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From Guatemala: Reaching Lake Atitlan

June 21 8:39pm

"The lake is the source of water for most of Santiago." These were the words spoken by Tina, a young foreigner who was volunteering at a school in Santiago, one of the largest cities near Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. Our project team met her and several others on a 4 hour bus ride from Guatemala City to Lake Atitlan. 

Tina also mentioned that her school had "banana rings" in their garden and are looking for wastewater treatment expertise. So we scheduled a visit with her for Tuesday. 

The bus ride and seeing the countryside between the lake and the city reminded me of visit to Honduras. Tropical plants galore and Mayan women walking everywhere. The bus played Bachata music almost the entire way there and I recognized many songs, including the Bachata remix of "Stand by me". 

We are finally here and boy, it is absolutely beautiful. I am going to see the lake up close for pics tomorrow since our hotel is a bit far.

Speaking of our hotel, a place called Larry Place, it is $10 a night and it's a steal. We have no Internet, TV, or breakfast, but there's warm water and honestly that's more than we can ask for the price. The shower head is incredibly sketchy but also fascinating. A picture will go up later. According to Harold the shower head contraption with wires heats the water upon demand, before it leaves the shower head. It looks like a recipe for disaster but... YOLO. 

Our tentative schedule for the week is as follows:
Monday: San Lucas - visit the permaculture center (IMAP) and explore the open sewers.
Tuesday: Santiago - see the school systems.
Wednesday: Santa Catarina - in the morning to take samples from the pilot wetland, then take these to Solola where we will give them to the lab they have there and also tour the wastewater treatment plants they have there (which allegedly are the best around the lake).
Thursday: Visit the nature reserve north of Pana with Alberto Rivera, a very helpful contact and member of Amigos Del Lago (the NGO that also has Folco Beverini and other great contacts).
Friday onward: unplanned still. 

I can't wait to take pics of the Lake and share tomorrow, but for now here are a few pics of my travels thus far. 

Project team with Folco Beverini, a jolly fellow
Imaan Taghavi, undergraduate, Civil Engineering, UC Davis

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