We’ve been in Lake Atitlan for a bit, and it truly feels like heaven. Imagine a giant lake surrounded by three pristine volcanoes, their peaks often shrouded in clouds—we’re literally up in the clouds.
There are many pueblos around la laguna. We began in Panajachel, the largest, finding any place to admire the lake as we sipped coffee--me reading, writing, relaxing, O working. The town was filled with local merchants, boats, restaurants (surprisingly no local seafood), and the same warm people we’ve gotten to know during our time in Guatelinda.
We’d hoped to get scuba diving certified throughout this journey, a bucket list item for O (he's a human fish, Pisces and all.) We were surprised to find a diving school in a neighboring pueblo, so we reached out and registered to start three days later.
We also hoped to find a small guitar or ukulele for me to play while O worked, and after visiting several music stores, we finally found the one. We named her Chula after one of our hotel rooms. Though I’ve been playing the same four songs over and over, she's already brought a lot of light to our trip.
Scuba certification was intense: a three-day course with technical lessons and twice-daily dives. I’ve always been fascinated by the power of breath, and experiencing it underwater was both calming and surreal. Our instructor, Iann, a cool Chilean with dreadlocks to his knees, introduced us to this new underwater world. He reminded us to embrace vulnerability and face fears as opportunities to grow, which was both challenging and enlightening. Most importantly, he reminded us to never stop breathing.
Diving also requires teamwork--you can't dive without a buddy. So O and I learned more about how to look out for each other and communicate without words, literally. We’re actually such a good team that one night out when playing giant Jenga against each other, we ended up beating the game instead--the tower never collapsed.
His dedication and support made the diving experience and this entire trip very special. Thanks again, O, for joining me on this journey, being my buddy, and inspiring me every day.
After six dives, hours of studying, and passing the final exam (and 200M swim test!), we celebrated with mezcal, cheersing to bucket list achievements. At the time I couldn't think of any of mine, but later I realized I'm also living them now.
In our 12 days at Lake Atitlan, we explored five towns each with distinct personalities--Panajachel, San Juan, Santa Cruz, San Pedro, Santiago--enjoyed incredible food, experienced a town parade, soaked in hot springs in the jungle, crashed a wedding, learned about local culture and a few Mayan words. We even woke up at 4 a.m. to hike Nariz del Rostro Maya, where the sunrise over the lake was worth every lost minute of sleep—gazing at the beautiful body of water and land we've gotten to know intimately.
The first song I tried to learn on uke was a rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow & What a Wonderful World. As I learned the chords and softly sang the lyrics, I couldn't help tears roll down my cheeks. I couldn’t help feel how true the words felt to me at that moment and throughout these weeks. I don’t mean to sound like a broken record, but here’s how they go and what I’ll leave you with:
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
And the dreams that you dream of
Dreams really do come true
Someday I'll wish upon a star
Wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops
High above the chimney top that's where you'll find me
Oh, somewhere over the rainbow way up high
And the dreams that you dare to
Why, oh why can't I
Well I see trees of green and red roses too
I’ll watch them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world
And with that, we're off to the coast.
Until next time, with love,
Andrea Mayela
