Lake Atitlán (Photo: (F1 ONLINE / SuperStock)Lake Atitlán, Guatemala
Set up in the Guatemalan Central Highlands, and bordered by three volcanoes, Lake Atitlán is the deepest lake, at 1,114 feet, in Central America. Along with its natural beauty, the lake is famous for the Maya villages that ring its shores, many of which have been there for centuries.
Ninth-century Panajachel, one of the largest, has been drawing tourists since the 1960s, while in Santiago Atitlán, residents are known for their worship of Maximo, a local idol that fuses Mayan gods, Catholic saints, and Spanish legends. Mayan ceremonies still take place at various sites around the lake, from caves to the top of an adjacent hill. The lake's shores are also strewn with archeological sites and ruins of pre-Spanish towns, including Chiutinamit, a mythological "underwater city."
