Saturday, February 06, 2010

lago atitlan


we've moved on from the city to lake atitlan. i have treasures on scrap paper....the letter on spiral notebook paper from our sponsored teen, the notes from the encargada de alfabetizacion (literacy program) and the email contacts from the chicago travellers that will retrieve our i phone adaptor pony express style from our previous hotel and take it to our nanny*** who will then give it to us on the plane ride home. our daughter kairos has been a wonderful traveller. she did fabulously on the winding road that led to the town of pana where we caught the boat to casa del mundo. ironically she keeps wanting to listen to and sing her favorite song, "i love trash" by oscar the grouch of sesame street and steve tyler of aerosmith. there are 7 volcanos that circle the lake and many villages. we so wished we could climb them...not a toddler adventure for this time. the main challenge at lago atitlan is the fertilizer run off from the coffee plantations...even over the non existent plumbing or waste disposal services in the villages. (starbucks plantations especially.) everyone in guatemala drinks nescafe. all the beans are exported. and for our morning pick me up, "we" pollute this beautiful world treasure. there are many folks working to help the situation. one of the largest grants has been awarded to the vashon island rotary club, where we live, stateside. so there is hope extending in many directions between vashon, guatemala city, lake atitlan. casa del mundo means house of the world. it is the mayan metaphor for the individual body and then the village. may we care more and more for the body micro and macro. bendiciones.
****laura trevellyan, social worker, emt, organic gardener, horse trainer, fluent spanish speaker came as our ninera (nanny). she rocked it for us on so many occasions, navigating rides or details. when we left for lake atitlan, she stayed behind and interpreted for the team of doctors from maine who were treating the families at camino seguro.

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