Panajachel

Panajachel
City and Municipality
Panajachel church
Panajachel Location in Guatemala
Coordinates: 14°44′26.2″N 91°9′33.9″W / 14.740611°N 91.159417°W / 14.740611; -91.159417Coordinates: 14°44′26.2″N 91°9′33.9″W / 14.740611°N 91.159417°W / 14.740611; -91.159417
Country	Guatemala
Department	Sololá
Government
• Type	municipal
• Mayor (2016-2020)	Enio Roberto Urizar Batres (UNE)
Elevation	1,597 m (5,240 ft)
Lowest elevation	1,562 m (5,125 ft)
Population
• Total	11,142
Time zone	Central Time (UTC-6)
Country code	502
Climate	Aw

Panajachel (Spanish pronunciation: [panaxaˈtʃel], Pana) is a town in the southwestern Guatemalan Highlands, less than 90 miles from Guatemala City, in the department of Sololá. It serves as the administrative centre for the surrounding municipality of the same name. The elevation is 1,597 metres (5,240 ft). Population was 11 thousand in the 2000 census, estimated as 15,000 now (Insituto Nacional de Estadística de Guatemala), and has approximately doubled each of the last few decades. The town of Panajachel is located on the Northeast shore of Lake Atitlán, and has become a centre for the tourist trade of the area as it provides a base for visitors crossing the lake to visit other towns and villages.

"Panajachel" derives from the Kaqchikel language and roughly translates to "place of the Matasanos," the white sapote fruit tree.

In the 16th century, during the period of the Spanish conquest of Guatemala, the shore of the lake was the scene of a battle in which the Spanish and their Kaqchikel allies defeated the Tz'utujils. After the Spanish conquest of Guatemala, the Franciscans set up a church and monastery in Panajachel soon afterward, and used the town as a centre to convert the indigenous people of the region to the Roman Catholic faith. The original façade of the church still stands, and is considered one of the gems of the colonial style in Guatemala.

Panajachel was part of the Tecpán Atitlán "corregimiento" (English: Province) and when it turned into a major municipality in 1730, Panajachel became part of it as well; regarding the Catholic faith, this was in charge of the franciscans, who had convents and doctrines in the area covered by the modern departments of Sacatepéquez, Chimaltenango, Sololá, Quetzaltenango, Totonicapán, Suchitepéquez and Escuintla. The "Provincia del Santísimo Nombre de Jesús" (English:"Province of the most Holy Name of Jesus"), as the Franciscan area was then called, reached up to 24 convents. By 1700, Panajachel had a convent with three priests, in charge of ca. 1800 people, four doctrines and twelve cofradías.