Thanksgiving Weekend at Santiago Atitlán

The day after Thanksgiving, Beth and I went to the lake-side town of Santiago Atitlán along with another couple from school, Audrey and Tony. We had reservations at another small and beautiful hotel called Posada Santiago, which was recommended by our neighbors, Matt and Amy (they always have great recommendations!). We stayed through Sunday morning and had a great time taking in the sites of the town, shopping, relaxing at the hotel, and taking 400+ photos! Santiago is now high on our list of places to see if you come to visit. In fact, we've already reserved a cottage at the hotel for two nights the week Beth's parents come to visit over Easter.

Friday, November 23
Tony and Audrey picked us up at 9 a.m. and we made the slow voyage out of the city (it takes a while to get out of the city limits--typically 30 minutes or more) and onto the highway. We decided to take the same route we took the weekend before on our trip to Panajachel with Jennifer in order to bypass all that construction on the main highway. Once again it proved to be a good choice as we were treated to great scenery. The only downside was that we got stopped a few times for road construction, got stuck behind a couple giant, lumbering trucks shipping freshly cut sugar cane, and we went through a number of small towns that have speed bumps along the road, making for a slower average speed. In all, though, it only took a little more than three hours to get to Santiago. A few times we had to stop and ask for directions, but everyone we spoke to was very helpful and friendly. Beth and I are pretty confident we can make this trip ourselves now that we've done it twice.

Nearing Santiago, you can tell it's a pretty large city, whereas most towns along the lake are very small. We learned that the town has 40,000 residents, which definitely makes it a city, although it still feels pretty small (there must be lots of dwellings outside of the main part we never saw). Santiago has a very interesting history concerning the residents' struggle with the military presence during the civil war, but I won't go into that here. (A quick search turned up this article, which I haven't read completely, but looks like a good account.)

It's a very hilly city and there are a good number of multi-storied buildings, which isn't very common. The most striking and charming aspect of the town are its people. The majority of people are still wearing their traditional Mayan clothing and speaking their native language. Best of all, they were by far the most friendly group of people we've encountered. Everywhere we went we were greeted with smiling 'Good morning/afternoon/evening's from adults and boisterous 'hola!'s from the children. We felt very welcome in their town and safe everywhere we walked.

Our hotel was just outside of the city (it was only a short walk away) and was comprised of a main check-in/dining hall/hang-out spot (complete with friendly lap cat!), and a few cottages and individual rooms, as well as a large conference room, which we ended up sleeping in. It was all constructed of the local volcanic rock and the landscaping was unbelievable--just loads and loads of gorgeous plants and flowers we'd never seen before. You could spend hours walking the grounds just looking at it all. There was also a swimming pool and a hot tub which was perched up to look out onto the lake and Volcan San Marcos. It was an upscale place, though still only cost us $40 a night.

Due to an error on the part of the guy who booked our reservation, we ended up staying in the 1,200 square-foot conference room, which wasn't a bad deal at all. It featured large windows, so it was nice and bright, and we had five beds to choose from, two bathrooms with showers, and a kitchen.

The entire top floor was ours!

After we dropped off our bags, we headed back to the dining hall for lunch. We were all extremely impressed with our meals (I had a smoked turkey sandwich, which they smoked the meat on site) and only continued to be so with each meal following. The dining hall was large and spacious, completely constructed of the dark gray volcanic rock, giving it a very sturdy and old world look. It also featured lots of local art, from paintings to textiles, all of which was for sale.

Immediately after lunch we had an appointment with a local woman who gave us a walking tour of the town. She is the ex-wife of a man who came from the U.S. in the early '80s and was adopted into the Mayan culture and made a shaman. It's a very interesting story and I had actually read half of his book when we first arrived in Guatemala (it's called "Secrets of the Talking Jaguar" by Martin Prechtel). She spoke fluent English and gave us lots of interesting history and info on the city.

She first led us to a home where some 400-year-old religious statues were currently residing. These statues are painted annually and are rotated monthly to different homes of people who are deemed worthy by the 13th Brotherhood, a religious leadership group in the city. The home is open to all residents, and people frequently come by to make offerings and say prayers for various reasons. Typically an offering is either money or clothing you've sewn for the statues. If you were to open a new business, you would have to come by and make an offering, and I believe a priest would lead a small ceremony. I think they are also used when blessing babies.

Most interesting of all is the city's main religion--a hybrid religion of Catholicism and Mayan. Our next stop on the tour was to a 500-year-old Catholic church, which was built on the ruins of a Mayan temple. The Spanish who conquered the region forced the indigenous people to tear down their temple and build a church on the site. They left the original steps, however, leading up to the church. There are 19 exactly, which is significant (I believe) because there are 19 months in the Mayan calendar.


This hybrid religion is very common throughout Guatemala. Going into the church was quite an interesting experience. It looked very much like a Catholic church, however, all the statues were garishly decorated and all the wood carvings featured both Christian and Mayan elements.




We also toured the former room of a famous priest to the city. He was an American, but fully adopted into the local culture because he was so respectful of the Mayan beliefs and traditions. Sadly, he was murdered during the civil war. His death sparked rebellion amongst the residents to the local military presence, driving them out, and lead other villages to follow suit. Again, there's lots more to read here and I'd encourage you to if you have the time. It was strange being in the priest's room as that was where he was killed. You could see a spot in the floor where a bullet had hit, as well as his blood on the wall, which was now protected behind glass.

Also in his room was the most odd and cartoony-looking crucifix I have ever seen. I guess the priest had it made this way because he believed Jesus reflected the Mayans in that the people's hands, feet, and heart grew large with so much labor. I really liked it.


Afterwards, we went to another small dwelling, though this time to the Mayan god, Maximón. This is a very interesting deity in that people offer him tobacco, money, and clothing to honor their requests. During Holy Week he is ceremoniously carried to his own special room on the grounds of the large church I mentioned earlier. Each day, though, he is brought down from his bedroom, which sits atop the room he rests in during the day, so people can come by and worship to him. The room is dark and candle-lit, and incense burn so heavily it's hard to stay in there for long. Along one wall, there is a casket-like glass enclosure, featuring a statue of Jesus that is also dressed in outlandish clothing. Adoring the casket are Christmas lights and an odd and annoying device plays Christmas carols, which sound like they're coming from an early and basic cell phone. Strange. But interesting!

Mayan God Maximón

We then went to our guide's home to meet her mother and father, who were hard at work weaving textiles. They had some very impressive weavings and we ended up buying a woven Mayan calendar for ourselves for a Christmas present. The parents were very friendly and we got to watch the mother work a traditional back-strap loom.

Workin' the loom

I guess she's not a fan of this one...

After the tour we headed back to the hotel to relax and watch the sun set and the Mayan men finish up their fishing. Later we had another wonderful meal in the dining hall and then followed it up with a final relaxation in the hot tub. This was a lot of fun because we could really soak up the night view due to the full moon.


Saturday, November 24
Beth and I got up around 7 and each had a cup of coffee in the dining hall before joining Audrey at 8 for a half hour of Yoga she led. I have never done it before, and it was fun stretching and breaking a bit of a sweat to wake up. After we all cleaned up, we met up for breakfast around 9. Then we walked back into town for some sight-seeing and shopping. Along the way into town, the road sits high above the lake and you can see down at the shore a number of women hard at work washing their family's clothes, beating and scrubbing them against flat rocks and rinsing them in the water.

The shopping was a lot of fun. I'm really starting to appreciate the artistry involved in the weavings here. We got to see lots and lots of beautiful pieces and were treated to tons of photo opportunities as the people went about their day. I even got to try on the traditional pants and belt men wear. Beth and I picked up a few more items (Christmas presents) and finished up by mid-afternoon.

Striped pants that fall mid-calf and accompanied with a woven belt are worn by nearly all the men in town. Shirts are typically collared and button up and most likely store-bought. Cowboy hats and usually sandals or leather shoes complete the look. These pants feature embroidery of Mayan images that almost look like hieroglyphics.

And the real deal!

When we got back to the hotel, another group from school had joined us, and we all spent the afternoon at the pool, chatting, reading, swimming, and sunbathing. We ordered some appetizers to tide us over 'til dinner since we skipped lunch.

That night the eight of us had dinner together and I think everyone was more than pleased with their meal. I can't say enough good things about the food here! After dinner we hit the hot tub once more and then Beth and I played a game of Scrabble in our room before going to sleep.

Sunday, November 25
Sunday morning we were all up pretty early to enjoy the sunrise and get an early start on the day. After breakfast we went back into town as it was a market day and thus even more to see. We picked up some produce, snapped a hundred more pictures, and headed back by 10. We got on the road by 10:30 and made it home in three hours.

Santiago Atitlán offers a lot in one spot: culture, natural beauty, history, and friendly people. We'll be returning soon and definitely taking any of you who come to visit!

Note: You can see more pictures from this weekend on our Picasa page!