Ending up in little Woodstock

-Where "Celebrate Yourself" becomes a new dimension! ;)

Somehow- I am not clearly sure how- I found my way to the Lago de Atilan and went there with some friends from Xela into the Hostel "Yo Mamas Casa" in St. Pedro.

Lake Atitlán (Lago de Atitlán) is a large endorheic lake (one that does not flow to the sea) in the Guatemalan Highlands. Atitlan is recognized to be the deepest lake in Central America with maximum depth about 340 meters. The lake is shaped by deep escarpments which surround it and by three volcanoes on its southern flank. Lake Atitlan is further characterized by towns and villages of the Maya people. Lake Atitlán is about 50 kilometres (31 mi) west-northwest of Antigua.
"At the water" is the meaning of "Atitlan." It is a fusion of simple Nahuatl words that belies the complexity of the entity it identifies. German explorer Alexander von Humbolt is the earliest prominent foreigner generally quoted as calling it "the most beautiful lake in the world."
The lake is volcanic in origin, filling an enormous caldera formed in an eruption 84,000 years ago. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, and Aldous Huxley famously wrote of it: "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." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lago_de_Atitl%C3%A1n)

 The place is most probably one of the most relaxed and easy going travelers refugees I have ever encountered:

The sun is shining the entire day so that people walk around in flip flops and shorts, the lake is beautiful and I spent my mornings and noons laying on a sun warmed rock, going for a swim in the almost clear water every now and then, enjoy the landscape and celebrate myself.

The landscape is characterized by the gigantic lake, three volcano's surrounding hem and green mountains framing the scene. In the afternoons heavy and dark thunderclouds fighting against the sun above the lake, and usually in the late afternoon, the take over the scenery and a warm but intense thunderstorm will surge the water surface.

During the day- and nighttime vendors will stop by in the bars, at the lake and the hostels offering their goods to the people way too "relaxed" to be motivated of moving far. But even those vendors are unique and bizarre. The mayan-lady, aprox in her beginning 60ies with long grey hair and rural clothing, selling chocolate cake for example enjoys to play pool billiard at night with the Gringos when she sold all her food. The latin-guy selling filled bread and cookies, some with special spices, performs a rap once he did his business and all over the place you can buy fruits and donuts.

The people I have encountered here so far are coming from all over the place: Europe, US, Taiwan, Israel and are all more or less on their own travels. Some with a plan and a destiny, others just hanging in and see what comes up. There is no rush here and most of the people do not posses a watch.

Only now- with the time to decompress I realize how intense the last 7 weeks in Guatemala have been, how much I have learned, how many new friends I found and how much I miss my old friends in Berlin, San Francisco, Cologne and the other places. For me, these current days at this magical lake are characterized by open space, relaxation and freedom!

 However, tomorrow I will take of for Guatemala City since my flight takes off at 8 am on Friday morning, somehow sad, somehow happy I will leave the highlands of Guatemala and return to civilisation...