Lake Atitlán

Imagine you are surrounded by three tall, sleepy giants who watch over you every day. The sun warms your face, and colorful little boats zip across your sparkling blue skin like water bugs. In the distance, you can hear people laughing and working in the villages along your shores. I live in a beautiful country called Guatemala, and those sleepy giants are actually volcanoes. I am a deep, wonderful lake. I am Lake Atitlán.

My beginning was loud and fiery. A very, very long time ago, about 84,000 years ago, a huge volcano stood where I am now. One day, it let out a giant roar and a puff of smoke. BOOM. It erupted with so much power that it left a giant, empty bowl in the earth. For thousands of years after that, rain fell from the sky, pitter-patter, filling up the big bowl drop by drop. Slowly, I became the deep blue lake I am today. After I was born, the first people came to live by my side. They were the Maya people, and they built their homes all along my shores. I was so happy to have friends.

I hold a wonderful secret deep beneath my waves. Long ago, between 250 BCE and 300 CE, there was a special island in my waters where Maya people lived. It was a busy village called Samabaj, with homes and special places for ceremonies. But over hundreds of years, I began to grow. The rainwater kept coming, and my water level rose very, very slowly. So slowly, the city was gently covered by my water, like pulling up a soft blue blanket. The city of Samabaj became a hidden treasure. For a long, long time, nobody knew it was there until a diver named Roberto Samayoa Asmus discovered it in 1996. He was amazed to find a whole city sleeping peacefully under my water.

Today, my shores are still full of life and color. The towns around me are home to the modern Maya people, who are the grandchildren of the very first people who lived here. They wear beautiful, bright clothing and weave amazing patterns that look like the rainbows in the sky and the flowers on the hillsides. Artists come from all over the world to paint pictures of my volcanoes and my sparkling water. I love being a place where people can feel connected to nature and to a story that is thousands of years old. I am a place of history, beauty, and friendship for everyone who visits.