The most beautiful lake in the world (part one)

Or so they say. But if I may throw in my few pennies' worth, I agree: Lake Atitlán in Guatemala is simply a gem. And I got to spend a full week on its shores, gazing at crystal clear water, amazing skies, and numerous volcanoes in between the two. 

After returning from my trip to Chile, Lubbock's grey, nasty pre-Thanksgiving weather made me feel so down that I had this tremendous urge to run away to somewhere warm and sensible. The cloudy days in Chile had been tough enough, but coupled with Lubbock's wind and low temps it became impossible to think that this was going to be it for the year. So, the search for a destination started, and within one day I nailed the entire trip—flight, rental car, Airbnb.

As I had requalified for my Executive Platinum status through early 2024 three months ago I once again was able to use my AA frequent flier miles for a free First/Business Class flight down to Guatemala City (almost free as there were about $60 in taxes and fees). I also had to burn an expiring certificate with IHG before the end of the year, so my arrival hotel in the capital, the Intercontinental, was free, including parking and an amazing breakfast. (Why people don't spend a $69 annual credit card fee in exchange for a free hotel certificate is beyond me.)

I had booked a "mini car" through Expedia, and I ended up with a nice Suzuki that, above all, had enough ground clearance to maneuver the various 4WD roads that I ended up on. Good little car, and much, much cheaper than the rental in Chile. From the airport to the Intercontinental it was a short 20-minute drive, made easy thanks to my Garmin onto which I had loaded a free Open Source Map (OSM) before leaving Texas. Some of my readers may not know that you can download free OSMs for pretty much all countries and continents, and generally they are more up-to-date than what Garmin charges top dollars for. Simply Google OSM maps for your Garmin device.

I spent my first evening in Guatemala in the rather posh neighborhood of the Intercontinental. The first order of business was to find a Claro store where I procured a local SIM card for my secondary cell phone; about $8 bought the card plus a 14-day, 5 GB data-and-phone plan, which later came in handy on numerous occasions. All of Central and South America depends on WhatsApp for communications, and without data you can't access this service. Also traveling with two cell phones means that if something happens to one of them, you're not totally screwed.

SIM card installed I was off in search of a brewery and dinner. I found both at Cadejo Brewing Company, just a few blocks from my hotel. Good beer, tasty food, nice ambiance. On the way back to the hotel after a long day of traveling (I had left Lubbock with the 5 a.m. flight) I stepped into one of the city's upscale shopping centers that were hopping with life. I had a final beer at 100 Montaditos, a chain of taprooms that I had visited in Madrid with Howard years ago. The trip was starting out in the right way.

The next day, after a memorable buffet breakfast, I got into the car and started what I thought might be a two-to-three hour drive to my Airbnb on Lake Atitlán. It didn't take long to realize that I was not going to cover 110 miles in that amount of time with that kind of traffic! The road that I was taking out of Guatemala was the CA-1, the Panamericana or Pan-American Highway that stretches under various designations all the way from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego's Ushuaia. It cracked me up when the stupid Garmin voice called it "California One"!

This may be a good point to mention the fact that I had ridden on this highway in these very parts more than 40 years ago when I navigated my first Ritchey from Texas to the Panama Canal in the summer of 1979. I don't know what exact route I took, but I came through San Cristobal de las Casas in Mexico's Chiapas region and would have stayed in the mountains. I believe I also briefly visited Antigua and, sick and tired of the endless climbing, I eventually dipped into the coastal areas, heading toward El Salvador, which at that time didn't have any civil war issues just yet.

For this trip I had decided not to bring a bike since I remembered the narrow roads and incessant climbs, and I also anticipated—correctly—that traffic had increased by several magnitudes since way back then. Honestly, I have no idea how I had been able to ride through this country with 70 pounds of luggage and only a TA triple crankset on that wonderful Ritchey (built by TR after his return from England where he had apprenticed as a frame builder; he was selling his frames through Palo Alto Bikes via mail-order, and his bikes didn't even have decals or serial numbers!).

Enough of that. I concentrated on the traffic that initially rolled along on a four-lane divided highway, with Chicken Buses and big trucks going much faster than all other traffic. Before long I had to turn off onto a smaller national road, and from here things became much more interesting. Up, down, endless curves, climbs requiring me to shift into "2" and descents that made me do the same so that I wouldn't burn up the brakes. Seriously, how in the world did I ever ride through this?

I finally ended up in Panajachel, located on Lake Atitlán and its major town. This was the spot where I was going to stock up on groceries and booze for the next week as the village where my Airbnb was located was supposed to have only limited supplies. Well, good thing that I know how to plan a week's worth of meals (OK, just breakfast and dinner) plus accompanying Happy Hours and dinner and after-dinner drinks. And it's even a better thing that I like supermarkets!

An hour after arriving in Panajachel I once again took off, climbing up from the lake into the surrounding mountains. The villages became smaller and more basic-looking, and somehow my Garmin hadn't gotten the message that I really didn't want to off-road it. Since one can't tell when rocks will once again be exchanged for pavement and vice versa I simply decided to continue. Well, let me tell you, I was damn glad when I finally had descended on a narrow, unpaved, steep, fucking scary jeep trail the 2,000-or-so feet back down to the lake to my destination of Tzununá. There was no way I would try to go back to Guatemala City a week later via this route.

Thanks to my Guatemaltecan phone I had been in contact with my host, Byron, who had told me to not take the unpaved road. It was getting late in the afternoon when I ended up at Casa Byron (the official Airbnb name for this beautiful house) and was greeted with a big smile and the most amazing view of the lake and the volcanoes. I had arrived.

For the next seven nights, Casa Byron was to be my home. I had two bedrooms, two baths, and a kitchen—and most importantly a veranda with hammock that overlooked the lake that was maybe 40 feet below me. What a wonderful place! The kitchen was basic, but it had everything that I needed, except for warm water in the sink. The shower that I ended up using during my stay had sufficiently warm water to be enjoyable, the fridge was cold, and the stove had four burners that allowed me to fix up some nice meals. The bed in the room that I preferred was extremely comfortable and offered me a view of the volcanos when I opened my eyes in the mornings. Apart from the occasional barking dog and the firework "bombas" that the locals will fire off at all times of the day and night it was heavenly quiet. 

Much of the transportation between not only the various villages on Lake Atitlán but also access to many lakefront houses is provided by a fleet of colorful motorized boats. These lanchas crisscross the lake during daylight hours, but at night almost nobody ventures out. There's not really a set schedule for these boats. The captain and his helper sometimes will wait for an extra 5 or even 10 minutes before leaving a village, in hopes that a few more passengers will show up. Gringos pay 25 quetzals ($3) regardless of distance; the locals seem to pay less. A trip from my village, Tzununá, to Panajachel, for example, took about 30 minutes, with two or three stops in between in places such as Jaibalito and Santa Cruz, which are not accessible via any type of wheeled vehicle. Going the other way, towns named after saints (San Marcos, San Pedro, and San Juan La Laguna) can also be reached by roads of varying quality, but the lanchas are simply much faster.

It didn't take me long to figure out this system. Since most of the villages on the north side of the lake (the side I was on) are built at the foot of steep slopes the buildings often hang like swallows' nests off the side of the mountains. A colorful army of tuk-tuks provides transportation from the boat piers to the most remote homes that would take a real effort to reach on foot. Tuk-tuk rides within the villages are just 5 quetzals, or about 65 cents. Where roads are available, one can also use the tuk-tuk between villages, but the boats provide a much smoother ride. Still, it's quite a hoot to take a tuk-tuk and admire the customizations that the driver/owner has undertaken to make his tuk-tuk the most memorable of them all. BTW, there doesn't seem to be a minimum age to drive a tuk-tuk!

It is interesting to see how the villages differ from each other. Tzununá is a fairly quiet town with just a couple of restaurants, among them a Hostel/Biergarten run by a German expat, Jochen from Augsburg, just steps away from Casa Byron. Even so, one doesn't see very many gringos in Tzununá. Even on market day, it was mostly just locals who went shopping for staples in the makeshift mercado. When returning in the late afternoon from the pier I would be able to see women by the creek doing laundry while kids were reenacting the soccer World Cup and dreaming of being Messi. Just a 7-minute boat ride away, in San Marcos, the ambiance was completely different with a huge influx of the young backpacking/yoga/expat crowd that supports the smoothie stores, coffee lounges, and spas. San Pedro seems to be a center of commerce and tourism, with national (local) tourists taking the boat from Panajachel to shop for textiles, leather shoes, and pottery.

I am realizing that this blog post is going to be much longer than I anticipated, and so I will stop my narrative for now and write the second part soon as there's so much to tell. Please come back in a day or two for the rest of the story.

Jürgen