San Marcos was the first destination of a long list of places Danny and I wanted to visit. We were lucky enough to book a simple room at "Casa de las Abejas". The day we arrived was a bit cloudy and you could barely see the silhouette of the volcanoes in the distance. The next morning we knew we had chosen the right spot. The view from our room was probably the **best view of San Marcos.

The view of Lake Atitlan and its volcanoes during the day is spectacular but I woke up in the middle of the night to grab an extra blanket and what I saw, left me breathless.

I knew I had to grab my camera and shoot a few long exposures. I did not have a tripod with me at that point so I had to use a chair and my wallet underneath the camera body and lens so that I could get the right angle. Danny woke up to the noise of me opening the huge window and immediately fell in awe with the beauty of the night sky.

She sat right next to me as I explained how I was going to set up my camera to try and get a clear shot of the Milky Way. I probably only took about six or seven 20 second exposures and turned my camera off go back to bed.

When I woke up, I had that feeling of not knowing if I had dreamed of seeing the lake covered in stars and a bright moon or if it happened for real. I was happy to transfer the photos from my SD to my computer and find this:

The Milky Way over Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

*Check out how one of the volcanoes is active. You can see the smoke in the sky!

Another perspective

Danny reading a book on the shore of Lake Atitlan

The Active Volcano

I hope you enjoy this post. If you want information of the set up and settings I used to shoot this photo of the Milky Way, leave a comment and I will be happy to share.

Peace.