After spending the morning at Chichicastenango a couple of days ago, I boarded a tourist shuttle to Panajachel on the east rim of Lake Atitlan. This is undoubted one of the true wonders of Guatemala with three volcanoes jutting a few thousand meters high each above the majestic lakescape. The only detraction is that, since the rainy season has started, much of the afternoon from 2 pm onwards is drenched in tropical thundrestorms, rendering sunsets non-existant. This aside, the landscape is very dramatic, changing from moment to moment as the clouds envelope the hills.
I have spent the last two days exploring a few of the towns dotting the lakeshore, principally Panajachel, Sand Pedro, Jaibalito, and beautiful San Marcos. Despite the active tourists crow, the tranquility here is about as pure as it comes: imagine Mayan children frolicking by the lakeshore’s crystal waters lapping the sands, the local fishermen out tending to their nets, the chatter of the tiny markets, the winds that sweeps easy over the water surface, etc. Because of the natural beauty and culture here, there is again a strange mix of locals and tourists. It’s sad in a way to report that, though the tourist come for the local culture, by their very presence they corrupt the culture. Additionally, due the severe economic disparity, many foreigners have opted to stay by the lake and have purchased or built homes here. A property that would cost $2.5 million else where can be had for $75,000 here. But, one must admit the sad reality of how much the locals have to toil only to have their natural resources slowly plundered by the wealthy. What’s more, the poverty here is not hard to see as children and the elderly (some even 80 years plus) having to work, wondering the streets all day in heat and rain to earn barely enough. Just today, a little boy with amputated hands from the forearm came begging for change. It’s inhuman not to react with sympathy.
Still, such is the wonder to wander far and see human society in flux. And beneath it all, nature ever remains surround our trifling presence, ever inspiring awe and threatening destruction.