Eighty-five thousand years ago, the spectacular twin los chocoyos volcanos erupted, a major seismic event which spread ash from Guatemala as far south as Panama and formed the volcanic crater that today holds Lago Atitlán. Renowned as one of the world’s most beautiful lakes, Lago Atitlán is twelve miles long and over a thousand feet deep, held by rising folds of trees, grasses and corn that end in a jagged volcanic rim. Rising above this already spectacular setting are the volcanos San Pedro, Santiago and Toliman. Beneath them are Tz’utzujil pueblos with concrete houses in yellow, pink and blue and stately windows framed with Guatemalan hardwood. These are interspersed with beehives of adobe and tin roofed homes, patches of corn, tumbling bougenvillae, and bananas pregnant with crowded hands of fruit.
On the lake fishermen stand paddling shallow wooden boats in t-shirts, baggy pants and baseball hats. They unfold nets or hand lines rolling their wrists one over the other. Before 1947, the lake held an astonishing variety of fish. But in that year bass was introduced, to stimulate tourism. The bass ate most of the other fish. Today the tourists eat the overfished bass while the locals more frequently eat the smaller, cheap, bone-ridden fish that the bass did not (could not?) eat.
In 1998, an ancient city, Samabaj, was discovered at the bottom of the lake: it is believed to have been underwater since 350 AD. Because of the altitude, diving in the lake is precarious and researchers can only descend two times a day for no more than a half an hour each session to record the remains of this city. Atitlán is rare endorheic lake which means its waters do not flow to the sea. The lake is also a caldera, connected to volcanic vents at its bottom which is believed to be connected to the periods of rise and fall of the lake.
In 1998, an ancient city, Samabaj, was discovered at the bottom of the lake: it is believed to have been underwater since 350 AD. Because of the altitude, diving in the lake is precarious and researchers can only descend two times a day for no more than a half an hour each session to record the remains of this city. Atitlán is rare endorheic lake which means its waters do not flow to the sea. The lake is also a caldera, connected to volcanic vents at its bottom which is believed to be connected to the periods of rise and fall of the lake.
Over the last 10 years, Lake Atitlán has risen more than 20 feet. Coming into San Pedro via the Santiago dock, the launch passes through the colorful skeletons of former restaurants and trees waist high in water. No one is entirely certain what has been causing the water to rise now. Following Guatemala's massive 1976 earthquake which killed 26,000 people, the land receded until it's sudden rise ten years ago. Among the local Maya it is said that this is a predictable 52 year cycle of the lake rising. It is noteworthy that few Maya build their own houses close to the shore even though it means they carry overflowing plastic buckets of handwoven clothes farther down to the lake for washing and back up the steep hills to their homes.
During the day the texture of the lake can change from silk to white caps. There is a special wind the Mayas call Xochimil. It is strong and believed to clean away sin. You might find yourself cleaner than expected when bathed in the splash from the white caps on the lake if you are sitting on a wooden bench of a launch, a public passenger boat which travels between the Maya pueblos along the lake.
Sometimes the moon makes paths of light on on the water. And the stars which the Maya used to plot the ages of time in their calendar seem closer and as if they still whisper secrets.
During the day the texture of the lake can change from silk to white caps. There is a special wind the Mayas call Xochimil. It is strong and believed to clean away sin. You might find yourself cleaner than expected when bathed in the splash from the white caps on the lake if you are sitting on a wooden bench of a launch, a public passenger boat which travels between the Maya pueblos along the lake.
Sometimes the moon makes paths of light on on the water. And the stars which the Maya used to plot the ages of time in their calendar seem closer and as if they still whisper secrets.
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