Lake Atitlan - San Pedro la Laguna

Lake Atitlan
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After 4 days in Antigua we decided it was time to move on to Lake Atitlan. We took a shuttle (luxury as we normally take the chicken bus, but that would be too much of a hassle to Lake Atitlan), which took about 2.5 hrs with beautiful views along the way. Lake Atitlan is surrounded by several volcanoes (San Pedro, Toliman and Atitlan) and several steep hills, which makes it a beautiful sight.

The bus took us to Panajachel, a horrible and touristy town at Lake Atitlan. From Panajachel we took a lancha (water taxi) across the lake to a village called Santiago Atitlan . According to our travel guide this is supposed to be a fascinating town, but we had a look and decided to take a lancha to one of the other village on the lake called San Pedro la Laguna. Santiago Atitlan looked like one big construction site and the hostals were pretty horrible and expensive.

Early morning - San Pedro
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At first sight San Pedro la Laguna did not look much better, but after a short stroll along the lake we found a tranquil spot and a nice hotel with great lake views. San Pedro is a small town set on a tiny promontory with coffee bushes. If you follow the many unpaved tracks, you find many restaurants and bars (many of which are owned by gringos) and the prices are a lot cheaper than anywhere else in Guatemala.

Here we went horse riding (thoroughbred Andalucian horses), chilled in some of the many lounge places (this town is also famous for the availability of weed - no, not us) and enjoyed the views from our hammock.