Guatemala, Day 6: Santiago Atitlan and Pana market

Today was our last day in Lake Atitlan - and our last full day in Guatemala, but more on that later - so we decided to hit up Santiago Atitlan, the largest lake town but one which feels more local than touristy.

Panajachel has two lanchas, one for the west side of the lake and one for the east side, and up until now we'd been going to only one of them. The Santiago lancha was kind of nuts - way bigger than the other one and more commercial, with a huge market, booze cruises loading up, and tons of local traffic.

We had a few lake towns we still wanted to visit, but we chose Santiago chiefly because it is the biggest one and because of a local Mayan shrine to the trickster deity, Maximón. Dave committed to visiting the effigy of this deity after reading every available legend and myth about him, including the following: Maximón was charged with local fishermen to protect their wives while they went out to sea to fish, but instead Maximón had sex with all of them and laughed about it. As a result, the local Mayans cut off his arms & legs and bound him to effigy form. They hang him as a Judas effigy on Black Friday and move him around to a new house every year. 

The trouble is - where is Maximón?

You can't find him on Google Maps - the locals want you to pay a guide or a tuk-tuk (basically a tricycle car - ubiquitous transport on the lakes) to bring you over. We chatted up some locals on the boat and in town, and they pointed us to him. We were lucky because apparently last year his house was 5 km out of town! This year he's only 5 blocks from the lancha.

We found the house, which also contained another effigy in a lit-up coffin, lots of fabulous decorations and flags, and several Mayan locals hanging around drinking and smoking. You're supposed to offer booze or smokes to Maximón, and his cofrida (brotherhood) will consume it with him and keep him occupied.

Dave gazing with adoration and terror at Maximón

You give the cofrida a small offering, which they tuck into his neck tie, and then you can take a picture. This whole excursion was definitely some local flavor.

Speaking of local flavor, I'm going to back up for a second and complain about the hard sell atmosphere in Santiago. We showed up at the lancha and were positively mobbed by the tuk-tuk drivers for Maximón, then you have to walk up the avenue lined with shops and everyone is begging you to buy something. It was way more of an attack than Pana or any other lake town. I literally had to wave them away wildly with my arms; my friend said this is a good tactic because if they think you're crazy, they want nothing to do with you.

Speaking of hard sell, Santiago has a big Sunday market, and we went up and down the lanes to check out the fruit and other wares on sale. We didn't need anything, and it was really crowded, so we opted to walk around Santiago for the remaining sights.

Stall-lined street on the way to the lancha

A note on transport - I have mentioned that boats are probably the best way to get around Lake Atitlan, and I have also mentioned tuk-tuks, which are the Guatemalan word for auto rickshaws - like tricycle golf carts or something. You can also get on the back of a pickup truck and ride around between cities that do have roads, or if you are in for a long drive, you can catch one of the ubiquitous converted school buses, all of which have been decked out in fabulous attire.

School bus coming up a tiny little road in Santiago

We saw these in Panama, too, and the rumor is that they were all shipped to Central America when they couldn't pass vehicle emissions testing in the United States. They are supposed to be much more reliable and safe nowadays, although back in the day apparently they were operated without regulation and a lot of people died in crashes. So it goes.

I had two remaining things to see in Santiago - the women's weaving cooperative, which was closed on Sunday, and the Iglesia Parroquial Santiago Apostól, the big church in town.

Iglesia de Santiago

The church was typical of tropical Latin American style, which is to say there are really no doors - the church is open air and very welcoming - and there are a lot of carved effigies of saints about, which the locals make new clothes for every year. Lots of devout worshippers were leaving when we were arriving.

Streets of Santiago

It was back to the swarming lancha, where we had to run past some people trying to suck us dry of money, and back to Panajachel. We ate lunch in a little pupusa shop to enjoy those delightful little stuffed tortillas one last time before we headed home.

We ran into the group in the Pana market, where everyone was shopping for textiles and trinkets to bring back home. We tried to find Dave a mini-Maximón, but no dice. I drooled over a lot of gorgeous textiles and we bought a woven table runner, but what I really loved were the embroidered, brightly colored quilt squares (example at left).

I really wanted a table runner of squares like that, but small ones weren't available and also Dave didn't really love it. So I settled for getting a couple of squares, one to frame and one to beg my mom to make into a craft bag.

Of course, they had quilts of these gorgeous embroidered squares, but there was no way I could have brought that home, even if Dave was OK with it. I can drool anyway though.

Gorgeous embroidered quilt in Panajachel market

We rejoined the group for game night at the airbnb house, watching the last sunset, and killing the rest of the liquor brought by the group. We played more games and I knitted, also showing off my gorgeous embroidered pieces.

Last sunset in Lake Ati

The road home - Feb. 24

At this point in the trip, everyone was getting travel notifications about the storm that was allegedly supposed to hit in two days - the same day we were traveling home (Feb. 25).

I had some important work events I had to be in South Bend for on Wednesday, so for me, a weather delay was not an option. After the bus back to Antigua on the 24th, Dave and I opted to take an Uber directly to the airport to see if we could get a ride home early - thus began our long day of nonstop travel, none of which I will bore you with but I will state that American Airlines was awesome and we made it home a day early.

In the end, readers may recall that the storm didn't really happen, but we were glad to have come home early anyway. It allowed us to catch up on work email, pack for my work trip, grocery shop, work out, and relax a bit.

Ending thoughts on Guatemala

I cannot recommend travel to Guatemala highly enough. The locals were friendly and respectful (for the vast majority), the food is delicious, you can mostly get around with a small amount of Spanish, it's not overly touristy, and the natural beauty is truly amazing. It's also immensely affordable, and you can do a lot of good with the locals if you try to shop thoughtfully.

Crime and danger has decreased significantly over the years; my friends had been to Lake Atitlan about 8 years ago and remembered the hiking trails being a much greater risk for banditos and robbers. We didn't feel unsafe for one second the entire time we were there.

Unfortunately, there is little mail service in Guatemala due to a years-long dispute between the government and the postal service employees, so they just kind of don't have mail. I normally mail a postcard to my mom & sister, one to Grandma, and one to one of my jail pen pals - none of them got anything this time! You can ship via UPS, FedEx, or DHL, but there is no public mail. Weird.

Also a note on their relationship with Americans - while I have mentioned the hassling nature of some of the street vendors and boat operators, they are just trying to make a living off of tourism and I recognize that it's their goal to get as much as they can, and it's not really worth arguing over what amounts to less than $1 for us. Plus, Americans basically caused their civil war because we wanted cheap fruit and installed a dictator to protect American interests against communism. So we kind of owe it to them to throw some money and good cheer their way after all that.

In the end, my recommendation is don't wait, go now! And bring plenty of quetzales for beautiful textiles, tips, and memories.