Lago Atitlan

in addition to being absolutely gorgeous, Lake Atitlan is a natural wonder.  the author Aldous Huxley called it (more or less) “the most beautiful lake in the world.”  it was formed in the caldera left by a volcanic eruption many moons ago and is bordered by three other volcanos. 

the lake is surrounded by a bunch of little mayan villages, but alas, no road.  the word “Atitlan” is a mayan word that translates as "the place where the rainbow gets its colors."  and this is very believable when you see the local peoples’ traditional dress, unfathomably many colors woven into fabrics which are specific designs for each town on the lake.

we were in the Guatemalan highlands, about a mile high.  in Panajachel, the main town on the lake, there are a bunch of tourists and ex-pats.  the area is very popular with backpackers and language-learners, and all manner of outdoor activity can be found – kayaking, hiking, swimming, volcano climbing, even scuba.  each town seems to have its own unique style, though they all are quiet and relaxing, outside of Pana.

La Iguana Perdida (our hotel) is located in Santa Cruz La Laguna, on the north side of the lake.  Santa Cruz is only accessible by boat (or footpath), with a single, winding road connecting the dock to the village.  the village itself has no roads or telephone system, but we didn’t really go into the village much anyway.  our work took us out on the lake to other villages.





San Marcos, where we worked on natural building, is known as “less party, more meditation” than Pana.  it has many opportunities for meditation, yoga, massage, etc.  one of the cool things here is that it has few roads.  everything is reached by foot paths through trees and between buildings, and handmade signs direct you to the most common destinations at any intersection.  along the sides of the paths are small stands and vendors selling everything from fruit and vegetables to drums and baskets to the ubiquitous colorful fabrics.  



there are, of course, many other places around the lake.  the village of Tzanjomel, where we installed solar, is located a boat, truck, and hike away.  (see my prior post on transportation!)  the only other village/town we saw was San Pedro, which has the reputation of being a bit of a party town in its own right.  we only went there to buy coffee and have dinner.  my cousin actually lived in San Lucas Tolimon for a few months, a can’t-get-there-from-here destination from Santa Cruz or any of the other towns I’ve mentioned.  the lake is a popular tourist destination, complete with a plethora of little maya villages all around it.

[as a side note, the ending “-tenango” means “the place of” in local Maya language.  therefore there are many, many cities and towns named somethingtenango.  one of the jokes around Lake Atitlan is that Panajachel is called gringotenango and San Pedro (for reasons I won’t go into) is sometimes referred to as hippietenango.]

 

  

the lake at night, photo by Tom Egel





yum!

traditional food in Guatemala is delicious.  it’s not all that different from what we are used to, and shares a lot with Mexican food, so there is certainly no shock to the system.  but if you like avocadoes and corn tortillas, you are in luck!

the first morning there I had this traditional breakfast:

"desayuno tipico" our first morning

“desayuno tipico” in this case was scrambled eggs, toast, cheese, salsa, fried plantains, beans and the ever-present avocado.  it was every bit as good as it looks.  another Guatemala sort of breakfast I had was eggs scrambled with tomatoes (or salsa, not sure), beans, and tortillas.  for lunches or dinners, traditional would include any combination of things like beans, cheese, guacamole or avocado, rice or potatoes, veggies, and a main meat.  and of course there is always homemade hot sauce available at every meal.  seriously, how could one complain?

the lunches up by the solar school were courtesy of Shad, an organic farmer who is self-supporting with a farm that looks more like a work of art.  he knows all about what to plant with what, and not a bit of it looks like a traditional row of any farm vegetable.  this includes herbs, fruits, nitrogen creators, swale cleaners, soil enrichers and more other types of plants than I can possibly remember.  the man is incredible and a genius.  anyhow, his lunches were entirely from his farm, including fresh eggs and goat’s cheese made that very morning.  sautéed greens, fried taro and I-don’t-even-know-what-else were some of the treats.  it was absolutely grand.



it’s fascinating to see all the fruits that grow wild in the areas around (and in) the villages.  I saw no end of wild bananas, papaya, guava, citrus, avocadoes and even coffee beans!  just growing there on the side of the path.  too cool.  and buying produce is easy and inexpensive from various path-side stands, with a fresh avocado costing about one Quetzal (12.5 cents).



photo by Tom Egel

corn tortillas are even more prevalent than avocadoes (which is hard to imagine).  they were served with nearly every meal, and in one restaurant were being cooked right before our eyes on a stove next to our table.  now they aren’t the huge, thin things we have here.  they are about five inches in diameter, maybe slightly smaller, and are thicker:  hand-formed and cooked on a flat stove surface called a plancha.  I was told that the average person there eats seven tortillas per meal.



by the way, although I ate everything put in front of me (including dessert with dinner), between all the work and the relative health of the food I actually lost 2 pounds while I was there.



bananas



papayas



coffee beans, wild all over







planes, pickups and chicken buses - transpo in Guatemala

transportation in Guatemala is a thing to behold.  in the big cities, there are buses and taxis, but as soon as you leave, the situation changes significantly.  getting around between towns and villages is a little more creative.  to some popular destinations there are shuttles.  but for the local or low-budget traveler (or to any other destination) there are basically two options:  pickup trucks or chicken buses.  basically, if you want to travel between two remote villages, you start walking along the road between them and wait for a pickup to come by.  flag them down, whoever they are, and they’ll let you hop in the back with any others from along the way.   

chicken bus, photo from John Barrie

the “chicken bus” is a somewhat scheduled bus route between towns.  imagine a colorfully-painted old U.S. school bus, packed to the gills with people, topped precariously with luggage, chugging along on a rough road, belching terrible exhaust behind it.  no, there aren’t actually chickens riding in the bus, minor miracle, but there is always the possibility there will be some in a cage on top, going to market.  the drivers must pay the owners a set fee, so anything else they get, they can keep.  you can imagine this results in people being packed in like sardines – three adults to a kid-sized school bus bench – and drivers driving like bats out of hell to pick up ever more passengers and hit more stops.  in fact, each driver has a helper who climbs up on the bus – sometimes while it is still moving on the highway – to tie down, untie, and ultimately throw down luggage to people so they can get moving that much faster.  the roads between cities and towns are absolutely flooded with chicken buses.

our lancha for the week

around Lake Atitlan, of course, the main transportation is by boat, or lancha.  there are public boat routes between certain villages on the lake and private boats for hire as water taxis.  we had our own lancha for the week, though there always seemed to be a stranger or two hopping in.  extra money for the driver.  there is a phenomenon at the lake where during late morning and afternoon the wind picks up on the water.  this led to at least one adventurous lancha ride when I was in the boat alone, going to pick everybody else up.  the front of the boat kept lifting up visibly over the water and slamming back down, hard.  it was fun, since I had a good solid grip.  once everyone else got in and loaded down the boat, we got doused a bit with spray.  all-in-all, the lanchas are a great – and incidentally, the only – way to get around the lake.

tuk-tuks are another option within the villages (where there are roads or road-ish type paths).  I have no idea what sequence of events led to these typically-asian modes of transport ending up in guatemala, but they’re pretty cool.  and perfectly suited to areas with few cars and small roads.  unfortunately, we did not get to ride in them, though we did nearly get run over by them on a regular basis.

  

as for the roads… one of our schools was located pretty far up the mountain.  we took a boat to San Marcos in the morning, then walked up a path to the center of town, and got in the back of a pickup truck.  the truck took us over a bumpy, winding road (alternately cobblestone and dirt) to another village, then up into the mountain from there. after a while we changed to four-wheel-drive to continue up a “road” that just a year ago was only a path.  this stretch compared to a combination of the vehicle body twist ditch and the rough terrain track used at Ford for truck development.  only that makes it sound more hospitable than it was.  during this phase, we had to stand with our knees flexed the whole time to absorb the bouncing and hang on dearly to the bar added waist-high around the truck bed in order to do our best not to fall out.  that pickup might as well have been a trampoline.

(by the way, once the truck went as far as it could, we still had to hike up a path to get to the school.  and go further than that, mostly straight uphill, to get to the first houses of the village, then straight up a good distance more to get to the actual town of Tzununa.)

12 of us loaded into the back of this pickup for a long, rough ride, photo by Tom Egel

I won’t even attempt to describe the driving in Guatemala City.  rules are optional, speed is mandatory, passing distances don’t exist.  motorcycles fly between vehicles, which is frightening since the average distance between cars side-by-side is about four inches.  the distance between speeding cars and pedestrians is only slightly better (six inches?).  seatbelts and child seats are not used, and amidst all this chaos are people riding standing up in the back of pickups, even in the heart of the city.

thank goodness we had Ruben, the guy who knows all and gets us places safely!

Antigua

our first stop in Guatemala (besides the *insane* driving through Guatemala City to get to our destination) was Antigua.  it’s a beautiful city. 

bishop's quarters in the ruins of the cathedral

“La Antigua Guatemala” (the old Guatemala) was once the capital of basically all of central america and parts of mexico, one of the grand colonial capitals of the Spanish Empire.  the city was once very elegant and full of beautiful architecture – the cultural, economic, religious, political and educational center of the region -- until, in the 1770s, it was destroyed by a series of earthquakes.  at that time, the capital of Guatemala was moved to Guatemala City and Antigua was almost completely abandoned.  with no money to rebuild (or tear down), things just stood as they were for many years.  eventually the city was re-settled, but never completely rebuilt.  today, it is a mix of a few partially restored cathedrals and monasteries, extensive ruins of old colonial architecture, and new buildings designed to fit in – a city full of preserved colonial spanish architecture!

Antigua also (supposedly) has more language schools than anywhere else in the spanish-speaking world.  you can go down for a week, or two, or more, and – except for airfare – get 1-on-1 spanish lessons for dirt cheap, including a place to stay.  

fountain in the central square

so we stayed in a really cool hotel and walked around the city a bit, including a historical tour chock full of details about the city and its history.  the central square is gorgeous, particularly all the trees and flowers around the fountain.  it’s bordered on one side by the grand cathedral (religion), on another by the “captain’s quarters” (military), on the third by government buildings, and on the last by shops (economy/commerce), representing four major aspects of a city’s foundation. 

the cathedral is restored only through about 25% of its original footprint, operating as a regular church.  the rest remains in ruins as it was after the big earthquakes.  they do restore it if things deteriorate or another earthquake weakens or dislodges something, but only back to its “ruin” condition.  the ruins are really something to see, and a near-seamless mixture of Christianity (as imposed upon the original peoples) and mayan beliefs.  interestingly, the Maya who were made to build the cathedral put in all sorts of mayan symbols and meaning without the church ever realizing.

La Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a huge celebration in Antigua.  there are huge, day-long processions through the streets, even in the weeks leading up to it.  “floats” are carried by 100 men through the city and sawdust “carpets” are laid in the streets.  we saw a little bit of the activity while there, including a gorgeous sawdust carpet laid in the functioning part of the cathedral.  as you can see, sawdust is supplemented with flowers, fruits, vegetables, and vegetation to make elaborate designs.

photo by Tom Egel

the city is surrounded by three volcanoes, Agua, Fuego and Acatenango.  one of them, as you can see in this picture taken by Tom Egel, was steaming while we were there.  you can climb the volcanoes (though we didn’t have time), but it’s recommended you go with a group or with a “tourist police” escort.

the whole town is filled with shops and especially maya women selling colorful fabrics.  it is indeed a place to shop, if you don’t mind being badgered a bit to buy something.  the restaurants that we went to were all awesome, and I even bought some local coffee to bring home.

there is a famous arch in front of which all tourist get their photos taken, and the whole town has cobblestone streets.  (this is a challenge for a klutz such as me.)  like the maya fabrics, everything is colorful and every street is a scene in itself.

for those of you who are not my friends on facebook, here are a few more pictures I posted there:

more to come, promise!

well i'm back from the trip and it was awesome.  those who are friends with me on facebook have already seen lots of photos and heard some little stories about the trip.  it was my intention to write a blog post each night while i was on the trip, describing where we were or what we did each day.  alas, that did not happen.  by the time we got done with dinner each night, i had barely enough energy to pick through photos to post a few on fb, and then fall asleep. but i promise in the next week or two that i will write some posts about the trip to update everyone and share the experience!

i'll also post some pictures here.  a very small subset of the > 1100 i took.

Guate, here i come!

pretty much all packed for Guatemala, minus the last minute items!  i am so so so so so EXCITED!!

i leave very early saturday morning, getting into Guatemala City around 12:30pm.  then it's right to Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a city known for its beautiful colonial-era architecture and history.  we'll spend saturday night at the Black Cat Inn and sunday morning on a walking tour of the city, then it's off to Lake Atitlan.

Lake Atitlan

La Iguana Patio

we'll be staying at La Iguana Perdida (the lost iguana), which you can only get to by boat.  the lake is ringed by three volcanos and surrounded by a dozen or so little mayan villages.  during the day, we'll be learning and applying natural building techniques and also installing solar at a school.  at night, we'll be having a family-style dinner and hanging out at the iguana - at the bar, on the patio, or in the hammocks.  hopefully there will be time for me to write posts and upload photos, but there is no wifi.  i will be depending on three old computers that can be rented for periods of time.  it will be a very busy and rewarding week!




La Iguana Bar



on the next saturday, we will travel to the mayan ruins at Iximche and then take in the Antigua Market, where i hope to pick up something colorful and authentic for the house.  then, sadly, back to michigan.

Hammocks at La Iguana

the best part?  if i enjoy it (right, as if i won't), i could get to do it again in august!



hasta luego, babies!

The View from La Iguana

ATC



The Appropriate Technology Collaborative is my new “thing”.

The Appropriate Technology Collaborative (ATC) creates new sustainable technologies that promote economic growth and improve the quality of life for low income people worldwide. We design, develop, demonstrate and distribute affordable technological solutions that empower people and promote dignity. ATC works in collaboration with local talent and other nonprofits (NGOs) to create market-based solutions that are culturally sensitive, environmentally responsible and locally repairable in order to improve the quality of life and reduce adverse impacts on the environment.

ATC Development

i first met John Barrie, the brain behind ATC, at a mini maker’s fair in ann arbor. (by the way, if there is a maker’s fair of any sort in your community, i highly recommend going. you’ll see everything from green solutions to workshop experiments to beautiful crafts to entrepreneurial new technology.) after a little prompting to talk to him, i discovered what he does and i declared, “that’s exactly what i want to do for a career!” and he said, “me too!”




Social Enterprise

ATC works closely with people in Guatemala and Nicaragua, and has contacts and projects in many other countries, throughout latin america, africa and asia. the idea is not only to come up with designs that solve a problem for low-income families, but to do it in such a way that it is self-sustaining. items are not given away. they are not shipped from somewhere in the U.S. or China or another industrialized nation. they are produced locally, they are maintained locally, and they are purchased by the families that use them. in some cases, local people are able to make a sustainable micro-business using the design – providing a product to others at an affordable price and making a small business for themselves. in all cases, the idea is to provide opportunity, using locally-available talent and resources, in tune with the surrounding culture. all of the designs, once developed and proven out, are “open source” and available to anyone who would like to use them. so far designs have been downloaded for use in at least 40 countries!



ATC/MSU Solar Vaccine Refrigerator


there are a lot of buzzwords that apply here -- sustainable development, opportunity by design, open source, social impact, appropriate tech, etc. – but the reality is even better: we work with actual families and schools in the communities that will use the products. we build prototypes and get feedback; we help install and commit to follow up with designs in people’s homes; we go back to the same communities to see how our stuff works and what improvements can be made. then we make it available online to whomever can benefit.



Woven Wind Team

ATC focuses on three main areas: energy, water/sanitation, and health. toward that end, there have been projects such as a solar-powered vaccine refrigerator with no moving parts and the potential to save thousands of lives. (vaccines going bad is a significant problem, preventing inoculations of all sorts in countries all over the world.) another medical/health solution is an enhanced remote stethoscope which can broadcast a person’s heartbeat to experts far away, who can then diagnose any issues. there is a woven wind turbine team. one of the biggest current projects is small-scale solar projects for schools and homes (more on that in a later post). all of these are past and current projects on which the group works. imagine what the future projects will be!

relationship-building and cross-cultural collaborations are also huge. ATC leads trips to poor, indigenous areas in Guatemala and Nicaragua for volunteers to work with the local people and projects. in the upcoming trip, we will be learning natural building techniques as we add on a room to a schoolhouse. we will also be installing solar on another school so that students can have light and the school can be used for further activities. ATC has forged partnerships with other NGOs to help teach them not only about project-specific technology (like circuits and solar classes), but also to enable them to follow a similar model for their own development, and to enable them to teach the concepts to others, expanding the footprint further. in addition, we have active relationships with multiple universities (and a high school!), mentoring engineering and biomedical students and providing real-world design challenges for their projects. these collaborations allow us to really understand the needs and opportunities for our clients, and implement solutions beyond just our own reach.

Volunteer Travel

another quote, if you’ll indulge me:

ATC works in partnership with people in less economically developed countries to create world-class, low-cost technologies that solve problems and provide opportunity. We have ongoing relationships with people, villages and NGOs in Guatemala and villages + slum cities in Nicaragua. In 2011 we started our first project in India. Since our inception our clients report serving over 1,000,000 people and our breakthrough designs have been downloaded by over 7,000 nonprofits, governments and people in 40 different countries.

and there's much, much more to come!