The Story of Casa Paloma

Casa Paloma’s owner, writer Joyce Maynard, first fell in love with the property over twenty years ago when she was taking a long swim in the lake and spotted a For Sale sign on what was then a simple adobe house on a totally wild, undeveloped hillside .

In the years since, Joyce finished four novels and a memoir at Casa Paloma.  Recognizing the spot as one filled with unparalleled peace and inspiration for writers, in 2002 she founded Write by the Lake, an annual memoir writing workshop that has brought hundreds of writers (and those who didn’t yet dare call themselves writers) to Lake Atitlan. Over the years since Joyce first begain hosting Write by the Lake, many writers have named the experience as one of the most meaningful of their lives. 

For many years, guests at Write by the Lake were housed in a small hotel in the village.  In the spring of 2020—having chosen to spend the first many months of the pandemic at Lake Atitlan rather than returning to the U.S. –Joyce made a decision: 

Witnessing the severe hardships of indigenous families living in the village of San Marcos, she decided there was a better way to help than to simply hand out donations of money and food. She wanted to provide jobs by building a series of small, beautiful casitas through the property, offering employment at the same time as providing spaces where travelers could discover the healing properties of the lake and its surroundings.