(Lake Attilan, Guatemala)

I chose to stay in San Marcos, one of the towns that sit beside Lake Attilan, a highland lake on an extinct volcano. I knew that there was something strange with the town when I noticed that every other person on the island wore a thick bushy beard. The town was full of hippie types as the main attraction here were the Reiki and Yoga facilities.

(Lake Attilan, Guatemala)

The town briefly reminded me of Pyongyang at night and that I will be headed there soon enough. At night, the town plunged into darkness and sounds from a loudspeaker blared into the eerie silence. The loudspeaker sounded distant and the words it was meant to say echoed, so distorted it seemed almost a natural part of the background.

(Lake Attilan, Guatemala)

The next morning I hiked with a friendly lady from Devon to the next town. The road used to have problems with bandits, but it appears that these days, its not too much of a problem. It probably also helped that we only took with us bananas and apples for our hike.