Thursday's Child: La Fortuna, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Last week I wrote about visiting San Juan La Laguna, a Guatemalan village on Lake Atitlan. We stayed at the lake for two nights near the end of a very active holiday and were ready for a break. What we got was a little slice of paradise.

La Fortuna is a small inn on the northern shores of Atitlan. Set in a private cove among mountains and volcanoes, the property is accessible only by boat. From the minute we disembarked at their dock, we felt like private guests at a beautifully rustic home. The sense of privacy was enhanced by the fact that there are only four bungalows on the property, all set a distance apart. (We had the one closest to the water, seen in the photo at the top of the post and below.)

Dinners and breakfasts were served on our private porch – dinners by candlelight, breakfast in the bright sunlight. So during every meal, we enjoyed the beautiful view of Lake Atitlan's clear blue waters.

We were happy to relax for much of our stay, but we spent one afternoon hiking up the hill that overlooks La Fortuna. When the owners, Steve and Kat, bought the property, the foliage was so dense and the path so steep that it took two men six months to carve out a path. We followed it to the end with the company of the owners’ dogs and, upon reaching the summit, they enjoyed the view with us.