Day 93 - A big fat Lake (Atitlan) in the sky

There are things that are quite nice to look at. Like a gaggle of playful puppies, an icy cold, frothy beer or a sparkling pool on a hot day.

Then, there are things that grab you by the eyeballs and scream, Kath and Kim vs Muriel's Wedding style "Look at moi, LOOK AT MOI, Oi'm beautiful!" Things like this, or this, or - at a stretch - even this.

Then there are things that make you feel like someone has kicked you in the stomach, stolen your breath, yet delivered a sight that changes your perception of beautiful forever.

Let's get it out of the way early. Lake Atitlan is very beautiful. In a very awesome way. It's virtually impossible to catch it from a bad angle. It doesn't look scruffy first thing in the morning, all misty and millpond flat. Nor does it suck during the day, when the sun glistens off the swell like P-Diddy entering a nightclub. And at night, it provides a silhouetted reminder of the awesome power that surrounds you, in the form of three fat volcanoes; Atitlan, Toliman and San Pedro.

We climbed the latter, named after the town that nestles at it's foot. For the record, it's a bitch of a climb and a lot higher at the top (3,000m) than it looks from the bottom. You see, the obvious but easily overlooked (by me anyway) thing about volcanoes is they get steeper the further up you go. Plus, above 2,500m the thin air gives you the respiratory system of a 95 year old man. I'm glad I did it once. I truly believe only a masochist would do it twice. Still, it was good practice for Machu Pichu in three weeks time.

The other little known fact about Atitlan (other than it's awesome volcanic past, which I'm not going to bore you with - if you're interested you can read about it here) is that (according to me) it sits in the middle of a huge gravity anti-well. What is a gravity anti-well I hear you ask? et me explain.

As we all know, a clever chap called Einstein devised a theory called General Relativity. One of the attributes of this theory is that gravity affects time. It slows it down. A watch at sea level will run slower than an identical one atop Everest, where gravity is weaker (because it's further away from the massive weight of the earths' core). Basically, the stronger the gravity, the slower time supposedly moves. Physics lesson over.

Well, although you wouldn't know it from walking about, Atitlan has much less gravity than everywhere else on the planet. Time moves very fast here. Very fast indeed. Three hours of Spanish lessons a day, a couple of meals and a few drinks in a bar or two at night and...BOOM!...next thing you know, two weeks have whizzed by like a Robin Williams monologue.

In trying to work out how it happened, you look down at your hands. You're both wearing beautifully hand-crafted rings that you kinda recall buying from a dreadlocked Argentinian artisan in San Pedro. You realise that you can now speak pretty decent Spanish. There's an ornamental skull packed in paper in your backpack (you both know his name is Mort). You've been offered a job working at an awesome restaurant called D'Noz. You know the names and histories of a whole bunch of very cool people with names like Danish Anna, Matt, Henry, Chloe, Jake, Pedro, Alex and Dean. Rachel has a hole in her nose filled with a small, sparkly pin. There are vague and shameful memories of being dressed in drag one night at a place called La Iguana Perdida.

Not to mention the fact you've managed to bump into about seven people you've met at other places along the way. Why-hullo-there Thea from Flores! Oi Pru and Alice from Utila! G'day Tex and Damo, also from Utila! 'Sup Canadian chick from Oaxaca whose name I should know but too much time has passed for me to ask what it is!

Yeh, yeh, I know everyone is traveling similar routes and it's inevitable. But the "Wow, what a small world" moment is a buzz nonetheless.

I really liked Atitlan. It's the kind of place that I can see myself living. It's the kind of place I could see myself bringing children to live for a year or two.

I'd do it to teach them more than they can learn from just being at school. That outside of our econo-clyptic Western World, where "rich" and "wealthy" are assumed to be interchangeable, there is another world. A place where life is simpler. Where everyone always stops to say hi. Where are great meal costs $5. Where you can swim in the lake without worrying about mercury levels. A place where kids walk home from school on their own.

The Atitlan we experienced probably won't be there in ten years. Guatemala is a poor country and her people - so very friendly, so very open - deserve much more than their hard work currently receives. I guess that's a part of what makes Atitlan so wonderful too. It's a place where two communities - foreigners and locals - exist in a mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationship to improve everyone's lot, whilst protecting the beauty that exists. Can you say the same thing about Cancun? Ibiza? The Great Barrier Reef?

Oh, we also went to Antigua too. It's the city equivalent of Heather Graham. It's really nice to look at, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot going on.

I'd also be lying if I said that spending time with so many cool people, in a great place, around a beautiful body of water didn't make me a little homesick...


Pics from Atitlan and Antigua are here...