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Working With ProPetén in Guatemala Part 3 by Josh Paull

July 24, 2016

My camera broke! I don’t believe it, but my underwater camera has been completely unable to turn back on since I took it underwater for just the second time. My partner on the ACDIP project, Cinthya, and I decided to spend our Saturday at the rope-swing at one of the far beaches on Lake Petén Itza. There, we met some friends from Flores and got lunch. Everything was going great until we decided to take a swim, and I brought my camera into the water, expecting to take some great shots like I did at Cráter Azul. I took some photos above the surface of the water, but left my camera in my pocket as I swam around. To my dismay, the camera refused to turn back on when I got out of the water! I have tried charging the battery outside the camera to no avail, I just can’t get it to turn on. Compounding this problem is the issue that my cell phone’s charger port was barely functional when I got to Guatemala, and now it does not seem capable of holding a charge at all. I have gone through three different phone chargers since arriving here, buying two more at Q70 apiece. Without the camera I brought or my cell phone, I am really heartbroken to be unable to take any photos on this trip. I have already looked into getting another camera, but they’re really expensive here and not high quality and I’m concerned about going over the amount I received too early, especially if it means purchasing one camera that I won’t use after this trip. I really hope that I’m able to get all the photos that are on my memory card when I get back to the States.


(Update: I was able to get the photos on the memory card onto an exportable drive after I returned in early. Below are some of the photos that I took at the lake the day my camera stopped working.)
Fast, low-hanging clouds over the Lake mean that the climate shifts dramatically from one minute to the next, evidenced by the storm in the background. 



Cinthya, with the town of Flores as a background





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