Travel Journal: Why I Didn’t Fall in Love With Lake Atitlan

I heard from a bunch of people that Lake Atitlan was the most magical place they have ever been – which set my expectations pretty high! I found Lake Atitlan to be kinda cold, kinda dirty, and very overtoursisted. I’m sorry! That was just my experience. It also seems like there’s not much to do at Lake Atitlan besides… just look at the lake.

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Not Too Much to Do

There are a variety of watersports you can participate in like kayaking, paragliding, and kiteboarding but they’re pricy. My friend is really into kiteboarding and she wanted to rent some gear on the lake, they quoted her at $200 a day! JUST for gear rental. There are also yoga retreats, party hostels, and a hike you can do – the problematically named “Indian Nose” ridge (also called Rostro Maya, or “Mayan Face” in the local language).

Panajachel

The town we were staying in, Panajachel, reminded me a bit of Cancun, with lots of neon lights selling “culture” to tourists; and where I am in my life and with traveling, it’s just not my cup of tea to walk down a street selling Mayan chachkas (which are all made in china) when there are so many other places in the world to see. We took a few day trips to San Marcos and San Pedro, the two main villages on the lake, while we were staying in Panajachel.

Since we were there to do some Coworking we were also limited in our options of places with reliable wifi at Lake Atitlan – we went with Selina Atitlan which is in the main town of Panajachel; there are other towns on the lake you get to via a 25 Q ($3) water taxi like San Marco, San Pedro, and Santa Cruz. Unfortunately, the trade-off for reliable wifi was we didn’t have a view of the lake, since Lake Atitlan Selina is located a few blocks inland.

Tip: the water taxis end at 5 PM and if you miss them you need to pay 350Q (around 50 USD) to get back to the town you’re staying in! That’s what happened to us 😅. 

San Marcos

San Marcos reminded me a lot of Tulum, there were lots of foreigners in dreadlocks, vegan/raw restaurants and cafes (which were very good!), and people hawking yoga retreats, Ahuyasca, Aerial Dance, and coconuts. We got some coconuts and wandered around – If your scene is tantric dance, veganism, and yoga, this is your spot!

I think it’s great that people who are all into the same thing can get together and create a space like San Marcos, but it just wasn’t my scene 🤷‍♀️. 

A friend we met in Lanquin told us she stayed at San Marcos at (what she thought) was a cute hippie-ish boutique hostel/hotel – only to be woken in the middle of the night by a few dozen naked people chanting “Hare Krishna” all night. If this is your scene, great! But it wasn’t hers and she had no idea it would be like that.

The fun hippie scene sold to tourists in San Marco is also a pretty stark contrast against the poverty locals in the town live in, all set to the backdrop of pollution overtourism brings. Most of the people that I talked to who had this amazing time at Lake Atitlan found a party hostel or a luxury hotel right on the water and just stayed there for the most part.

San Pedro

We only did a day trip to San Pedro, so obviously we didn’t experience all it had to offer, but this blog post by Bucketlistbri goes into way more detail on all the different activities in San Pedro. San Pedro was almost an hour’s boat ride from Panajachel, so we didn’t get a lot of time there before the last boat back at 5 PM, but from our short stint in San Pedro, we found it the most beautiful (and least polluted) spot on the lake we visited. 

The minute we landed in San Pedro all the glowing stories about Lake Atitlan suddenly made sense. Yes, it was still a bit touristy for my taste, but the view from every cafe (the town is built on a sloping hill so you’re almost guaranteed a great view of the lake from wherever you are) was phenomenal.

It looks like a combo of other Andean lakes I’ve visited mixed with the Amalfi coast in Italy. That being said, even our short stint there wasn’t without its bummers.

The only cafe we went to tried to scam me by giving the wrong change, and the beautiful sights of the lake were cut into a bit by the locals washing their clothes and bathing in the water. Knowing people depend on this lake for laundry, bathing, and drinking water is conflicting when it’s constantly being polluted by motorboats shipping in tourists like me. 

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