simon came along with me as he speaks very good Spanish. The police were incredibly thorough (in fact, too thorough), as they spent all morning taking down the details for the report, and then took us back to the hotel to grill the staff - to no avail, of course, and it was a very uncomfortable situation for everyone!
After that unsettling start, we began to enjoy being at the lake. One day we hired a motorbike and cruised around the lake, stopping at various little towns such as San Marcos, which had a raised platform of 7m protuding from the jungle into the lake - it was an awesome leap into the water! Certain parts of the road around the lake are plagued by bandits but the route we took was safe and gave us a tour of villages and vistas, pigs, dogs, donkeys and a local football game. We also explored the lake by kayak and found some wonderful swimming spots. After a few more days at the more touristy town of Panajachel, we finally had to say goodbye to the lake, moving on to beach. It's a hard life ;)
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