Site Report: Santiago de Atitlan

Visits

• 2009-02-02: We arrived in Santiago after two pretty full days of traveling from Semuc Champey via the Chichicastenango Market. My first impression of Lago Atitlan was that it was especially over-hyped and not much different from other lakes that I have visited. Panajachel, the gateway to the lake, was the kind of overtouristed place that never fails to make me feel sick to the stomach and empty of wallet. After fighting through the touts and acres of kitschy souvenir stands, we found ourselves on the boat to Santiago, your basic town full of barking dogs, crowing roosters, and air pollution. So, we decided to splurge for the nice hotel on the outskirts of town. The grounds of the hotel, with several fruiting trees, were a great place for finding migrant birds, but the highlight was the large scorpion that I found in the room. The hotel is without television, so we had to wander into town to watch Superbowl XLIII. This turned out to be an interesting cultural experience for the locals. The window of the restaurant was filled with the faces of curious children. I could not resist sneaking up to the window to scare them. Kids scattered in all directions. Parents scolded the children. Take that, nosy kids!

Species Seen

Lifelists

• North America
• World

Trips

• Mexico to Panama