Trip on Lake Atitlan

This Sunday the group took an all-day trip across Lake Atitlan, the lake on which San Lucas sits. We visited three nearby cities on the lake: San Antonio Palopo, Santo Catarina Polopo, and Panajachel. In each city, we visited the church at the center of the city. We also shopped for various clothes, bags, ceramics, and various trinkets. We ate a lunch of grilled chicken and fish in Panajachel over the beautiful Lake Atitlan. During our trip to the various cities surrounding the lake, there were fiestas for the new mayors of each town who were  inaugurated. We ended our day with a reflection and lots of cannon fire coming from the mayor´s fiesta.

The other towns around Lake Atitlan are considerably more tourism based than San Lucas. Most buildings were shops and the street vendors were more aggressive, one called Fr. Kirk Santa Claus while trying to sell him bracelets. Reflecting on the day we noticed what tourism can do to a culture. While the town needs tourism for support, the Mayan culture becomes just another thing to sell. The group had  fun on the trip but we have decided we like San Lucas best of all, at least until we know what Antigua is like.

-Rico Dominguez, Robby Baughman, Phil Park, Will Smith, y Fernando Galan