Lacul, lacul, la dracu cu lacu!!

More lakes!! This time the guatemalan Atitlan. According to our guidebook, 'the most beautiful lake in the world'. According to me, a pretty nice lake, not as nice as Titicaca though.

It's a pretty big one. If you want to go round it, it's about 52 km. You won't be able to do it though as there are no streets. Well, there are, but just for half the lake. The other half, you can travel to the different villages via boat. The price is usually double for tourists, but it worths the views and the fresh air.

From Panajachel, our base camp, we started visiting the nearby villages. First one was Santa Cruz. Very ugly village, dirty and as the main attraction the church. That was indeed one of the most spectacular churches I have ever seen. Small and with an intense smell of incense, with many saints along the walls. Inside a woman praying with 2 children ar her side. It was more or less a mixed type of prayer, half mayan, half christian. Looks a bit like voo-doo and the meaning is still hidden for us. People here want money in exchange for an explanation so we are still wondering...

Second village, San Marcos, where we slept in a simple, nice bungalow. The village almost did not exist. It was more like a stroll in the jungle. Narrow pathways that would lead to more hostals or the main church. A yoga and spiritual touristic comunity took over the village and adopted the locals as their own private attraction. Guiris looking for peace of mind and soul can stay here up to a month taking yoga classes and subconcious trips into their past lives or childhood traumas. Nice, we liked it here. Besides, the lake view was one of the best. Almost mystical if it weren't for the numerous long haired tourists.

Next villages, Santiago, and then San Lucas where we heard they had some fiestas. Big mistake, the village was posessed by a few footbal machines and lots of places to eat chicken with french fries. Extremly dirty, probably one of the dirtiest I have ever seen during the travel. And very difficult to get away from. We had to wait for a few hours for an extremply crowded bus. Shared a seat with a woman and her child, smelled the horrible odors of the others and thanked God it was over after 2,30 hours.

Decided this experience is not to be repeated and contracted a shutle service for our next destination, the Chichicastenango market. Payed double, but definitely worth travelling more or less comfortable and without worrying if somebody is stealing our bags or not.

We are going to Chichi Chichi Chichi!!!