San Marcos La Laguna

San Marcos La Laguna
Village
View of Lake Atitlan from San Marcos La Laguna
San Marcos La Laguna Location in Guatemala
Coordinates: 14°43′30″N 91°15′30″W / 14.72500°N 91.25833°W / 14.72500; -91.25833
Country	Guatemala
Department	Sololá
Government
• Type	Municipal
Area
• Total	12 km2 (5 sq mi)
Elevation [1]	1,585 m (5,200 ft)
Lowest elevation [1]	1,562 m (5,125 ft)
Population  (2021)
• Total	2,944
• Density	250/km2 (640/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-6 (Central Time)
Country calling code	+502
Climate	Tropical savanna climate

San Marcos La Laguna is a village on the western shore of Lago Atitlán in the Sololá Department of Guatemala. The village is northwest of three volcanos Volcán San Pedro, Volcán Tolimán, and Volcán Atitlán. The village has an outdoor amphitheater and a few hostels.^[1] San Marcos connects to other lakeside communities by boat and a narrow road. The nearest city is Panajachel at the northern side of Lago Atitlán.^[1] The town sits at an elevation of 1,585 metres (5,200 ft); the lowest elevation is the lake shore at 1,562 metres (5,125 ft).

It is a small village of 2200 inhabitants; the majority of the population are Kaqchikel-speaking indigenous Mayans.

San Marcos La Laguna ("San Marcos": in honor of its patron saint Marcos Evangelista; "La Laguna": due to its geographic location close to Lake Atitlán) is a municipality in the department of Sololá in the south-western region of the Republic of Guatemala.

In pre-Columbian times, the first Kachiquel settlers arrived from the area where the modern municipalities of San Lucas Tolimán and Santiago Atitlán are located, specifically from the place called "Pakip". During the colonial era it was an encomienda in charge of the descendants of the Spanish conqueror Sancho de Barahona, among whom is the first president of the Federal Republic of Central America, General Manuel José Arce y Fagoaga.

After the Independence of Central America in 1821, it became part of the department of Sololá/Suchitepéquez;6 and in 1838 it was part of the ephemeral State of Los Altos until it was reincorporated into the State of Guatemala by the conservative general Rafael Carrera in 1840. Later, after the Liberal Reform of 1871, on August 12, 1872, the de facto government of provisional president Miguel García Granados created the department of Quiché, to which it awarded a large part of the territory of Sololá, although San Marcos La Laguna remained in the latter.

Already in the 21st century, in 2005 the municipality was severely affected by storm Stan.