KIRAN GOES PLACES
Getting there was half the fun, a public lancha where the schedule is really just a guy shouting town names until you hear yours and jump on, luggage precariously balanced and untied on the roof. It cost about $3 to get almost anywhere on the lake, and the ride was properly rocky the whole way.
The view from the dock, volcanoes across the water and the lanchas coming in.
Free Cerveza is an infamous name around the lake, and yes, it means exactly what you think. Green grass down to the water, sunbathers everywhere, a deck with a bar, and an activity board covered in yoga, sunrise paddleboarding, cooking classes and hikes. They've even got free stand up paddleboards and kayaks to rent. The private rooms were taken by the time we arrived, so we ended up in a glamorous tent instead, four single mattresses scattered around inside. Check in comes with a free beer voucher, and the hostel has its own dock, so lanchas can drop you literally at your door.
An art class was already happening when we arrived, free beer included of course, sit opposite a stranger and draw them. Some of the results were horrendous, mine included, except for Rudy, who drew me looking like Van Gogh on a good day. Before sunset it was family dinner time, sign up in advance, everyone gets the same three course meal, ten dollars including an hour of free beer served before the food. Total chaos, total fun, and a genuinely great way to meet people. We made some good friends from Mexico over it, drank, ate, and repeated.
Family dinner, the reason everyone leaves this place with new friends.
The next morning everyone felt rough but somehow like best friends after a shared night of eating and drinking, like one giant sleepover. Breakfast was at Poets nearby, unlimited free coffee if you order food. We'd booked a yoga session at Eagle's Nest in San Marcos, but it got cancelled last minute for a festival, which turned out to be a blessing since Sam wasn't feeling 100% anyway. So we grabbed a lancha across instead.
San Marcos: cacao, cliff jumps and a hidden garden
San Marcos is famous for yoga, spirituality, cliff jumps and a properly chilled bohemian vibe. Walking around is wild, dream catchers, gems, magical brews, vegan cafes, cacao shops, intimacy workshops, hypnotherapy sessions, mystical yoga farms, sacred plant ceremonies. We had lunch at the Hidden Garden, genuinely difficult to find but enormous once you're in, hidden passages leading to entirely different seating areas, smoothie bowls, green food, my drink served in a jar while I sat on the floor.
The Hidden Garden, difficult to find, worth finding.
We ran into Simon, a friend we'd made all the way back at Acatenango, now somehow also here at the lake. Post lunch we stopped at Circle Bakery for a cacao and got enticed toward Cerro Tzankujil, a nature reserve known for lakeside views, jungle paths and cliff jumps, which was really why we'd come. Twenty quetzales to get in, genuinely beautiful trails, and some seriously popular cliff jumps. The top platform's actual height is controversial, some say 10 metres, some say 12, some say 15, but we went to find out for ourselves.
Cerro Tzankujil, and the platform everyone argues about the height of.
We spotted the big daddy, the highest platform, and knew we had to get up there. One, two, three, and off into the blue. Survived, and immediately felt like it.
Right before the jump. Survived.
Back at Free Cerveza by 5pm, exactly in time for the free beer, which is when the place really comes alive. Pool, ping pong, people watching the sunset or just socialising, dinner on the floor again, and back to our surprisingly cosy tent.
Our tent for two nights, surprisingly cosy once the sun went down.
Last morning, our neighbour Nina reported a scorpion in her tent, small enough that I'd never have believed it existed if I hadn't seen it myself, tiny until it moves and suddenly looks twice the size. A good excuse to be leaving that day. We couldn't come to Lake Atitlán without actually getting out on the water though, so with the wind finally dying down a little, we squeezed in some paddleboarding right in the middle of the volcano studded scenery before we left, weaving around the lanchas.
Paddleboarding out into the volcano studded middle of the lake, right before checkout.
Santa Cruz La Laguna from above, the little village that's home to the best hostel we've stayed in.
Free Cerveza is a mad place on the edge of a stunning lake, surrounded by volcanoes and travellers from all over, eating three course meals and drinking free beer like an actual family. Honestly one of the best spots of the whole trip. Next up, we were heading to Flores and the lost city of Tikal.