Sunrise over Lake Atitlan

I have been here in San Marcos on Lake Atitlan for going on a week.  My last day of classes is tomorrow.  Because of limited internet access in this small sleepy town I will probably backdate pictures and memories from other places at a later point.  However with my San Marcos friend Lisa, we made the good decision to start the day early and watch the sunset.  We sat and took some inadequate pictures to capture the moment and enjoyed the couple hours we sat absorbing the beauty.

The following is an extract from my journal from this time:

"Thu 3 Feb
Left at 5.20 to come and watch the sunrise with Lisa.  The stars were still bright, the night dark, the trees of the jungle merged and sleeping in a monochrome rest. Even some of the dogs were still asleep.  We nestled in to a rock ledge and our eyes adjusted to the inky shapes of rocks, trees and lake.  We had rejected the loud music of the next bay for the rising chorus of pre dawn roosters and arythmic dogs in our bay.
The colours started to seep into the blue black ink of the sky behind a volcanic foreground.  Soft peach and mandarin orange emphasizing the depth of the blues above.  As the colours bled further into sky, the sepia shapes of the branches and rocks around us started to emerge, their form focusing in the rising dawn.  We laugh as we try to capture the ineffable with our little magic boxes, while also imprinting the moments in the sensory bank of memories.  

A sliver of cloud above a section of hills starts to glow as the sun climbs closer to greeting our day. Silhouetted against the brightening day, the volcanoes emerge in soft shades of deepening blue.  We are delighted by the burst of smoke which erupts from the cone of a still active volcano, and disperses gently into the sky catching the warmth of the morning sun.
The glow on the horizon intensifies as the light leads a path like a flower girl, for the imminent glory of the morning sun.  A final swelling moment like the tension of liquid in an overfull glass and then the sun spills into the day bringing warmth and light.  The trees burst into green.  The fishermen in their boats look to the sun and row through a path of shimmering light.  The tangled branches of the leafless tree bursts into a busy song, with the morning chatter of a dozen birds of cheerful yellow and gold.
The sun rises.  The pace of life lifts.  Morning is here.  The day has begun."