Visiting around Lago Atitlan

Last night, the rain just poured, buckets and buckets came down, it was rather incredible. I woke up this morning to a cacophony of noises: birds, insects, other critters. In fact, it’s never quiet here. Aside from the noise of power boats, there are so many different types of natural noises out there. I spent some time this morning taking pictures of the house and grounds. Everywhere you turn is another beautiful flower, plant, detail of some kind. I saw a huge black bee of some kind that sounded like a lawnmower! After breakfast, we headed out in a private water taxi to explore around the lake. Our first stop was San Pedro, but as we headed to the other side of the lake, we passed the pueblo where the locals live, built up the side of the mountain. The lake shore is littered with hotels, private houses and little shacks, all dotting the hillsides, every single one built by people bringing materials by boat, carrying it up the mountain and then constructing by hand. There is every style of property imaginable, including a beautiful modernist home, some tiny thatched roof shacks and some very narrow but very steep private homes. The town of San Pedro has a market today, so we head up the steep narrow main road towards it. Along the way are shops selling all kinds of things, hand woven and embroidered textiles, leather goods, postcards and art. Most of the vehicles that pass us are little tuk-tuks, although small cars, trucks and motorcycles are also common. At the market, there are live chickens, fruits of all kinds, and plastic wares. The women are all wearing native woven skirts and colourful blouses, called huipils. After bargaining with some local shop keepers for some souvenirs, we headed back to the taxi to our next stop, San Marcos.

Here, we are heading to Aaculaax, which is an eco-resort. It’s an incredibly beautiful place, with distinctive rooms built into the side of the hill, all with a great view of the lake. Most of the materials are recycled and you can see former beer bottles and other types of glass finding a second life. The proprietor showed us a few rooms and the prices are amazing, $65, $75 dollars a night for a room with breakfast.  They are still building rooms here! Just past the resort there is a cliff that adventurous people can climb up to try a high dive into the lake! Our third stop is Casa del Mundo which is another resort and where we have lunch. The food is so good, I had a chicken burrito with fresh salsa and the most amazing guacamole. They also feature fruit shakes and the strawberry mango one that I had was incredible, the mangos are so fresh.

After lunch, it’s time to head back to Joyce and Joel’s home as the lake starts to get choppy in the afternoon.  We all head to our rooms to rest. As I’m downloading my pictures onto the computer, the racket outside is incredible, and I hear a tap tapping on a tree outside my window. With my binoculars, I can see a yellow bird with a red cap pecking away at some holes in the dead tree. I also saw hummingbirds sipping from a flower, an ochre bird and a very large fat squirrel. Although the tree is dead, there are quite a lot of plants growing on its trunk, bromeliads, air plants, it's like an apartment complex. Joyce mentions that she saw a small snake with gold, black and white stripes! Dinner tonight is leftover spaghetti from yesterday and some delicious pear. After dinner we watched a DVD of Don Quixote performed by the National Ballet of Cuba. It pours down raining again but by the time we turn in to bed, it’s stopped. The noise at night is of cicadas.