One of the most beautiful tombs at the Pere Lachaise cemetery is that of the Guatemalan poet/novelist Miguel Ángel Asturias Rosales. I’ve always wanted to travel to Guatemala.

We decided to take a bus from San Cristobal, Mexico at 6h30 in the morning, all the way to lake Atitlan in Guatemala. The exit from Mexico was smooth. We walked from the Mexican border into the Guatemalan border, got all our passports stamped on both sides of the border. This was the first time I crossed borders by road! I’ve done it in Europe but it’s Schengen territory and doesn’t require any passport stamping.

Getting to the lake Atitlan was quite an expedition. Our driver picked us up to announce that there were protests against the government and the main roads were blocked. We had to take the long and winding mountain roads. We took 5 additional hours to reach our destination and all this with the driver not taking any breaks 😱 It’s apparently very common for drivers to go non stop.

The villages around the lake are full of tourists and with the rise of tourism the lake water has become polluted. We could see sewage water flowing in the lake. We befriended a lot of travellers in guesthouses run by travellers who settled down near the lake Atitlan.

Most Guatemalans are of Mayan descent and many women still wear the traditional attire. Each village has a unique embroidery/ weave. The older generation of Mayan women do not necessarily speak Spanish. They speak indigenous languages. I was awestruck by the colourful embroidered fabric. Guatemalan women are very elegant. We went to the Chichicastenango and the Solola markets. I couldn’t resist picking up some lovely stuff which I struggled to squeeze into my bag. My bag is now the heaviest of us all!

While in San Marcos, Arjun met an ex-colleague who mentioned the Acatenango trek. We were all very enthusiastic and went to Antigua to do the trek. The mountain is at a high altitude (base camp at 3600 m) and we were warned that it was tough. I thought that it wouldn’t be difficult since we had already done the Nevada falls trek in Yosemite national park. Boy, was I wrong! I experienced mountain sickness for the first time in my life. I basically thought I’d die. I had strange visions when I’d close my eyes from fatigue. The guide gave me some medicine when we almost reached the top. Once there, I just wanted to sleep. I had a headache and had difficulty breathing and after all that effort, we only had a very brief glimpse of the Fuego volcano 🌋 

It was windy, cloudy and cold (-5 degrees Celsius). Arjun forced me to have some dinner and a strange concoction to help ease the symptoms. I don’t think it was of much help as I tried hard to sleep. At some point in the night I woke up as I had to throw up “immediately”. I couldn’t even manage to get out of the tent. So I ended up scooping the puke with tissue paper. Arjun graciously helped me finish the task.

The next morning, the guide informed us that we still had bad weather and it was pointless going to the summit for the sunrise. So everyone got to sleep some more. Arjun, Leo and I left half an hour before the others. I felt really weak so I had some electrolyte solution for some energy. The walk down was easier but rather tough on the knees and legs. By the time we were done, my legs were like jelly but I did feel a sense of accomplishment 😃

After Acatenango we basically took it easy in San Marcos. Once I recovered, we walked from one village to the other. The view of the volcanic mountains and the lake were fabulous on these trails. We learnt that there were no roads to the village Jaibalito as we walked through mountain paths. At some point, I was facing a dog which didn’t want us to pass. Two of our friends were bitten by dogs (one in Mexico and another in Guatemala) and this made me nervous. We quickly picked up small rocks and made aggressive sounds. Soon more dogs joined this dog and they were all barking. By now Arjun, Leo and I were in warrior mode but we quickly left. The dogs decided not to follow us. 

We had a great time in lake Atitlan. We swam in nature reserves, went zip lining and paddle boarding around the breathtakingly beautiful lake! By then, it was time to leave.