A Weekend Away: Lago Atitlán

The big splurge of the trip was a weekend away to Lago Atitlán. The lake is a picture-perfect body of water in the Western Highlands. There are many interesting towns that surround the lake. We took off early Saturday morning and made the two-and-a-half hour trip to Panajachel, a tourist town on the lake bank. From there we caught a boat to a hotel called, "Casa del Mundo." The hotel is built on a cliff over the water, and the only way to get there is by boat. We knew about Casa Del Mundo from the 2008 BECA trip to Guatemala when we worked with Trama Textiles. On that trip, we stayed at Casa del Mundo - and it was definitely worth a trip back! (See top photo.)

The gardens around the hotel are charming, as is the hotel/garden decor.(There is no clear boundary between the hotel and the gardens.) You can see the lake from every room, and hammocks abound! There are weavings and masks and other Guatemalan decorations everywhere you look; the effect is cozy, inviting, and charming. AND the food is excellent!

We arrived in time for Saturday lunch. Most everyone wanted to "chill" in the afternoon. (That involved swimming in the lake below the hotel.) Several of us had an excellent, four-course dinner at the hotel on Saturday evening, while others walked over to a nearby town for dinner. Then there was a rousing game of "Taboo" before bed. In the morning, we got up and either put in more hammock time or took kayaks out on the lake. In the photos above, Baltazar Reyes relaxes in a hammock chair, and Betsy Blosser and Erin Walters ride in a kayak. When the time came, it was hard to leave. My guess is that some of us will be back . . .

We're now in Antigua, preparing for tomorrow's heavy production day. The weekend was a nice break.