More on atitlan (Panajachel)

I decided to talk about Panajachel in a separate post from my lake atitlan post because Panajachel was my base during my trip and it’s actually untrue that there’s nothing else to see here. As mentioned Panajachel is your gateway from and back to the rest of Guatemala there are shuttles to Antigua and Guatemala City. If you stay in Panajachel you may not have the lake front resorts of other atitlan towns but you are close to the conveniences of groceries and atm machines. You will come to appreciate it over time when you spend more quetzals on the speedboats :). Panajachel main town is full of travellers and very western bars and restaurants. But a short tuk tuk ride away there is the reserva natural which I quite appreciate. It has some short hiking trails, a very nicely maintained butterfly sanctuary and a couple of colonies of free roaming coatis (animals related to the raccoon but has red panda vibes), it’s worth at least half a days stay. Otherwise you can also walk along the lake promenade with your spare time. The other nice thing about Panajachel is that you can access two small towns being San Antonio and Santa Catarina by pickup truck or tuk tuk no speedboat needed. I didn’t regret picking Panajachel as my base. My hotel was hotel jotam it’s quite nicely maintained, just didn’t have air con (but that said from what I saw I think most hotels in the atitlan area don’t have air con)