When I was told Lake Atitlán had healing powers, I thought, how quaint. Mayan descendants and expat hippies have passed down this legend through generations to entice people. Maybe they even believe it.

Having lived lakeside for a week, I get it. It’s simply impossible not to feel good when you look out over Lake Atitlán. Watching the sun glisten off the waves and hearing them lap against the shoreline. Being mesmerized by the clouds as they dance around the mouths of the volcanoes. Waving to local fisherman as they paddle their mini wooden dories in search of their morning catch.

Words cannot capture this feeling. There is no room – and no need – for fear or anxiety or anger. I am consumed with a sense of calm. I am completely at peace.

Whatever emotional baggage I was carrying when I entered the Sierra Madre mountain range, I have given it over to the Lake and it has been taken away by Xocomil, “the wind that carried away sin”.

This is nirvana.

You can search your whole life for this feeling. In some ways, we are all searching. Maybe that is why, we call the Lake magic. That feeling is so easy to find here. I honestly can’t see how you would escape it.

That said, I suppose, the feeling which cannot be named, ultimately comes from within you, wherever you are. The ‘search’ is in finding the place and space where you are able to open yourself up to it.

BWG suggests…
San Marcos as your base of operations (we did a lakeside AirBnB to the west of town)
Vida for campfire and music (chill hostel bar along the San Marcos shoreline)
Luce for Reiki treatments (local woman based out of her home, found completely by accident)
Cafe Artisano in San Juan (wine, cheese, and breathtaking views)