The Highlands - Guatemala - page 215

gram. For visits to the cooperative and information on volunteering, contact the parish office
( 7722-0112; www.sanlucasmission.org ) .
Down by the waterfront, Hotel Don Pedro ( 7722-0028; Final de Calle Principal; s/d/tr Q70/130/190;
) is made entirely of stone and rough-hewn timber beams. The unfinished construction
feels like a medieval inn, and the relaxed restaurant/bar (meals Q40 to Q60) sports the
same motif.
Hotel Tolimán ( 7722-0033; www.hoteltoliman.com ; Calle Principal Final; s/d Q324/566; ) is a
low-key resort on the site of a former coffee-processing plant, with 20 colonial-style
rooms and suites in cottages around an amate tree. A restaurant overlooks a fountain-fed
pool amid landscaped grounds leading down to the lakeshore.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Santiago Atitlán
POP 50,583 / ELEV 1606M
Across the lake from Panajachel, on an inlet between the volcanoes of Tolimán and San
Pedro, lies Santiago Atitlán, the largest of the lake communities, with a strong indigenous
identity. Many atitecos (as its people are known) cling to a traditional Tz'utujil Maya life-
style. Women wear purple-striped skirts and huipiles embroidered with colored birds and
flowers, while a few older men still wear white-striped embroidered pants. The town's
cofradías maintain the syncretic traditions and rituals of Maya Catholicism. There's a
large art and crafts scene here, too. Boat-building is a local industry, and rows of rough-
hewn cayucos are lined up along the shore. The best days to visit are Friday and Sunday,
the main market days, but any day will do.
It's the most workaday of the lake villages, home to Maximón (mah-shee- mohn ), who
is ceremonially moved to a new home on May 8 (after Semana Santa). The rest of the
year, Maximón resides with a caretaker, receiving offerings. He changes house every year,
but he's easy enough to find by asking around.
The Tz'utujil had been in this area for generations when the Spanish arrived, with their
ceremonial capital at Chuitinamit, across the inlet. Santiago was established by Franciscan
friars in 1547, as part of the colonial strategy to consolidate the indigenous population. In
the 1980s, left-wing guerrillas had a strong presence in the area, prompting the Guatem-
alan army to kill or disappear hundreds of villagers.