At 5125 feet, or 1562 metres, in altitude above sea level, Lake Atitlán is an 'endorheic' crater lake in the western highlands in the Sierra Madre mountain range of Guatemala. This means that it is technically an enclosed drainage basin, with just two small rivers flowing from it. Three dormant volcanoes (Atitlán at 3537 metres, Tolimán at 3158 metres, and San Pedro at 3020 metres) tower moreorless the same height above lake level as the lake lies above sea level. The explosive conception of this landscape came with the cataclysmic volcanic convulsion 84,000 years ago that formed a “caldera” lake.
The first volcanic activity in the region occurred in the impossibly distant past, some 11 million years ago, and since then the region has seen four separate episodes of volcanic growth and caldera collapse, the most recent of which began about 1.8 million years ago and culminated in the formation of the present caldera.
With an ambient climate today composed of a wet season from May to October and a dry season from November to April, temperatures are generally from 20 - 25 C by day, dipping to 10 - 15 C by night. A unique aspect of the climate is what is referred to as Xocomil (of the Kaqchickel language meaning "the wind that carried away sin"). This wind commonly picks up during afternoons across the lake; it is said to be the encounter of warm winds from Pacific meeting colder winds from the north.
The lake runs 12 kilometres east to west. and has a surface area of 130 square kilometres. There are twelve communities formed into Mayan towns and villages dotted around the lake. The largest towns are Santiago Atitlán, San Pedro La Laguna, and Panajachel. Villages include San Juan La Laguna, San Pablo, San Marcos, Tzununá, Jaibalito, Santa Cruz, Santa Catarina Palopó, San Antonio Palopó, San Lucas Tolimán. From Santiago Atitlán to San Pablo la Laguna, the Mayans are Tzutujil, from San Marcos to San Lucas Tolimán they are largely Kaqchikel. The large town of Sololá, eponymous with the state that takes in Lake Atitlán has a population of 14,000 and sits perched some 600 metres above the lake, over five kilometres by steep, winding road below. The population of Sololá state is 424,000, an amazing 94% of which is indigenous.
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