Guatemala 2026 Sketchbook Workshop - Part 2

ATITLÁN

The Place Where the Rainbow Gets It's Colors

In February, my friend Joyanne and I met before our sketching workshop and travelled to Lake Atitlán, Guatemala.  In my first post, Part 1, I described our first days at the lake.  In this post, we travelled to two new towns, San Marcos La Laguna and San Antonio Palopó.

On our second full day at the lake we walked down to the dock.  But this time, we boarded a public boat (you can read about the private boat experience in Part 1).  There wasn't a cloud in the sky as we sped off towards our adventures, and we had a gorgeous view of Volcán San Pedro. 

On our way to San Marcos La Laguna our boat stopped to let people on and off at the villages along the way.  I particularly liked this photo of us pulling out of the reeds near one of the docks.

San Marcos La Laguna

 Below is the view from the docks of San Marcos La Laguna.  We almost missed getting off at our stop because we didn't hear anyone say the name of the town.  Luckily Joyanne asked someone, or we would have been off to the next town!

The town of San Marcos La Laguna is known for being popular among spiritual seekers.  We had heard you could get all kinds of readings (Mayan calendar, astrological, etc), or do cacao ceremonies, or yoga.  And, of course, that is why we wanted to go.  Joyanne and I met in a Mystery School so we both have an interest in such things.

Below is a mural of my Mayan sign, Ajpu.  It represents the sun, light, the blowgun hunter, spiritual warriors, and the ultimate victory of light over darkness (and I am pretty good with a blowgun if I do say so myself!).

When we got off the boat, this town had a different look and feel than San Juan La Laguna from the day before.  Immediately the path narrowed down to a sidewalk-width street.  We happened upon a young woman carrying her yoga mat walking in the opposite direction.  We asked her where we could eat breakfast and she told us we should go to "Maltox."  She said it was a little bit of an uphill walk, but it was worth it. So we made our way through the narrow path and emerged onto a sunlit street.  

The flowers were GORGEOUS!!!

We arrived at Matox after a 10 minute walk uphill, and it was worth it!  I would say this meal was the best I had on my whole trip!  I had an avocado and egg waffle.

And Joyanne had blueberry pancakes.  We both had amazing chai.

After breakfast we walked back down to the narrow pathway that was lined with shops.  I can't explain exactly why, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.  I think Joyanne enjoyed it more than me.  It seemed to me like a lot of the stores were populated or owned by non-locals.  Weirdly, I didn't even take any photos.  We eventually made it back to the dock and boarded the public boat home.  We had such clear views of the volcanoes on the way home.  I really enjoyed riding the boats along the lake.

Santa Catarina Palopó

After we arrived in Panajachel we took a tuk tuk to San Antonio Palopó.  The views from the ride were stunning.

The tuk tuk driver dropped us off at the church in the middle of town and this was the view!  

I tried to take a panoramic photo but I couldn't get it to work.  When I got home I was able to piece it together and made this drawing. 

Standing in front of the church looking out, I could feel the sacredness of this place.  Lake Atitlan seemed to cast a spell on me...to enchant me with its beauty.  It reflected something ancient that was hard to put words to, yet I could feel in my bones. 

When I returned home and looked up the meaning of "Atitlan," I learned that it can be poetically translated as "The place where the rainbow gets its colors" (Source).   I knew that that had to go in the sketchbook!

After enjoying the view we went into the church, San Antonio de Padua.

The interior was decorated for the Lenten season and they had a wooden float of Jesus carrying the cross on display for La Processión.  Before Easter they carry the heavy floats around the town on the weekend.  It is quite an amazing site to see. The little cherub holding up the ceiling also caught my eye.  

I didn't think the view could get any better, but I was wrong.  Standing in the church looking out across the lake, framed by the arch of the church with the cross in center view, I was awestruck.  It was like time stood still and silence grew louder.  This was my favorite place we visited on the entire trip...pure magic. 

As we stood looking out the doorway, tuk tuks drove by and women with their children walked along the stone street.  It made me wonder about what their lives might be like...and how it would be to live in this town on a hill near this big blue lake.

I could easily have stayed there for a while, but Joyanne and I had plans.  We wanted to find the blue and white ceramics that this town was known for.

We didn't really know where the ceramics stores were except that they were closer to the lake.  We started walking without knowing where we were going, when a woman appeared out of nowhere.  

She asked us if we would like her to take us to the blue and white ceramics and we said yes.  We had quite an adventure following her.  So I wrote a poem to describe the experience.

I AM NOT A THIEF!

Out of a crevice in the wall...
She appeared

“I can help you find what you are seeking”

We obediently bobbed our heads

We followed the woman who carried

rainbows on her back

Her head wrapped in braids twined with

hand-made ribbon and joy

We entered a maze of alleys
        that slowly swallowed the sun

The passages narrowed

as our guide assured us,

“¡Yo no soy ladron!” (I am not a thief!)

The path ended at a doorway

She slipped through the fissure...

murmuring low voices

The door opened...”¡Entra!, ¡Entra!”

We stepped through the portal into darkness

The clank of keys opening...
yet one more ancient door

We entered into indigo depths,

As our eyes learned the language of blue

We heard the silent call of clay

...birds, flowers, moon and stars.

Quetzals flew from our pockets

Our steps reversed through the dark canals

Delivering us to the dazzling light 

We emerged triumphant

Clasping the azure bird of wisdom

In the land where the rainbow gets its colors

Where time stops and lava flows

And women weave their magic

In case you didn't know, the quetzal is the official currency of Guatemala.  It is named after the resplendent quetzal, Guatemala's national bird.

Below you can see the full sketchbook spread with the umbrella scene and sidewalk design from San Juan La Laguna.

The woman had indeed taken us to a room full of ceramics, where I purchased a small blue and white owl.  It just wasn't the public stores that we had seen on Google maps.  So after the woman led us back to the main street, we started walking down towards the lake.  

As we were walking I saw these lovely painted wooden boats pulled onto the sand.

I learned these boats are called cayucos.  Cayucos are traditional slender, avocado-wood dugout canoes used by the indigenous Tzutujil fisherman on Lake Atitlán.

We also walked by this incredible sidewalk made purely of seashells that led to the fisherman's dock.    

We did finally find two ceramic stores by the lake.  I didn't get a photo of the first one where I bought a spoon rest.  But below you can see the second store that was the actual ceramics studio where they have the kiln.

It was fun to see the artists inside painting their ceramics and to see the entire studio.

When we were in the first store the woman told us about the man who brought this blue and white technique to the area.  This is what I learned from Google when I got home.

"The blue and white pottery from Lake Atitlán is primarily produced in the village of San Antonio Palopó. The modern tradition began in the 1990s when American potter Ken Edwards introduced high-temperature firing techniques to the village. This allowed for the creation of lead-free, durable ceramics using local volcanic clays." 

The Ken Edwards story is quite inspiring.  It shows how one person can make a huge difference in the world.  You can read more about it here and here.

I also really liked that much of the pottery had bird themes and loved this description from Google,

"Birds are a common subject and are considered liminal beings capable of traversing the sky, land, and water, symbolizing the ability to communicate across different cosmic layers. "  

After leaving the ceramics shop we made our way back to Panajachel via tuk tuk.  For our last night in Panajachel we treated ourselves to a nice dinner at 7 Caldos.  I absolutely loved the giant corn on the wall and it inspired the corn on the first page of my sketchbook this year.  For those of you who don't know, I love corn art.

After dinner we wandered the shops along Calle Santander, lit up by pendant lights and live music.

The next morning we walked down to the lake to say goodbye before our taxi arrived.  Near the lake the overhead banners were colored purple for the Lenten season (above, right).  When we got down to the lake we took one last photo of ourselves to commemorate the moment.

And then we said hasta luego (literally, "until then" or "until we meet again") to the lake.  I certainly do hope there is a "next time."  

Below is a video of the whole adventure set to fun music.  So turn your volume on!

CONCLUSION

I was thinking about all the various reasons why I felt drawn to go on this trip.  There are the obvious ones, like the sketching and my having had a great time on Amy's past trips.  But there is another that I haven't mentioned yet.  I have always been interested in the Mayan culture because of my heritage.  My ancestry is a little unclear, but we think that my great great grandfather, who was a Danish missionary, married a Mayan woman from Mérida, Mexico.  My Dad has vague memories of his grandma who he describes as "a little old Indian lady with long dark hair."

So when I was reading the meaning of my Mayan calendar sign I found it interesting when it said, "Ajpu signifies holiness within the physical world, representing a deep connection to ancestors and the underlying meaning of life."

I was blown away when I read that because if you know me, you know that I am always looking to find "the miraculous in the mundane" or the "extraordinary in the ordinary".  It has been my mantra and a theme running through my artwork for many years. 

And the second part, about a connection to the ancestors, is perfectly in line with my heritage and my lifetime interest in the Maya.  I remember as a teen, my absolute favorite book was book 5 in the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, The Mystery of the Maya.  And when I went to Houston, I took every class they had on the Popul Vuh and Mayan Art.  
  

And finally, I find the last line, about the underlying meaning of life, particularly appropriate. I have spent the last decade of my life exploring the questions "Who am I?," "Why are we here?," and "What is the meaning of life?"
  

Left: Watercolor and acrylic sketch of blue cotton corte with hand-embroidered randa (stitching) 

How does all of this relate to Lake Atitlán, you ask? It has been suggested that when the lake is still, it can act as a mirror of your soul.  One additional meaning of the word Atitlan is "the reflection of your heart."  "In Mayan culture, the heart is the center of all intention, intuition, and life. Instead of asking 'how are you?', traditional Maya greetings translate closer to 'what is your heart telling you?'" (Source).  

In the past 10 years I have been asking myself a similar question, "What brings me joy?" This trip was the answer to that question.  If I had looked down into the deep blue water as I was blazing across the lake, wind whipping through my hair, I would have seen someone deeply alive, with a wide-open heart.  I would have witnessed the bright blue becoming of me.