My first impression of San Marcos was not a good one. First, after being overcharged for our bus ride, we were also overcharged for our boat ride. The boat money collector blocked our way onto the dock until we paid what he demanded. Next, we were finding it difficult to find our way around. We were tired and frustrated and just wanted to find a clean and reasonably priced place to stay. Finally, I have a lingering image of a young boy, angry and stomping away from me when he didn’t feel I had given him enough money for "guiding" us to a hotel. We didn’t ask for his services, and he didn’t actually guide us anywhere but rather walked in front of us as we wandered around, pointing at signs we could read ourselves. We didn’t stay where we parted ways with him either. Ug.
My second impression of San Marcos was… yep, also not good. I hadn’t realized that San Marcos was not really a Guatemalan town. By that I mean that few Guatemalan people actually live there. The town is populated by expats from the world over, each of them running a hotel, restaurant, or a massage-yoga-meditation, or other holistic, place. The whole town is one big hippy yoga center.
Now, I’m all for alternative therapies and internal harmony, and I certainly want a balanced chakra, I mean, come on (what is a chakra, anyway?), but to stay in a town more like Boulder, Colorado, than a Guatemalan village is not what I came here for.
That said, there was certainly some good non-Guatemalan food to be had (at non-Guatemalan prices), and the view from San Marcos south is something to behold, when you are lucky enough for the atmosphere to be pollution-haze free.
The best spot in San Marcos to spend time was definitely the swimming spot on the far west side of town. There is a tiny beach and a small headland with plenty of rocky perches to catch some sun and read a book. There is also a short path on top leading to a great spot to cliff-jump into the fishing cove (at your own risk, of course!) The view from this point to the south is humbling. Massive volcanoes rise up, their height emphasized by the flatness of the lake.
Near the swimming point was a nice-looking café called Moonfish (unfortunately closed the day we were there). Just next to Moonfish Café was a guesthouse called Aaculaax (not in our guidebook). Aaculuux was full, but it looked like a great place with a more reasonable price (70 quetzales, US$9, for a double) than the other places in San Marcos. The owner does stained glass, and the place is funky and artsy, with a lot of character.
We ended up buying our own fruit, yogurt, and granola, which made for huge and cheap breakfast. There are a couple open-air stands that sell these items for good prices. The Piramides also had good food.
Here is a brief rundown of the hotels we looked at:
Hotel Paco Real - no double rooms
Hotel La Paz - one shabby double room
Piramides - full, but was recommended by a fellow traveler
Hotel Quetzal - looked good from outside, noticed it on far west side as we were leaving town
Hotel San Marcos - see separate entry