Lago de Atitlan

We all passed out last night from our long long day but woke up to a beautiful sight: Lake Atitlan. It´s a volcano-ringed lake that is one of the deepest lakes in the Americas. And our hotel room had a lake view right from our little back courtyard. There were clouds wreathing the volcanoes and it made for a very picturesque panorama. We couldn´t wait to get out onto the lake to be in the midst of all the loveliness.

And our hotel, La Posada de Don Rodrigo, is quite charming as well. It is situated in a burst of bright tropical colors and flowers with a pretty garden courtyard lined by hammocks for those of us who are more lazy. The rooftop restaurant is the perfect place to wake up and enjoy the sun shimmering on the lake.

We had a simple breakfast of many pastries from a local panderia (bakery) accompanied by canteloupe and pineapple waters (freshly made/blended fruit with water) before finding someone to take us out on the lake. We only had a couple hours so we saw just a few little towns but they were very cute. And they do amazing textile work here...both mass produced and handmade. We saw this woman (one of many) weaving table runners (along with scarves and shirts) along the road. She says it takes 3 weeks to make a table runner....the colors are gorgeous and they look amazing. We all got one. And a picture.

But the best part was being out on the lake and enjoying the amazing views on all sides of the volcanoes, the lush greenery, the onion fields that is part of the economy here as well as some amazing looking houses that would not be out of place in South Beach Miami (I took pictures but they don´t do it justice. Pictures of the lake are much prettier).

We came back to munch on yummy tacos before heading to the Reserva Natural Atitlan to do some ziplines in the rainforest. Unfortunately, as we were walking up there, there was ominous looking clouds coming towards us, punctuated by loud cracks of thunder. As suspected, they were not running the zipline for fear of rain and safety. We waited a while to see if it would rain quickly then stop but the rain only got worse. So Beatrice, Peggy, and I just hung out in the reserve for a bit before taking the local taxi form called a tuk-tuk back to the posada.

Off to find dinner now then back to Antigua tomorrow for our overnight trip to Pacaya Volcano so no updates til Thursday at least.