At the Water

New year’s day on the shores of Lake Atitlán, in the Sierra Madre mountain range of southwestern Guatemala, brings in the colours of the dawn. Atitlán means "at the water" in Nahuatl, but it’s the three volcanoes (Atitlán, San Pedro and Toliman) which steal the show. Von Humboldt named it "the most beautiful lake in the world” and Aldous Huxley said it surpassed Lake Como as touching the limit of permissibly picturesque. It’s hard to disagree, especially from the pier at Santa Catarina Palopó.