Come over to my house for dinner....

At our long hand-built table, overlooking the lake and the stars, with one of Rosa’s non-alcoholic concoctions.

This one is for all of you readers of my novel, “The Bird Hotel”, who have written me letters to say “I wish I could actually visit the Bird Hotel.” In case you didn’t know: you can.

.A great place to write….

And I want to follow up on the story I posted yesterday on Substack, telling the story of what brought me to my home at Lake Atitlan, in Guatemala and how it was that—a few years back—I turned my home into a retreat center and hotel, not all that different from the one some of you may know from The Bird Hotel.

Now for the next chapter.

After we built those beautiful little casitas in among the fruit trees and gardens at Casa Paloma, I began hosting more retreats there. (What else can a person do, who’s just spent every penny of her savings building a retreat center/ hotel? She’d better open one.)

The sauna’s hot at 6 am. A great way to start the day. Then…a swim.

At first, the retreats I hosted at Casa Paloma were strictly memoir retreats for writers—or, equally important, for women who do not call themselves writers, but have a story to tell, and the courage to explore it in the company of other women doing the same thing. With me as mentor/ supporter/ teacher and cheerleader. Actually, the term I often use, when I describe what I do when helping a woman write about her life, is “midwife”. I help women give birth…to their stories.

An essential piece of the writing process: Space for contemplation.

Then I started getting a lot of letters from people who’d been seeing photographs I post here of the retreats I’d been hosting at my place in Guatemala—pictures of the casitas we built, our hikes in the cloud forest to look for a quetzal, our karaoke nights, and kayaking, and our visits to weaving collectives, our sauna, and our wonderful yoga platform, and the hand-built table, made from a very special piece of wood, that seats twenty people. Knowing what great meals our chef, Rosa, was preparing for us every day, I wanted to honor her with a great table…and oh boy, do we have one.

Over and over, in their letters, what people were telling me was this: We would love to come to Lake Atitlan, and see some of the places you bring the writers who join you there. But we aren’t writers. Why can’t we come to Casa Paloma…just to experience some of these adventures, and the beauty of the place?

I liked what the writers of those letters were saying.

So, I designed a whole other kind of gathering at Casa Paloma. I call this one Life by the Lake, and unlike Write by the Lake, the focus is not writing memoir. For one week, I serve as hostess to a group of between fifteen and eighteen adventurous souls who share my love of nature, artisan craft, discovering another culture, and—this most of all—doing all those things in the company of other like-minded individuals who feel the same.

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For my Life by the Lake retreats, it is my privilege—also my great joy—to introduce my guests to all of my favorite experiences at the lake, and to some extraordinary people (Rosa, our chef, “la reina de la cucina” (queen of the kitchen), Miguel, our head gardener, Carmen and Maria, our massage therapists, Atun and Camaron (their names mean, literally, “tuna” and “shrimp”), two brothers who are master weavers. We always finish our week with a visit from Tomas, the shaman who joins us to perform a fire healing ceremony that even now, after all these years, never fails to move me.

Then two years ago, we came up with another kind of retreat. This one involves many of the same experiences we offer to those who join me at Life by the Lake—except that we match each participant up with an experienced Spanish teacher who works with them on learning Spanish, in small groups of no more than three or four at the same level (including total beginner.) We still go on excursions every day—hiking, visiting markets, taking part in a salsa dance class. But…our excursion leaders speak mostly Spanish. We call this one Spanish Immersion. I participate in this one too, by the way, as a student.

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Now this year, I’ve added a whole new experience to our roster. For the first time ever, one of our retreats will include two nights in the Peten region of Guatemala, and a visit to the spectacular Mayan ruins at Tikal, where—after watching the sunset at Temple 10, to a chorus of howler monkeys (with an occasional jaguar sighting) we’ll share a great dinner, right there in the park.

Next day, the group will travel –by small plane, and shuttle, and boat—to the lake, and Casa Paloma, for five great days of adventures there.

This newly designed retreat is also called Life by the Lake, but for this one (the first of two we’re offering next winter) we’ve designed a new itinerary. You can read more about this one—and all of our other retreat offerings at Casa Paloma, on my website. https://www.joycemaynard.com/retreats

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If you want to know more, or have questions (“What will the weather be like?” “Is Guatemala safe?” “What if I have a food allergy?” “I’d like to come, but I have trouble climbing stairs…” “How much does it cost?” ) our two trusty retreat managers—Megan Woolsey for Life by the Lake and Spanish Immersion, and Gina Alligood for Write by the Lake—will be ready to schedule a call to discuss your concerns, and, if you decide to sign up, they’ll help you choose which of our casitas (all but one with private bath, all with lake and volcano views) is right for you.

A few words about the price, by the way. I’ve designed these retreats with the view that once a person has traveled to Guatemala—a big commitment of time and effort, no question—I don’t want to cut corners on food, drinks, accomodations , service or experiences. But with the exception of tips to our staff at the end of the week, everything we offer is covered. The prices you’ll see are all-inclusive. I want to add that in addition to supporting families in the indigenous community, a portion of every guest’s tuition goes to support projects in the indigenous community, and to scholarships we give to young people there. Our staff is 100% Guatemalan.

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Next winter’s retreats are starting to fill up, so if you want to come, I recommend signing up soon. The good news is that every casita and room is beautiful. Nearly every one has its own balcony, private garden for taking in the birds every morning, and the stars every night, and the sound of the lake water lapping on the shore…all day long. Some of our casitas and rooms also feature a deep soaking tub or jacuzzi.

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