Our flights were booked, AirBnb reserved, and we were all set for our visit to Lake Atitlan in August 2019. Pictures of this lake were absolutely gorgeous. I couldn’t believe we were going to be soaking in the sight for ourselves in just a few weeks. We were really hoping to go swimming in the lake, but kept reading that the water was too contaminated in many places for swimming to be safe. Especially in the water near the larger towns around the lake. So we had to seek out locations where the water was known to be safe for swimming. Somewhere in this search, I found a brief mention about cliff jumping into the lake. Say whaaaat?! I’m not a huge adventure seeker, but this sounded too fun to pass up and I knew my husband would be adamantly onboard.
Finding concrete information about this alleged cliff jumping location was trickier than I expected, but we finally found out that there is a nature reserve along the north side of the lake, in San Marcos La Laguna, where there is a platform built just for jumping into the lake. Specific details about the park and the cliff were hard to come by, so here is our experience in case this info helps anyone else make their way to the Cerro Tzankujil Nature Reserve. This was one of the highlights of our weekend in Guatemala, so I highly suggest taking the plunge if you find yourself in the area!
Finding Cerro Tzankujil Nature Reserve
Arriving in San Marcos via boat, we walked right into town from the docks. The roads in San Marcos are really just narrow walkways, very different from Panajachel, or any other town we’d been to thus far in Guatemala. This town actually made Panajachel seem like a bustling metropolis in comparison. There must be no motorized transportation in the lower areas of San Marcos because I don’t see how even a golf cart or tuk-tuk could fit down these roads. To find the nature preserve, walk straight back from the dock down the main road into town. Soon there will be a turn off toward the left for a smaller road that follows the coastline of the lake. You will occasionally see signs for the Cerro Tzankujil Nature Preserve to indicate that you are heading the right way.
There is a nominal entrance fee for the nature reserve, 15Q when we were there, which is about $2 USD. I think the fee might have been even cheaper for locals. We held on to our entrance ticker just in case we wanted to leave and come back later. Once you are in the park, there are signs for the “Trampolin”. We didn’t realize it at the time, but this was the name of the jumping platform (not an actual trampoline that I was imagining when I saw that word). The platform is not hard to find. Just keep following the pathways and signs for the Trampolin. Chances are there will be some other people headed that way too; this was definitely a popular attraction in the park. Besides the cliff jumping, there are trails and viewpoints of the lake if you want to explore more of the nature preserve. There are also other places to get into the water and swim around if you don’t want to make the jump from the platform.
What to Expect
The views from the jumping platform are gorgeous. You can see more towns from the other side of the lake and get a different perspective of the volcanos surrounding the lake. We were lucky with sunny skies and warm weather at this time of day. I never found a reliable source for the height of the platform, but we think it was around 10-15 meters high (~30-45 feet). A pretty intimidating drop from the platform!
As I mentioned above, there was a steady crowd of people on the platform, some making the jump multiple times, some working up their courage, and some just purely spectating and cheering on. At any given time, there were probably a dozen or so people hanging out, and the crowd was SO friendly and supportive. Most of the people were English-speaking tourists so not much language barrier. The experience of making this jump brought out a fun sense of camaraderie as people waited their turn, gave tips to avoid a painful impact, took pictures for each other, and generally encouraged every person that took the leap.
We didn’t bring much with us since we weren’t sure how safe our belongings would be if we both went for a swim, but everyone was just leaving little piles of their own clothes around the platform and nothing was touched by others. We did make sure to bring a quick dry microfiber towel so that we could somewhat clean up when we were ready to leave.
Before jumping, we both walked to edge to get an idea of what we were in for. Yikes! It looked so much higher from up top! Scott jumped first while I took pictures from the side. The height was so high that you had to try to keep a “pencil” shape to avoid a painful impact, and Scott nailed his jump! And then it was my turn. Oh boy. Scott took his position on an overlook to the side to take pictures for me, and I scooted up to the edge of the platform. I wouldn’t say that I have a diagnosable fear of heights, but I definitely don’t like heights. I was so nervous that I was shaking a little but the crowd was super encouraging and off I went! I didn’t want to mess around with fun poses for the pictures, so I focused on keeping my best pencil pose. Unfortunately, I still hit the surface pretty hard and tweaked my back a little. Even still, it was exhilarating! Scott met me near the place you climb back up the rocks and we chilled out a little bit soaking in the sun and trying to calm down the adrenaline rush. I was still shaking!
Scott wanted to jump a couple more times so I took pictures of his jumps from the opposite side of the platform and then from the top of the platform. It was so fun to hang out watching other people jump and swim. There were even some small boats and kayaks that stopped to watch the excitement for a bit. The water was chilly, so relaxing in the sun after the jumps was perfect. Eventually Scott was done jumping, so we used our quick dry towel to clean up and get dressed. The platform was still busy with adventure seekers when we left, on our way to find some lunch and a couple beers to calm down from the rush of the jumps.
The Cero Tzankujil Nature Reserve was hands-down the most excitement of our trip, and I would recommend anyone visiting Lake Atitlan to visit for yourself if the weather is nice. Even though the height might be slightly terrifying, it was so worth overcoming my fear to jump into the blue water. Hands down, would do it again in a heartbeat!
More from our Guatemala trip:
Lake Atitlan
Antigua
