It is the best town in terms of accessibility (which felt important for ease of getting in and out), as well as having facilities like well-stocked grocery stores and other accoutrements of a comfortable life. Our research revealed that Panajachel was the most popular town on Lake Atitlan for tourists. (Committing to a base for two months from afar was also a travel mistake, but we’ll get to that later). Unfortunately, researching a destination from afar isn’t easy, and it was difficult to determine which town on Lake Atitlan was best to commit to as a base for two months.

Lake Atitlan (which is an ancient caldera of a volcano) is dotted with small towns rich in Mayan history and traditions, many of which are only accessible by boat, and which feature unique indigenous languages/dialects and cultures.

Lake Atitlan is rumoured to be one of the most gorgeous lakes in the world on par with Italy’s Lake Como. While our Guatemala travel itinerary was already on the rocks (for reasons that will become clear later), arriving to Panajachel was the end of the line. Here are a few of the ways that not researching enough got me into trouble in Guatemala.īooking Accommodation in the Wrong Place on Lake AtitlanĪfter almost a month in Antigua, Guatemala where my boyfriend and I ate ourselves silly and enjoyed the ambiance of this UNESCO-rated walkable town, we headed to Lake Atitlan where we had reserved an AirBnB in a residential area of Panajachel. This exercise in having my travel stripes stripped off has been humbling to say the least. In some ways, it has introduced a whole new set of travel difficulties difficulties that most “normal” travelers are probably accustomed to facing and know how to circumvent – such as the very ordinary difficulties of booking accommodation. From there, the rest of the trip would somewhat organically unfold.īut more recently, I’ve strayed away from free accommodation gigs, as I’ve wanted a bit more freedom the kind of freedom that tending to somebody else’s home and pets can’t offer.

Instead, I followed my nose when an opportunity presented itself, (usually in the form of creative/free accommodation) – perhaps house-sitting, volunteering, filming a tv show ( no, really! That happened – a few times), or just visiting friends. Funny thing: I got by really well in my first decade or so of full-time travel without particularly researching the place I was about to visit.

Long term rentals in antigua