Jorge organized a wonderful fishing expedition. I deeply wanted to spend time with someone indigenous from the region and hear about their thoughts and way of life. What better way to do that than sitting 2 hours in a kayuco fishing with Antonio!
Jorge arranged everything, picked me and dropped me off and here is the best part: as a surprise there were five mini tours of a textile collective ran by women in the area, a chocolate fabrica, coffee manufacturer, an apiary and an art gallery!
I learned a lot and did all my souvenir shopping while supporting the local community.
Would highly recommend!
I made all of the arrangements directly with Atitlan Tours using whatsapp. Elías was very helpful and responded quickly to each of our questions. I wanted a birdwatching tour that started a little later than the normal 6 am.
I would book this same outing again if I went back to Lake Atitlan.
The tour included a roundtrip boat ride from Santa Catarina, transportation to the reserve as well as the benefits of having Elías, an experienced birdwatcher, guide us to find toucans, various other birds and even the elusive quetzal. Elías had pictures and bird calls on his phone to help in our search. He even provide two pairs of binoculars for our group. I also really appreciated his sensitivity to the pace of our small group. He told us upfront that our late departure time and the time of year made it unlikely to find the quetzal so we had realistic exceptions before we headed out.
It was a great day, a nice hardy walk in the reserve and something I would definitely recommend.