Our hotel was in Panajachel, a touristy town on the shores of Lake Atitlán, at over 5,000 feet elevation. We rode a boat across the lake, which is partly ringed by volcanos, to the village of Santiago Atitlán, where we visited a shaman’s hovel, a Mayan cemetery, and bought local textiles. Boarding the boat again, we went to San Antonio Palopó, another village, for lunch and a weaving demonstration. The women whose textiles are sold here are widows of Mayans who were massacred during the long civil war.

The following day we walked in the Atitlán Nature Reserve while others did a zip-line course. The reserve is not particularly impressive, and one can hear road sounds at times, but it is, at least, a bit of preserved private land. On the grounds is also a butterfly sanctuary.