Over the last six weeks, we’ve done a lot of walking. Until recently, all of the miles that we have walked have been from exploring the different pueblos of Lake Atitlan (Guatemala) and the roads in between. We are pleased with the change in our waistlines and overall fitness, but we have really been wanting to do a proper nature hike in the wilder places of the area.
The question is…where do we go to scratch this itch?
Vertical climbs up local volcanoes are available, but they generally aren’t recommended without a guide due to safety concerns. There are random trails up mountainsides in the local forests. But these trails are not well marked or publicized. And you never know when a machete-wielding farmer (or their dogs) might take issue with you walking through their property.
In other words, if you don’t know the area intimately you are just asking for trouble.
Sometimes Opportunities are Right Next Door
Thankfully we found a great solution! And it was close by.
There is a well-publicized hiking trail near us that connects the Guatemalan pueblos of San Marcos La Laguna to Santa Cruz La Laguna. It was described as reasonably safe, had great views, and was not too extreme in difficulty (although it would give us a good workout).
And since San Marcos is right next to our Airbnb in San Pablo La Laguna, it would be no trouble to give it a try once we had a good stretch of weather.
The plan was simple, walk from our bungalow in San Pablo to San Marcos and hike the entire trail to Santa Cruz. Then take a water taxi back to San Marcos and limp home. The entire 1-way journey would be about 9 miles.
About a 9-mile one-way hike in total, with some challenging slopes along the way.
Stage 1 – San Pablo to San Marcos
We hit the road at 8:45 am and we were blessed with fantastic weather!
We are no strangers to this stage of our hike, as we hike to San Marcos almost daily for exercise, hippie-watching, and shopping.
A little bit of traffic at this stage, but not bad at all.
The road in this direction is more downhill than uphill, so we aren’t so tired that we can’t appreciate the view!
And after just over a mile we entered the outskirts of San Marcos.
We turned the corner and descended into the town…
Walked by the central plaza area…
And onward to the other side of town.
Eventually, the pavement ended which signaled the start of the San Marcos to Tzununá stage of our hike.
Stage 2 – San Marcos to Tzununá
Along this road, we passed an interesting mix of local homes interspersed among fancy resorts…
Not sure how you access these homes!
But Lake Atitlan was ever-present.
Eventually, we turned a corner and saw Tzununá in the distance.
We continued down the hillside and entered Tzununá proper.
Stage 3 – Tzununá to Jaibalito
Tzununá has a reputation as a haven for visiting holistic lifestyle mavens. But to our eyes, the vast majority of the town was made up of locals trying to scrape out a living as best they can under less than ideal conditions.
We made our way through the town until the road finally ended, with a proper hiking trail taking its place. From this point onward, there was no motorized traffic.
We started to encounter some serious elevation gain, but the view was really impressive when there were breaks in the canopy.
And along this footpath, there were times when you could tell that extremely wealthy people lived in the area.
This was evidenced by the random presence of paver stones that replaced the dirt path…
That usually lead to walled compounds that protected the opulence within.
And then once off of those properties, the trail quickly became a dirt footpath again.
But the path continued steeply upward past more homes…
And upward…
Glistening with the efforts of an extended incline!
Until we reached another break in the treeline where we could see back to the town of Tzununá in the distance.
So pretty!
We continued onward and were assaulted by a barrage of spectacular views.
The trail eventually reentered the forest…
And continued toward another lookout…
Which opened up to a clearing with some epic coastline views.
The trail continued along a ravine where you could see it continue further down.
But to get there we had to first go down some extremely steep steps!
Further along the path and looking back, you can better appreciate the trail we had to take!
See the stairs on the upper right side?
We continued onward and finally approached the tiny pueblo of Jaibalito.
Final Stage – Jaibalito to Santa Cruz
Jaibalito looked interesting, but time and our water supply were pressing, so we continued onward.
The path continued into the forest…
And upwards…
Until we came to a long stretch of resort access points.
La Casa del Mundo looked impressive with all of its stonework…
With some pretty cool stairways…
That brought us closer to Santa Cruz. This is an important path for foot traffic as some Santa Cruz resorts can only be accessed by it (or boat)!
Clearly, Santa Cruz takes pride in how they maintain this stretch of trail…
And the level of opulence seemed to increase as we walked…
But eventually, we started to get close to Santa Cruz proper.
The trail started to snake downward along well-maintained stairs…
And then along paths that took us past all sorts of wellness complexes…
Until finally the trail emerged at the main road leading from the public boat launch to Santa Cruz proper.
We grabbed a quick lunch in Santa Cruz, and then afterward made our way down to the boat launch area.
After a short wait, we grabbed a water taxi back to San Marcos La Laguna for 25 quetzales/$3.23 USD each, and treated ourselves to a tuk-tuk ride from San Marcos to our bungalow for 20 quetzales/$2.58 USD total.
We were pretty tired!
A Fine Day and A Great Hike!
We REALLY enjoyed our San Pablo to Santa Cruz hike!
The scenery was phenomenal and was well worth the effort.
The hike was definitely challenging, but very doable if you are reasonably fit. In total it took us about 3.5 hours to complete, which was pretty good considering the frequent elevation changes and our gawking at the scenery throughout this 9-mile hike.
We felt safe along the route and, other than a run-in with an escaped guard dog that we had to fend off with sticks and rocks, was very peaceful!
Here is the approximate location on our map where we had an issue with the dog.
Pick up a stout stick before you get to this point to keep the dog at bay and you’ll be fine. Hopefully, its owners better secured the animal by the time you read this, but better safe than sorry.
Until next time!
Thanks for reading!
Leave a comment below and subscribe to get email notifications whenever we post!
Mark and Rhonda, can’t tell you how much I enjoy reading your blog. You do such a good job with it. And the pictures! Keep them coming. Wishing the best for you both.
4 thoughts on “San Pablo to Santa Cruz Hike – Well Worth It!”
Those paths were STEEP! My calves are burning just from looking at the pictures! >.<
They were fun to be sure!
Mark and Rhonda, can’t tell you how much I enjoy reading your blog. You do such a good job with it. And the pictures! Keep them coming. Wishing the best for you both.
Much appreciated. And spread the word!