Lago de Atitlan

I love Guatemala. LOVE. It's been awhile since we have contributed to our blog because we have had a difficult time removing our eyes from the spectacular view at Lago de Atitlan. (See photos in previous post). We arrived, intending to stay for two nights, then added a third, then a fourth. We were seriously talking about a fifth (if not moving there), but my hope to see a manatee in Belize has ultimately kept us moving and we depart from Antigua to Rio Dulce and then onto Placencia, Belize tomorrow... we very nearly cried upon leaving our sanctuary.

Lago de Atitlan is an enormous aqua colored lake ringed by a series of volcanoes at about 7000 feet in south western Guatemala. It's stunning. Several different Mayan communities have made it their home and the women wear the traditional dress of intricately woven blouses and skirts. We visited a few of these villages and a highlight was visiting a womens' cooperative where the woman host told us all about the natural plants they use to dye their wool and cotton and the very elaborate process they use to get the colors just so. The weaving is done by back strap loom (loom hung from a ceiling rafter and then wrapped around her lower back) with a lot of very tedious, detailed manual weaving. I was quite impressed. The cooperative was established by some local women to help protect the price of their work.

We stayed at La Casa del Mundo during our visit and it definitely was a huge part of why we got so attached to the place... beautifully done rooms over looking the lake. We had two rooms (had to move b/c we extended our stay)- our first one was our own little tiny house covered in bougainvillea and our second was a room overlooking the lake- so much so you could not see any land below and we fell asleep listening to the ripple of the waves on the water. Each day we awoke to gorgeous sunrises. The staff was so friendly and the vegetarian entrees were out of this world. Every night we had a communal dinner with the other guests, served family style by candle light. It was magical and we befriended three Canadians that we hope will be life long friends. We laughed a ton together over dinner and throughout our days and they were definitely a part of why we wanted to stay on.... it was sad to say goodbye, but as our new friend, Anik, had tattooed on her forearms- "don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened"