ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the zones of main settlement and cultivation south from the steel bridge on National Highway 1 to the lake shore. The pueblo, or delta area of Panajachel, varies in elevation from 1564 m at waterline on the lake shore to 1,635 m at the steel bridge. The river drops some 60 m from the bridge to the lake. In villages with much less access to level land, as is the case in Santa Catarina, the level of the lake may play an important role in the overall productive capacities of the village. The area within the flood plain most intensively studied included a transect run from the lake to the steel bridge. The tablon system around Lake Atitlan and Solola is currently expanding. Tablones are prominent features of the landscape in and around Panajachel. Tablon culture has diffused from the Solola/Panajachel center to other villages within the Atitlan Basin.
