Central America 2008, part 16 (Guatemala: Lake Atitlán, Panajachel, Guatemala City)

When we left Santiago Atitlán, one of the several villages on the shore of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala, the boat sailed very close to the land for a short while and so I could see numerous villas surrounded by greenery. Lake Atitlán is around 110 km far from the capital of Guatemala, so the wealthier residents of this part of Guatemala and of the capital like to have their holiday houses here.

Villas on the shore of Lake Atitlán

And then we moved more towards the centre of the lake and thus we got a fine view at volcano Tolimán and Cerro de Oro hill.

Cerro de Oro hill and volcano Tolimán

The next destination during this excursion was the village of San Antonio Palopó.

San Antonio Palopó

On this side of the lake there are no volcanoes and the village spreads across the mountain slopes. Thus, after we had docked, we had to walk up a steep slope in order to get to San Antonio Palopó Church which together with the plateau in front of it constitutes the centre of the village.

San Antonio Palopó Church

When the weather is clear, there is a beautiful view from the plateau and a stairway in front of the church at the lake and the volcanoes around it, however, although it was pleasantly warm on this day, everything was somehow permeated with slight mist and so the view at the lake was not particularly nice. But, instead, I could look at some parts of San Antonio Palopó village...

San Antonio Palopó

... as well as some of its inhabitants.

Resident of San Antonio Palopó

Irrespective of the relative proximity of these villages around Lake Atitlán, the traditional clothes worn by the women in this village was still slightly different in comparison to the previous village we had visited. The reason for this is that as opposed to Santiago Atitlán village where most of the inhabitants are members of the Tz’utujil ethnic group, most of the residents here belong to the Kaqchikel ethnic group, while both of these groups belong to the Maya culture.

Members of the Kaqchikel ethnic group in traditional clothes

Members of the Kaqchikel ethnic group in traditional clothes

Although San Antonio Palopó is less touristy in comparison to the other villages we had visited and especially Panajachel, while I was standing in front of the church I was approached by one of the local vendors and she tried really hard to sell me something. Along the way she kept wondering at my size repeating constantly how big I was, which indeed was true in comparison to all of them, since on an average in comparison with me they were all very short.

Regardless of the steep uphill section we had to cover in order to get to the church, Matteo, the Italian I hanged around during the entire excursion, and I continued to walk uphill a little bit more, not because there was anything important to see there, but rather in order to look more at the village and its residents.

View at the church from the side and back

The village seems very poor

But its residents are very hard-working

At some point we descended slowly to the shore of the lake and embarked on the boat that soon after brought us back to Panajachel where we got out to dry land again. Matteo and I parted very cordially, exchanging email addresses and inviting each other – he invited me to go to Ravenna and I invited him to Belgrade. But, as it happens most often, those passing encounters during travels usually stay at that.

I took advantage of the proximity of my hotel, so I first went there to freshen up and then I got out to go for a walk around Panajachel, i.e., along its main street that is full of stalls with colourful goods, but along the way I also had a bite, so that I would not have to go for a formal dinner later on.

Main street in Panajachel

Main street in Panajachel

Objectively speaking, except for the access to Lake Atitlán the town itself does not have much to offer, but it became popular among tourists back in the 1960’s when it was “discovered” by the hippies. This was followed by a long break on account of the civil war in Guatemala, but when this was over the tourists started to come again. In line with that, in addition to the many stalls, there are also a lot of shops, cafés, restaurants and everything else that accompanies tourism. Thus, there are a lot of confectionary shops, as well as shops with artisanal chocolate. Moreover, Guatemala is often called the birthplace of chocolate.

It may have been the Olmecs who first started to use cacao plant to make chocolate, but they transferred their knowledge on to the Mayas who improved the skill. What is more, it was precisely the Mayas from the territory of the present-day Guatemala who were the first to write about it (as opposed to the Olmecs who did not have their own script). In other words – the Mayas had a good historic marketing. All in all, the ancient Mayas believed that chocolate was a gift from gods and they were certainly not wrong about it in the least. On top of this, the two key words – cocoa and chocolate – come precisely from the language of the Maya: ka’kau and chocol’haa.

During this late afternoon walk around Panajachel I also stopped at a confectionary shop with chocolate and chocolate products, including filled chocolate bonbons. Although my eyes could eat right away all that was in that shop (under the wave of inspiration, probably the furniture as well), my brain was considerably more moderate and it asked for only 3-4 different bonbons. One of them made a very strong impression on me, so much so that it inspired me to make a chocolate confection back at home that would always remind me of Guatemala. Today, I often joke and say it’s a “United Nations” chocolate confection.

Let me explain, the confection is in fact my take on the recipe for brownies, a confection invented in the USA at the end of the 19th century. I got the concrete recipe I’m using from a famous and very likeable Spanish chef (José Andrés) whom I used to regularly follow on TVE some years ago. The inspiration I got in Panajachel, in Guatemala, consists of ground cardamom that was added to that chocolate bonbon and that combination of flavours, the cardamom and dark chocolate, was, to put it mildly – sublime! (After all, both chocolate and cardamom are said to have aphrodisiac properties, so imagine when you bring them together.) When I first made this confection, I used the cardamom I brought from India and the brownies were made by me – from Serbia. In other words – the whole world in the shape of a confection. Here is the recipe:

Brownies in my way

Brownies in my way, served on a Lake-Atitlán inspired plate I’ve made

  • 250 g dark chocolate
  • 180 g butter
  • 4 eggs
  • 450 g icing sugar
  • 200 g flour
  • 5-6 cardamom pods
  • 150 g walnuts

The chocolate and butter are slowly melted and mixed until they bind well and then this mixture is left aside to cool down a little.

The eggs are mixed well and then they are gradually added to the already cooled down chocolate mix. Then the icing sugar is added, as well as the sieved flour. All of this is mixed well and to that one adds ground cardamom seeds that are taken from the pods. You can, of course, use already ground cardamom, but I don’t have a measure for that. In any case, you should add it according to your taste, but one should be careful and moderate, since cardamom has a very strong aroma. In the end, one adds chopped walnuts.

The batter is put into a greased and flowered pan and baked at 180 degrees C for some 25 minutes. The reason for this short baking time is that the brownies should in fact remain slightly underbaked and gooey in the middle (not runny). This in no way damages the confection, on the contrary, but if somebody does not like this, well, then they should bake the brownies for some 15 minutes more. The end result is scrumptious any way you bake it.

After this glorious, sweet break, I walked some more along the main street and then I returned to the lake’s shore where I sat on a wall and watched the slow arrival of the night. Soon I withdrew to my hotel where I checked my emails and in the end, very content with my day, I went to sleep.

Evening on Lake Atitlán

The following morning I left the hotel early in order to go to the place from which public buses departed from Panajachel thinking that I would catch a direct one to Guatemala City. I got there before 8 am, but I was told that the bus would leave at 9.30 or later. For this reason I changed my plan on the spot and decided to leave Panajachel in the same way as I arrived here – in stages. So, I first caught a bus to Sololá, where I changed it and then transferred to Los Encuentros. Needless to say, all of these buses were – chicken buses.

In the first chicken bus I got a seat a little bit more in the back, but that was good since I had a very fine view at my co-passengers. I guess this was the first place where I properly saw a man wearing traditional clothes that was made of equally colourful fabric as the female ones, but in addition to that he also wore a hat.

The company from the chicken bus dressed in traditional clothes

In addition to the wardrobe, pieces of luggage can sometimes also be made of these colourful fabrics.

Bag made of some colourful fabric

Soon after I had arrived in Los Encuentros, a bus came that was going to Guatemala City or Guate, as the bus drivers like to call it. I found a good place there as well and continued taking photos of everything that caught my eye. Thus in one of the side mirrors I caught the reflection of the bus itself, as well as an auto rickshaw that was overtaking us at that exact moment.

Lots of means of transportation can fit into a side mirror

While the bus was still going through the town, I also saw a woman walking along the street and so I managed to take a photo of her as well.

Carrying such a large bundle on one’s head requires a lot of skill

And then I relaxed and mostly just enjoyed the ride to Guatemala City. Here is a reminder of the sightseeing route that I took during my visit to the south and west regions of Guatemala.

Along the way, we significantly slowed down in one section and so I took a photo of a chicken bus where it is possible to see quite nicely where the luggage is placed. So, the passengers go in, but the luggage goes up onto the roof.

Chicken bus in Guatemala

When I got to Guatemala City, a little over 11 am, which means that I did well for changing the buses, all the passengers got out of the bus in some completely informal place. The stop was beside a wide, but quite uneventful street where in addition to us, the passengers, and a couple of waiting taxis there was nothing else. I had absolutely no idea where I was exactly, so I asked the first taxi driver to transfer me to the hotel of my choice, while he gave me a completely indecent proposal. In other words, he wanted to rip me off. The same thing was with other taxi drivers. But, this is not unexpected. I know from experience that taxi drivers around the world, not all of them, but a large number of them, like to rip off even the locals, let alone the passing tourists. I was not in a great position to negotiate; however, my very limited daily budget did not allow me to yield to such “blackmail.” What could I do? I asked one guy in which direction the centre was and he showed me. Thinking that this presumed bigger street with people, shops and city transportation was near, I did not fit my big backpack properly, but since I already had my small one on my back when I was leaving the bus, I simply threw the large one over one shoulder.

So, I headed in the direction I was shown, but there were only some side streets there – I had no idea where I was nor did I know what to do. It all seemed like an industrial zone abandoned a long time ago.

Then by chance I came across a woman and I asked her about the way, that is, in which direction Zone 1 was and she said that the metro was quite close and that I should follow her since she was heading that way. I told her that the taxi drivers wanted to charge me 50 quetzals and she said that it could be 25 or maximum 30, but that metro costs 1 quetzal. I said that I was carrying a heavy backpack and would not mind paying for a taxi, but she dismissed this notion, because “the metro was close by and cost only 1 quetzal.” She even went that far to ask me if I had 1 quetzal coin, so I looked into my purse, but there wasn’t any. I had either bigger banknotes or 75 centavos. Than the woman simply gave me 1 quetzal coin. I could see that she had taken pity on me and that she was determined to save me money.

After that much kindness on her part and her willingness to help me, there was absolutely no way I could reject her idea and not take the metro. Although I was sweating profusely because of the poorly positioned big backpack and the fast pace, because she was evidently in a hurry, I felt embarrassed even to ask her to wait for me until I reorganised my backpacks and their respective positions. Thus we finally got to a large, busy street, full of people, shops, etc., and there was also a metro line. What is actually called the “transmetro” in Guatemala City are in fact long articulated vehicles, newly made, that can be reached via special platforms and they run along specifically dedicated lanes. This wonderful woman saw me off to the very entrance onto a platform which I paid for by the quetzal she had given me and then we parted there.

When I reached the platform I could finally fit the big backpack normally onto my back, with the small one going in front of me and when the metro came I went to its last stop. From there it was not far away on foot to the hotel I had chosen.

Verica Ristic

Born and lives in Serbia. Free-lance interpreter/translator for English, but also speaks other languages (this helps a LOT when travelling). Grateful to the Universe for everything.

Belgrade, Serbia

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