| The Green Nexus |
Panajachel (just plain Pana to the locals) is the commercial hub of Lake Atitlan in the western Guatemalan highlands. Compared to the quiet indigenous villages that ring the lake, it’s a bustling metropolis. Its street markets sell most of the same brilliantly colored textiles and crafts you’ll find at the more famous market of Chichicastenango an hour’s ride away. (We bought a vest hand-embroidered with the ancient Mayan calender.)
One thing you won’t find at Chichi, or at any other Atitlan town, is a nexus of green— Pana Health Food Store is a friendly little place at which to restock on things like natural health and beauty products, organic foods and snacks. It’s tucked at the back of a small, shaded retail plaza called El Patio Centro de Comercial. On Pana’s main shopping drag, Calle Santander. Owned by expats Stephanie and Chris Reed, this is the place in Pana to meet other green travelers and green-minded locals.
