Kayaking Lake Atitlan - a beautiful, but dangerous trip

Lake Atitlan is about 50 meters higher than at its low point of a few years ago.  An underwater landslide has blocked the outlet, so things are flooding.  We just entered the dry period, so the water might go down for awhile, but it is expected to continue rising until the outlet unblocks itself.  There is evidence that the lake level could get to be higher than many of the homes or even whole villages.

We started our kayak trip at around 8 am but were not really prepared for hiking or for a guide that would walk off and leave us behind.  No warning was given about the diving platform, either.  Although the kayak trip is fun, Gary injured his sternum when he jumped into the water at 7 meters up.  It took at least 5 weeks for the pain to completely subside.

We walked around a bioreserve (which is where the diving platform is).  It was beautiful but we should have worn at least tennis shoes instead of sandals.  Not only that, but the bioreserve guide seemed to be in a hurry - twice he walked off without Gerry and I and we couldn't find them.  Eventually he found us, but we weren't very happy with him.