As February draws to a close, so does our latest stay on Lake Atitlán. It’s bittersweet, as always. On the one hand, I’m excited to hit the road again, explore new places, see some new things, complain about new bathrooms. On the other, having become fully immersed in the generally tepid pace of life here on the lake (it usually only takes a week or so to fully slow down to “lake speed”), the idea of getting moving again – buses, airports, planes, delays, waiting, confusion, sleeping sitting up – can also feel pretty daunting. I know that within days we’ll be used to it again and actually having a whole list of things to do – or places to go, or transportation to figure out – each day as opposed to just a single hike, or “extra long happy hour”, or something equally simple to manage, will once again…

Easter week is a massive holiday across Latin America, and in particular in Guatemala and Lake Atitlan, where it is known in Spanish as Semana Santa. It is dominated by religious ceremonies, endless gatherings for Mass, holy processions and, of course, people frolicking to and fro on vacation like headless chickens. Headless chickens in their most presentable clothing, and often least presentable drunken behaviour. Semana Santa in Guatemala On Lake Atitlán, in particular, Semana Santa means the kids are out of school, everyone has had some festive responsibility bestowed on them by their church, “Chapinos” (residents of Guatemala City) are out in full force showing off their fancy “city clothes” and roaring jet skis, and cheap, temporary food stands pop up everywhere (cold day-old pizza or rapidly drying out watermelon slices anyone?). Of course, fireworks and firecrackers are everywhere, just as often set off by mischievously cackling old men as…

With our time winding down here in Guatemala yet again, it seems prudent to cover what we’ve been up to in our time since the heady days of Semana Santa, including 3 days doing the Xela to Lake Atitlan hike with an early morning summit of Volcan Zunil. While in most of the northern hemisphere April means spring – unpredictable weather,  melting snow, dirty streets, the first flowers shyly poking up from the dead yellow grass, and NHL playoff drafts – the difference at Lake Atitlan is negligible. It might be a little bit warmer, possibly, although it’s hard to say for sure. You might think things would have settled into a post-holiday stupor after the hectic festivities surrounding Easter, but if you did you’d be dead wrong because, for some reason, mainly coincidence I think, April seems to be when all the nearby villages celebrate their “ferias”, or fairs.…