By: Nina Tse '27
On our drive out of Antigua, the air held a thick mist over the numerous mountains of Guatemala’s landscape. Lightning struck from the clouds, lighting up the entire sky and casting it into a deep indigo. The winding roads led along mountain sides as we crossed through the highlands of Guatemala. We were headed for Lake Atitlan, a sweeping, gorgeous lake that boasts vibrant cities along a ring of several beautiful volcanoes.
When we got to the hotel, we were led to our room, which held a spacious balcony that overlooked the lake’s skyline of towering mountains. We then went downstairs to the hotel’s restaurant to have dinner alongside incredible live music. A group of women had gotten up and begun dancing, so we decided to join them while we waited for our food. They danced in a circle, moving around in rapid patterns that we couldn’t follow, but had fun trying to.
The next day, we rode a boat across the lake to arrive at San Juan La Laguna, a town on Lake Atitlan’s southwest shore. We began our time there with an all-encompassing tour showcasing some of San Juan’s interesting industries. We started off our tour with a presentation about textile making. We were shown how cotton is spun into string, what plants are used to dye the string into different colors, such as turmeric for yellow and roly-poly bugs for red, and how the string is then made into fabric using a loom. We then listened to a presentation about honey making. We got to taste 3 different honeys, and we learned that the honey flavors depend on the type of fruit the bees pollinate. We then visited a presentation about coffee making, and we got to smell different coffees that varied in intensity. We rounded off the tour by exploring the chocolate making presentation, where we got to learn about how cocoa beans are harvested and prepared into chocolate. We got to taste chocolates with different percentages of cocoa, as well as test various other products made with the cocoa tree, such as cocoa butter and chocolate scented oils and sprays.
We then got to visit the markets of San Juan and of another city, Santa Catarina. The markets were vibrant and bustling streets lined with stand after stand. The shops sold everything from clothing to jewelry to food. The shops’ products were always bright and colorful. Some were sold as souvenirs, labeled ‘Guatemala’ or ‘Lake Atitlan’. Some shops sold beautifully patterned blouses and skirts, usually boasting lively shades of bright reds, pinks, yellows, blues, e.t.c. Some shops sold pens, notebooks, and bookmarks with the same multitude of bright colors threaded across their surfaces. We ended the day by traveling to Chichicastenango, another town in Guatemala about an hour away from Lake Atitlan.
With our one day in Chichi, we visited the extensive market. It was similar to the ones in Lake Atitlan, but far busier. The stands were also selling clothing, jewelry, and food. Many of the stands sold Guatemalan jade jewelry, and I was able to find a necklace charm with green and white jade. We then found a large area selling fresh fruits and vegetables. The room was bustling with people going from stand to stand shopping for produce. A man was singing over the speakers at the front of the market. We ended the day by beginning a drive over to our host families in Guatemala City.
