Author Archives: Andrew Tonn
A Photographic Survey of the Lake Atitlan Towns
July 13, 2011 | 4:44 pm
COLUMBUS, OHIO–Ever since I first laid eyes on the blue expanse of Lake Atitlan, I have wondered about the towns surrounding her shores. Little by little I explored them over the years, mostly haphazardly, leaving many unseen. If I were to go back and look through my old journals I know I would [...]
On the Campaign Trail With Enrique Rodriguez
June 29, 2011 | 4:17 pm
GUATEMALA CITY—We came down out of the mountains, down the curves and switchbacks on the outside of Lake Atitlan’s caldera, dropping out of the highland fog into the thick night of Guatemala’s subtropical rainforest. Tall trees, dripping water, lined the road. It was late and the Central American night was unrelieved by light pollution so [...]
Holy Week in Santiago: In Which I Explore the Largest Town on Lake Atitlan, Photograph Processions Both Catholic and Pagan and End up in the House of Maximon at Night.
June 9, 2011 | 4:22 pm
PANAJACHEL—I stepped off the boat onto the floating dock at Santiago and clapped my wide-brimmed Panama hat tightly onto my head. I slung the light NorthFace Recon pack over one shoulder and the Domke F3X camera bag over the other and began the uphill hike up the main street to Hotel Ratzan. To my right was [...]
A Kachiquel Lexicon
May 30, 2011 | 4:32 pm
PANAJACHEL–People are often surprised to learn that the Mayans are still a vital culture, with their own languages, customs, religion and communities. It may have been a long time since they built any pyramids but the Maya are, if pressed by hundreds of years of Spanish conquest, forced assimilation, frequent massacres and the unstoppable encroachment [...]
“Atitlan” from “Beyond the Mexique Bay” by Aldous Huxley
May 30, 2011 | 4:12 pm
By Aldous Huxley, pages 128-130, Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York and London, 1934 ATITLAN–Lake Como, it seems to me, touches the limit of the permissibly picturesque; but Atitlan is Como with the additional embellishment of several immense volcanoes. It is really too much of a good thing. After a few days in this impossible [...]
Una broma de Piratas
April 8, 2011 | 5:41 pm
PANAJACHEL– El bartender estaba limpiando su bar, cuando escucho unos pasos. El levantando la vista veía entrando un pirata. Entonces, el pirata le hablaba diciendo dame un ron. El tienen aspecto muy bravo y muy falo pero despues de dos copas de ron, el pirata ya se encontraba tranquilo. Entonces el bartender le pregunta, “Si [...]
Interlude III: Send Liquor, Guns and Germans
March 13, 2011 | 2:42 pm
PANAJACHEL–Years ago I was staying at a small hotel surrounded by jungle on a tributary of the Rio Dulce in Guatemala. The night was heavy with humidity, isolation and the smell of decaying vegetation. We sat in a small electric island surrounded by wet forest. There was an older German man who was very drunk. [...]
F.A. Mitchell-Hedges describes Lake Atitlan
March 12, 2011 | 5:21 pm
From “Land of Wonder and Fear” by F.A. Mitchell-Hedges, The Century Company, 1931. Page 113-114. “I shall never forget the next morning. Five thousand one hundred and fifty feet above sea-level lay Lake Atitlan, seventeen miles long, without a ripple, green-blue in colour, and completely surrounded by gigantic mountains. Rising sheer from the edge [...]
Up on the Mountain, Looking for gods
March 4, 2011 | 8:42 pm
2 March 2011 SAN JORGE, LAKE ATITLAN, GUATEMALA—As you travel the steep road between Solola on the rim of Atilan’s caldera to Panajachel on its shore, you pass above the town of San Jorge. You look down, a thousand feet or so, into the center of the pueblo, over its houses and into the square [...]