Along Highway 7W (and 15)
from Cobán to Lake Atitlán

Continuation from < Page 1 < !

I explored the Lanquin Caves the next morning before we drove on. They were very damp and full of stalactites and stalagmites. It was fairly strenuous but quite interesting. We then drove back to Cobán and, after stopping to shop, we drove on towards Lake Atitlán. The route we chose is Highway 7W, which heads west from Santa Cruz Verapaz (13km south of Cobán) for about 100 km to Sacapulas, where we would then turn south towards the lake. We didn't really know the state of the 7W - our guide book describes it as 'one of the most beautiful, and roughest, mountain roads in Guatemala, with magnificent scenery in the narrow valleys.' With that recommendation we decided to give it a try. We did ask the friendly attendant at the petrol station in San Cristobal Verapaz how the road is and received the answer - "si, es tierra" and he motioned some sort of bumping from one side to another...
The first 40-50 km were exactly as described - rough. The road is also very narrow, with switch-back after switch-back, and the drop-off in places was further than I wanted to imagine. To further complicate things, we were constantly meeting large trucks filled with rocks coming towards us, often with little idea of how we could get off the road far enough to allow them to pass. Juergen drove slowly and carefully and we managed at least 25 trucks without any mishaps. And I must agree with the 'Footprint', that the scenery is magnificent! We had noticed along the way that roadwork had been done at some stage, but it didn't look anywhere near finished. Rather it appeared to have been left in the middle of construction and then regressed. Suddenly we found ourselves amongst current roadwork and in no time we were driving on a brand new tar road - there weren't even any lines on it yet. It was such a relief after the rough road we had been tackling for several hours.
We arrived in Uspantán just on dusk with no idea where we could sleep. We stopped outside the police station and asked - they suggested that the safest place would be right across the road from them. When asked if there was much traffic overnight the answer was 'no'. The Police station is right next to the central square and although the traffic lessened, it never really stopped. And everybody who drove past our truck had to beep their horn as a friendly hello to the Police standing in front of their door. Then just before 3.00 am the buses to 'god knows where' started pulling in and tooting their horns and shouting their unintelligible destinations! About 40 minutes later we gave up any pretence of trying to sleep and got up, had a cooked breakfast and prepared to leave. By shortly after 6.00 we were on the road.
There was more magnificent mountain scenery to be experienced as we drove up into the clouds, above them and then down again. But it was getting more populated and it seems that most of the towns we had to pass right through were having market day. This usually means that the main route through the town centre is blocked off with market stalls, and it is anyone's guess where the alternate route goes because there are no signs. Of course the locals know exactly how to bypass the market and get where they want to be, but they have no patience for foreigners in larger vehicles constantly stopping to ask directions, or having to back up after taking a road that suddenly dwindles to a footpath before it disappears!
Sacapulas was the first one - we had to cross a one lane bridge and then had no idea whether to go left or right (straight ahead was full of market stalls), and anyway there was a traffic jam in both directions. Many horns blasting and many locals waiving their hands and shouting in a myriad of languages, none of which we could understand, didn't help at all. We finally made it through that one without killing any locals and drove south. The next main town is Quiche and not only was there a market but also some sort of procession down the streets that were not blocked off! Then we arrived in Chichicastenango, a town which is famous for its huge Sunday market - we just didn't realise that it was also famous for its almost equally large Wednesday market! Another nightmare in the making - but we survived it and were grateful that it wasn't market day in Sololá, the last town before the lake, but the streets were narrow enough to keep us occupied as we passed through. Then we were on the downhill run into Panajachel.
The road between Sololá and Panajachel on Lake Atitlán is the old Pan-American Highway and it drops 550 m in just 8 km! The views of the lake and its volcanos are absolutely stunning. We were lucky in that they were relatively free of cloud. However, after a sleepless night, several days of driving up and down such steep hills that it was not possible to go out of second gear much at all, on roads that made our truck dirty enough to satisfy our friend Peter, our primary goal was to find a place to stay and go to sleep, which we did without too much delay at the grassy campsite of Hotel Vision Azul.

Back to Top!  Design, text and photos © 2006-9 "Yasha" Sharon Langford & Juergen Klein Do not copy or quote parts of this website without our written permission! All reports reflect our personal experience and shouldn't be used as a definite guide without further research. E.g.: "We couldn't find any..." means just that - it does not imply that there aren't any!