we will be at the lake for 4 full days. can anyone tell us their favorite day-trips? which towns are the best to visit ( by boat or by land)?

Are you staying in Pana? We stayed at Lomas de Tzununa for 4 days, so went back to Pana 1 day. Another day we went to San Marco, San Juan and San Pedro. We took the boat to San Marco, then onto San Juan. We took a tuk tuk from San Juan to San Pedro. San Juan has lots of nice little art galleries and a weaving cooperative where I bought a beautiful scarf. We had lunch in San Pedro. Another day we went to Santiago. It was market day, but our main goal was to see Maximon.

We spent a night in Chichi, but in retrospect we could have stayed in Pana for a night and done a day trip to Chichi to see the market.

thank you, susan! yes, we are staying in pana 5 nights, so we have 4 full days. we plan to take boats to towns around the lake (as you did). were all the towns you mentioned pretty nice to see? what/who is maximon? jack

Maximón is the saint of things like tobacco, whiskey, and prostitution and is revered in several villages in Guatemala. He is usually seen as a carved wooden man smoking a cigarette. We visited a shrine to Maximón in Santiago Atitlán. At the dock people will approach you with offers for tours there. We paid a few bucks to a man who was very interesting and helpful. The whole shrine scene was a little creepy but fascinating - Maximón's friendly buddies were smoking and drinking whiskey in his honor and there were lots of gaudy decorations and a glass coffin with a life-sized Jesus mannequin. We paid a few dollars to visit and take a photo before heading out for some people watching in the square. The huipiles are gorgeous and really unique in Santiago. Happy trails!

haaaaaaaaa! i guess there's a "saint" for everything! ok, now what are "huipiles"?

Huipiles are the gorgeous blouses / tops that the women wear.