Planes, a Train, Automobiles and a Boat to Yoga Camp on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala

Well, the train part is a bit of stretch because its only the tram in the Atlanta airport between terminals but otherwise the title of this post pretty well describes my travel day tomorrow.   A group of about 15 yogis from Minneapolis are going to a yoga retreat with our teacher, Momi Jhung, at Villa Sumaya on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala for a week.  My wife, who is not coming on this trip, refers to it as "yoga camp".

In previous years Momi has taken groups to Tulum, Mexico but it has gotten so developed we wanted to try somewhere different this year.  I did some internet research and found several places in Belize, Honduras and Gautemala and Momi chose Villa Sumaya.  However, one day in class a couple of months ago she said,"We're going to Guatemala and if nobody likes it we'll blame it on Dave". She was just kidding of course.  But still, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it turns out well. 

On Saturday at 5:30 a.m. we fly from Minneapolis to Atlanta and then from there fly to Guatemala City, arriving in the early afternoon.   We then drive about 3 hours west of Guatemala City on a winding mountain road to the town of Panajachel, an 800 year old pueblo with a population of about 14,000.  From there we take a boat to Villa Sumaya in Santa Cruz la Laguna, because there is no access by road.

 

The lake is at about 5,000 feet and has three volcanos on the south side.  Santa Cruz la Laguna where we will be staying is on the north side.The Mayan word "Atitlan" translates as "the place where the rainbow gets its colors" and according to Wikipedia, Aldous Huxley once wrote "Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing." But you know how the Brits prefer understatement.

 

 "Lago de Atitlán 2009" by chensiyuan - chensiyuan. Licensed under GFDL via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lago_de_Atitl%C3%A1n_2009.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Lago_de_Atitl%C3%A1n_2009.JPG

As best I can make out studying the maps it seems like the picture above would have been in the hills above Panajachel looking to the south in the morning.

This is a picture from the Villa Sumaya dock
 

I'll be posting a lot of my own pictures next week.