Lake Atitlan - Guatemala

Lake Atitlan is about two hours from Antigua (with several mountain passes to go over and lots of curves). When we got there it was very foggy/hazy so we couldn't really appreciate the lake until the next day. We did a tour with a local guide - he took us to this art cooperative at one of the local villages. Most of the artists are self or family taught. This young man is describing the process and time that goes into his artwork.

It's so hard to pick up the detail in this piece of art but it was amazing. It's from the perspective of looking down from the trees and watching corn, cotton and cacao being harvested.

Corn is such an important part of their culture.

Our next stop was a textile cooperative. There are about 20 families who work together to produce these textiles - as part of the co-op they have to give a portion of their earnings to support their kid's school. Here she is showing us how they start the processing of cotton.

The cotton is beaten with these sticks before it's pulled out into string.

She's explaining the different ingredients they use for dye. There are two different plants that, depending on whether they are harvested during the full moon or not, they produce different colors.

The process of dyeing the material is long and hot...

The material then needs to dry for a while.

She is pulling off the string she needs to make a scarf, a bag, a wall decoration... she knows exactly how much she needs and counts as she pulls it off the skein.

Making a wall decoration - I think all Guatemalan women could do this in their sleep - it's just amazing...

Just a few of the scarves - it was hard to pick just one!

This church was destroyed by an earthquake many years ago - the left rock front is the only section that's left and it's just a façade.

Some traditional clothing - the only place we saw the men in their traditional pants was in these Mayan villages around the lake.

All of these villages were built on hills - it was quite the walk up after being used to the flat valley of Antigua (although the walking surface was much nicer!).

One of the many marketplaces...

A painting of traditional clothing. Our guide explained that the blocks on the woman's shirt is due to catholic influence.

This little girl had the biggest smile and kept saying "hola!" - until I pulled out the camera...

An artists rendition of the national bird of Guatemala - the Quetzal.

Just enjoying some of the plants...

The big "tree" to the left is actually a cell tower. Good thing they camouflaged it - with the other two towers there it would have been ugly...

The type of boats you run around the lake in - depending on where your going it's about 20 Q (~$2.50)

They cram as many people in as possible. On one of the trips it was raining so they pulled the tarps down on the sides - it was just a bit claustrophobic and hot...

This dock is as rickety as it looks...

What a beautiful place when you can see!

All of the docks were like this - Scott's comment was he could guarantee they wouldn't pass a safety inspection...

Maya face mountain - do you see it?

Chicken buses lined up at the public dock in Panajachel

Our shuttle back to Antigua - 10 people in a 10 person van...I had arranged in advance to sit in the front because I get so car sick. Poor Scott ended up in the very back and was uncomfortable. I think if we do this again we'll spend the extra $ for a private shuttle. Not sure why the driver stacked our luggage two high...

That's the end of our Guatemala blog - hope you enjoyed it!