Trip to Lake Atitlan

One of the biggest trips we had planned was a trip to Lake Atitlan and Panajachel. We hired a driver to take us there and be our guide. It was a long, windy road from Chimaltenango to Panajachel (about 2 hours) but so beautiful. We stopped at a viewpoint about 1/2 hour from the shore and took this picture: And of course, every opportunity to sell their wares! There were roadside shops all along the way and especially at the look out points.

A few views of the countryside homes as we drove along the roads to Panajachel:

We finally arrived to the village and walked down to the shore. We posed for this picture with 2 of the 5 volcanos behind us. It was so beautiful there. The lake has aqua blue water and the green mountainous countryside was so lush and pretty.

This is the view from our balcony at the hotel we stayed at. There are actually three volcanoes in a row here. Our guide told us that there is nowhere else in the world where three volcanoes are in a row like this.

Another view from our balcony of another volcano slightly to the right of the other three.

Down at the shore there are all these boats for hire. They are called launches and you can negotiate a fare to take you to any of the villages around the lake or just on a sightseeing adventure around the lake. Our guide wanted to show us some of the big houses on the lake and so we went for a short boat ride partway around the lake.

These are some of the nicest homes I saw in Guatemala. Rich people's summer/weekend homes is what our guide called them.

Here's the happy boaters enjoying the beautiful countryside of Lake Atitlan.