Hola from Lake Atitlán!
Today’s forecast was sunny and 80 degrees, perfect for exploring the Lake. The lake has 9 small towns and today we explored two of them; San Marcos and Santa Cruz.
Our day started at 0900 with a buffet breakfast including eggs, fruit, beans and toast. Shortly after, our guide Tania took us all to San Juan. San Juan was founded in the early 1500s and consists of mainly a Tzutujil ethnicity. This is only one of the 22 Mayan ethnic groups with a total population of about 100,000. In San Juan, we visited Kaqasiiwaan Viewpoint. After a 15-20 min walk, we were able to see all of San Juan and other neighboring towns from above. Some of the students ventured off in the local town and stopped by Kemo textil where they learned how natural dye and waist looms are used to create handmade textiles. Our last stop before heading back to the hostel was San Marcos La Laguna. We had lunch, checked out the local Tienda’s (stores) and went cliff jumping. We finished our night at Santa Cruz with a BBQ dinner provided by our hostel and a costume party.
-Christopher Ely-
