El Blog: Lago de Atitlán

Upon entering Guatemala from Mexico the tarrain immediately changes to impossibly steep mountians, thick and green with vegetation. We were headed to Lago de Atitlan, a large volcanic lake, the deepest lake in Central America. There are several small communities around the lake and we chose to stay in San Marcos, best known for its new age hippie vibe. Sure enough there were half a dozen yoga studios, a holistic medicine center, and a meditation facility where all the buildings were pyramid shaped. There were also ¨traditional¨ Mayan saunas sprinkled around the community, which are basically little brick igloos with a wood burning stove inside. We took advantage of the sauna as often as possible.

Unfortunately, the remnants of hurricane Ida were dumping rain in the area and most of the time the huge volcanoes framing the lake were obscured by clouds. We did manage to take a beautiful four-hour hike through several of the villages, despite the guidebook warnings of theft on the trail and the suggestion to carry a machete as a deterrent. We didn´t see another soul outside of the villages and the views were incredible when the clouds cleared. We were continually impressed with the corn planted on the steepens parts of the hills - it would be an uncomfortable climb up the muddy slopes for a mountaineer, much less someone trying to balance a basket of corn on their head.

We had noticed some weird spongy floaties in the lake, thicker in some places than others, and later learned that it was some sort of algae bloom that had gotten out of control in the normally pristine water. Apparently the sewage treatment plant in the largest town on the lake, Panajachel, had failed after hurricane Stan in 2005 and was never properly repaired. But I guess a little raw sewage leaking into the lake isn´t usually a big problem due to the volume of fresh water, but this year the combination of sewage, fertilizer runoff from the corn fields, and a dry summer caused an exñlosion in algae growth. We found an article, written in early 2009 warning of the algae problem and listing the lake as one of the most ¨at risk¨ lakes in Central America... and sure enough there are now gross floaties. The impact on the tourist economy has people calling for action. It´s unfortunate that it often takes a disaster to move people to action, but that seems to be the case here.

We learned that the indigenous people are very embarrassed about the foulness of the lake and have been holding prayer sessions to help clean it up. The majority of the poeple in the area are indigenous and live further up the slopes away from the shoreline where all the luxury hotels and expat houses have been built. Apparently the water level in the lake rises every 50 years or so and the locals learned that, as nice as the shoreline view is, it´s not that fun to have to rebuild your dream home. Maybe that´s why there were so many lakeside homes for sale?