The Mists of Atitlán

At 9:08 AM on April 21, 2011, I captured this view out my window, looking across the southern waters of Lake Atitlán in the western highlands of Guatemala. I had been living in a small apartment (about 600 sq ft) in the village of Santiago Atitlán for almost a year, and the spring rainy season had come. In the mornings, mists began to descend, first gathering around the peaks of the three extinct volcanoes that created the lake long, long ago, and then slowly wafting ever lower, until all definition faded into ghostly memory. But I remember those days of solitude. I'll never forget. I left Santiago a few months later, carrying everything I owned in two carry-on-sized suitcases and one...View all