Quetzaltenango to Atitlan......by foot

Taking advantage of the long MLK weekend, I decided to do a 2.5 day hike from Quetzaltenango (locally known as Xela) to Lake Atitlan, that is organized by a local NGO (http://www.quetzaltrekkers.com/guathome.html) 

Day 1 (Saturday) we headed out of Xela to a small community called Xecam and started the uphill hike from there, passing through forests, rural communities, agricultural lands, and cloud forest.

We ended the day in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan, sleeping on the floor of the municipal building.

Day 2 took us from Santa Catarina to Santa Clara la Laguna in the mountains above Lake Atitlan, where we spent the night on the floor of a local family’s house.

After a 3:45AM wakeup on Day 3, we hiked to a mirador overlooking Lake Atitlan and waited for the sun to rise.

From there it was a downhill hike to the town of San Juan la Laguna, a quick pick-up truck ride to San Pedro la Laguna, a boat ride across the lake to Panajachel, and a van back to Guatemala City.