Lake Atitlan Region – Nov. 8th – Nov. 11th

Lake Atitlan (meaning “at the water”) is Central America’s deepest lake.  There are many village surrounding the lake so visitors have a choice of where to stay.  I stayed at San Marcos the first night.  The next day, I took a boat to San Juan and then walked to San Pedro.  From there I took a boat back to San Marcos, picked up my stuff, and went to stay the night at Santa Cruz.  The second day I went scuba diving in the lake and got a massage.  On the third day, I took a boat to Panajachel and then a bus back to Antigua.  It was a great, relaxing three days on the lake.

The scuba dive was quite interesting.  The water level of the lake has risen dramatically and there are multiple theories as to why, but noone knows for sure.  The result is that there are multiple buildings underwater.  On our first dive we visited Casa del Mundo which is a hotel on the lake.  It’s still functioning as a hotel, but what used to be the lower levels are now underwater.  We cruised around these lower levels and even turned on the faucet which still works.  On the second dive we went through an underground house and then played in the volcanic sand that is on the bottom.  The sand feels literally like silk and when one shakes it, it makes a cloud exactly like one would see when a volcano erupts.  We played a bit in the warm fissures at the bottom, and we even cooked an egg right there underwater.  It was so cool!