Beautiful Lake Atitlan in south-central Guatemala is ringed by volcanoes and colorful villages
View from the main lakeside town, Panajachel, where passenger boats dock to carry people across Lake Atitlan
A flowering vine in a garden in Panajachel
Enjoying a special treat, a peeled orange, in Panajachel
A local fabric vendor carrying her wares. The colorful traditional clothing worn by women was one of our favorite things about the Lake Atitlan area.
More cloth vendors on the main tourist street in Panajachel. The blue and green hues of their blouses mark them as residents of the village of Santa Catarina Palopo.
Approaching the village of Santa Cruz la Laguna, our home base in the area
The view from our hostel, La Iguana Perdida, on the lakeshore below Santa Cruz
Melissa visits with 14-year-old Marina, who lives across the lake in the village of San Antonio Palopo and who travels to other villages during the day to sell products woven by her family (including head wraps)
Santa Cruz la Laguna (many villages on Lake Atitlan are perched high on the hillsides to protect them from landslides)
View from the road up to Santa Cruz
The little church in the center of Santa Cruz
This new library is the pride and joy of Santa Cruz
A busy day at the public dock below Santa Cruz. We rode these passenger boats often to visit different villages on the lake.
One of the many uses for the "everything cloth" that Guatemalan girls and women often wear over their shoulder.
A woman's "everything cloth" is also useful for covering her head in church.
The lake is typically calm in the morning and becomes choppier in the afternoon
In the lakeside village of Santiago, the traditional head wrap is a very long sash wound around and around to form a disk shape.
Three school girls in Santiago wearing the striped skirts and heavily embroidered blouses typical of the Lake Atitlan region
The mountains above Lake Atitlan seen from the road up from Panajachel to the main market town, Solola
Solola's gaudy, European-style clock tower
Shoppers from around the lake converge at Solola's huge weekly outdoor market
Traditional dress for some men in the Solola area
Little girls on a playground
