A Retreat to our neighbor to the north, Guatemala

I recently took a trip up to Guatemala to visit a friend who is living at Lago de Atitlan in Guatemala and found it to be an incredible and beautiful place. The lake itself reminded me very much of a larger version of Laguna de Apoyo between Masaya and Granada which we visit on a regular basis except that the three volcanoes that soar out of the lake are a bit more spectacular and there is a bit more activity. While Laguna de Apoyo is primarily a destination for lounging around and simply relaxing, Lago de Atitlan offered a wide array of opportunities ranging from yoga and meditation to volcano trekking and paragliding with just about everything in between. It also offers a wide range of villages with some small and tranquil and others busy and boisterous. We stayed in a small village on the north side of the lake named Santa Cruz la Laguna. This is a unique place in that most visitors and locals only enter by foot or boat and the only vehicle traffic in the village consisted of a few tuk-tuks that run people up to the village which is on the hill high above the lake, and a couple of trucks that deliver supplies up to the village. We had the pleasure of staying in the Villa Sumaya Yoga Retreat which is at a tranquil location east of the main dock and generally group offers yoga retreats, meditation retreats and other wellness related activities. The accommodations and facilities were first class and the staff was very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful and definitely contributed to making our stay on the lake a pleasure. Of all my journeys outside of Nicaragua the trip to Lago de Atitlan is easily one of my favorites and I very much look forward to visiting again in the future.