Laguna Chikabal

Alex and I went with 3 other "gringo’s" and a teacher from the school to a volcanic lake yesterday. We had to get up at 5am to make it to the lake before the daily rain moved in. We took a crowded local bus and then hiked to the lake. My teacher was our “guide” and he told me earlier in the week that it was only an hour and a half “easy” walk to the lake. The lake (Laguna Chikabal) was a very sacred lake for the Mayans and many indigenous people still go there daily to worship.

What my teacher didn’t tell us is that the lake is in the collapsed dome of a dormant volcano that is up at almost 10,000ft. Since Xela is at 7,500ft that means we had to climb up to the lake. This normally wouldn’t be a big deal to climb 2,500ft up but they apparently don’t believe in switch backs here so it was STRAIGHT up!!! We were all really sweating and huffing and puffing. It was worth it though the view over the top of the volcano was amazing and taking the gazillion steps down to the lake itself through the mountain jungle was a really neat experience. There was a group of about 20 indigenous people at the lake worshiping and their singing was spectacular.

This was the sign about half way up the hike telling us that we were entering a protected area.

View about 30 minutes UP!

A view back over the small village we just came through. That is fog in the village not Smog - it is about 6:30am.

As we climbed higher the view down into the many valleys got prettier and prettier!

Up and Up we went.

We stopped for a short break before making the final push up. We are at a small collections of huts where people can spend the night for about $1.20. Our house mom told us it would be really cold so we brought all of our sweaters and rain gear, and it turned out to be really hot. Poor Alex! He carried all of our unneeded stuff all the way up.

We finally reached a sign that told us that we had reached the final overlook down on to the Laguna Chikabal. Yippee!!

The view down onto the lake. The locals were worshiping around the lake and were signing in Mayan. It gave the place a very magical feeling. If you use your imagination you can see how this is the top of a collapsed volcano.

Two sweaty and very red faced hot gringos pose for an obligatory picture.

After we climbed the gazillion of very wet and slippery steps through the jungle down to the lake we were greeted by beautiful offerings to the gods and many signs telling us were we could find ancient Mayan Altars.

One of the many flower offerings that the locals place to honor this sacred lake. No swimming is allowed as the lake is so sacred. Plus the water is absolutely freezing.

As we sat in the warm 9am sun, clouds literally started blowing across the lake. It was very mysterious and beautiful. And it signified that we need to start our climb back up and out of the crater before the rain moved in.

As we walked back down I snuck this picture. It can be very rude or even dangerous to take pictures of children here. Adults are often afraid that we will kidnap their children, as kidnapping still happens here frequently. And many people still believe that the camera steals part of their soul. So I always have my camera on silent and I took this with my camera in my hand at my side as I walked by. I got lucky that I even got her in the frame.

I don't like bridges that move! But I couldn't help posing for this picture on the way back down. I felt like Indiana Jones as the bridge swayed back and forth beneath me. I have to admit I was a bit scared.