| Destinations on the way to Atitlán | |
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Reaching Atitlan is an additional attraction, since during the tour you can make several stops that allow you to enjoy the local environment. The first is San Lucas Sacatepequez, with an active market and typical full of delicious dining options, which marks the beginning of the first stop in Western restaurants.
Further on the second leg, Tecpán, another region with varied and colorful options to stop and rest, eat and play. Here the restaurants have more elaborate settings and decorations from the model cabin style, which includes playgrounds and green areas. They are true family destination. A few minutes away are the ruins of Iximche.
From this point the restaurants are more scattered, but the options remain varied.
El Mirador de AtitlánThe third stop is mandatory. If your travel schedule does not include a visit to Atitlán, you can still delight in their beauty without abandoning the Interamerican Highway. Minutes after Tecpan you can reach the first viewpoint of Lake Atitlan, which besides offering a beautiful view displays various options to see and buy wooden handicrafts, pottery, textiles, leather, beads, textiles and miniatures, to remember.
It has two main wooden platforms to observe the landscape, has ample parking and restrooms. Stopping is not uncomfortable, because right in front there are two returns in the four-lane highway.
Los EncuentrosA fourth stop recommended, minutes ahead of the Mirador, is "where the roads meet. " Here it divides the Interamerican Highway in two: left the path that follows Solola, Quetzaltenango and Huehuetenango, and on the right path that leads to the heart of Chichicastenango and Quiche.
  
In Los Encuentros converge both market activities such as culture, traditions and culinary diversity. For many years was the main shopping area, bus transfer, but soon the diversity of eating and growing infrastructure has increased the options.
Cathedral "Los Encuentros"
In recent months we observed a construction in progress a few meters from the road, the new Cathedral of the meetings. At the time of this visit (January 2011) had not been opened, but is ready for release. Its white facade with carved wooden door, its two towers and bell towers side by side reminds the church of Chichicastenango.
 
Surely these are the first pictures of the new temple to be published on the Internet.
Two viewpoints towards PanajachelIf your journey continues west without crossing the heart of Solola, the Mirador de Atitlan, on the highway CA1, is the only view you'll have the lake, otherwise if you descend from Panajachel find two lookouts with views even more blue .
Flashes bending down and suddenly the landscape you find the two balconies with seating area and sales of souvenirs and paintings of the lake made by local artists, wooden masks, various necklaces, textiles and other crafts. Panajachel is visible in the distance, about 10 minutes by car.
TimesThe trip from Guatemala to San Lucas takes about 30 minutes. Capital city to Tecpán an hour. To the Mirador de Atitlán Panajachel hour and a half and about two hours. Caution is advised if traveling at night or early morning, the fog that often covers several sections of the road. The view of sunrise and sunset is a spectacle.
Text and photos: Héctor Roldán
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