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After two days we were sufficiently restored to leave the hammocks and get on our way again. Our next point of call was to be Santiago Atitlán, another lakeside town. There are two more volcanoes not far from Santiago, but if I’m honest we had no intention of climbing them. When I go back, perhaps…

No, our main reason for coming here was to visit the shrine of Maximón. Maximón is a Mayan saint, revered in Santiago but reviled in other lakeside villages. He wears western clothes, drinks whiskey and smokes cigars, and grants prayers for revenge. He is believed to be a bizarre fusion of ancient Mayan deities, Judas Iscariot and Pedro de Alvarado, the conquistador of Guatemala. He is represented in his shrine by an intricately carved wooden effigy, and resides in a different house every year. Finding him was simple – we said ‘Maximón?’ to a passing child and straight away he set off through the back streets to the shrine of Maximón. We followed, paid the small toll required to see him, and went inside.

Having visited Maximón, we were done with Lago de Atitlán. It was time to head off to our next objective, the city of Quezaltenango. We had an awesome boat ride back across the lake, sitting on the roof of the boat, basking in the sunshine and surroundings, before once again braving the bus system. After four separate bus journeys and a narrow escape from getting a bus to Guatemala City (the passengers are more honest than the drivers, thankfully), we arrived in Quezaltenango, known to its Mayan inhabitants as Xela.