Central America Lake Atitlan is having serious eco problems.
By Tom Johnson
As reported in the Guatemala Times Lake Atitlan is being contaminated daily by population explosions and the increased urbanization around the lake.
The sewage, solid, liquid and industrial waste is dumped indiscriminately into the different water bodies’ additionally massive deforestation and intensive agriculture around the water bodies is also a big problem. All is directly related to overpopulation of humans.
The recent “algae bloom” in Lake Atitlan has triggered an enormous alarm in the population and the media. Many people are panicking and basically believe that something drastic has happened to Lake Atitlan in just a few days, but this assumption is wrong.
The problem has been steadily increasing for many years. But now, because it is has become finally visible to everybody’s eyes, the problem has finally become tangible, we have: “algae bloom”. Now people start to react.
Guatemala has the same phenomenon in Lake Atitlan although this is due to specie of blue green algae. Well, algae is the wrong word, what we see is actually something called: cyanobacteria. Cyanobaceria grow because of excessive levels of nutrients including phosphor and nitrogen in the water.
The cyanobacteria in Atitlan have been identified as Lyngbya hironymusii (Lyngbya hieronymusii), actually a rarity among the cyanobacterias.
This is a serious crisis, but a crisis is also the best time to join forces, accept that we all are to blame for not doing enough and it is a tremendous opportunity to solve the environmental problem of Lake Atitlan for the future.
With the sever economic situation across the globe it is causing sever hardship on countries that were already facing financial problems like Guatemala.
A new Survey on Remittances 2009: Children and Adolescents, the eighth in this IOM-Guatemala series and jointly produced with UNICEF, confirms the negative impact of the financial crisis on children and adolescents in Guatemala.
The decline in remittances from family members abroad has forced tens of thousands of children to leave school and find work to supplement the family income.
Amongst the 3,000 households interviewed by IOM and UNICEF, 8.7 per cent of the children between 7 and 17 years-old can no longer attend school and 7.4 per cent or 92,905 children of the same age have been forced to find jobs to supplement the family income.
“Forty-two per cent of these children were in school in 2008. This confirms the direct impact of the financial crisis on the choices families are making,” explains Delbert Field, IOM Chief of Mission in Guatemala.”
This is sever and only getting worse. With no economic relief insight young men and women that have come to America to work and send money back home are now starting to head back across the borders to their home countries. Conditions for them here are not much better than what they came from.
Back in 2006 I took a team of people down to Guatemala to do some work in Xatzán Guatemala. We had a great time and got to meet some wonderful people while doing the work on three church buildings. We stayed a week in Patzun while working on the buildings in Xatzán. This area of Guatemala is so beautiful and the people are wonderful. I could easily live in this part of the country. I don’t think my family could easily adapt to this life, since it is like falling back to the 1800’s lifestyle.
These young women were so fascinated in watching us work, it is probably easy to say that they had never seen people from other countries before. This area of Guatemala is pretty much untouched by many people from the United States of other visiting people.
Once a year the country of Guatemala celebrate a day set aside for children. Activities abound especially in Antigua. The one day of the year that is devoted to the happiness of children throughout the country. Wealthier city people donate presents and toys to be given to the kids out into the country.
Parque Central on October 2 is filled with children and parents, clowns and music, any thing and every thing that children love. It is a special time of year.
The Mercedarian order was established in Guatemala in 1538, and the order had built a church in Antigua by 1546.
The church of La Merced was originally built in 1548. Its present form was designed in 1767 to withstand damaging earthquakes. The intricately-patterned yellow and white baroque-styled facade features important sculptures such as Our Lady of Las Mercedes and San Pedro Nolasco. Inside the ruins of the once-attached monastery stands.
The Church of LaMerced
Today Mercedarian church is popular a among tourists and locals alike. It sits at the end of Fifth Avenue Norte, the main shopping street in Antigua. The masses seem to be well attended. The small park on the south side of the of the church many locals enjoy the afternoon sun from this park.
Fuente de Pescados (Fountain of the Fish)
Within the ruined cloister stands enormous Fuente de Pescados (Fountain of the Fish), reputedly named for the fish-breeding experiments done there by the Mercedarian brothers. This is largest of Antigua’s many fountains, with a diameter of over 80 feet.
This is the family kitchen in a typical Mayan Indigious home in the highlands of Guatemala.
In the back of the kitchen the little room made of wood is the family bathroom.
This is a typical kitchen for the Mayan family, several homes I visit are not even this nice or roomy.
In the picture is a pot of chicken soup cooking on the open wood fire in the middle of the room. We sat with the family and enjoyed dinner later that evening, and to report the soup was wonderful.
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Lake Atitlan is recognized to be the deepest lake in Central America, its bottom has not been completely sounded. The lake is volcanic in origin, filling an enormous caldera formed in an eruption 84,000 years ago. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.
Lake Atilan Sunset
The lake itself is rich in animal life which provides a significant food source for the largely indigenous population.
The lake is surrounded by many villages, in which Maya culture is still prevalent and traditional dress is worn. The Maya people of Atitlán are predominantly Tz’utujil and Kaqchikel. During the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the Kaqchikel initially allied themselves with the invaders to defeat their historic enemies the Tz’utujil and Quiché Maya, but were themselves conquered and subdued when they refused to pay tribute to the Spanish.
Santiago Atitlán is the largest of the lakeside communities , and is noted for its worship of Maximón, an idol formed by the fusion of traditional Mayan deities, Catholic saints and conquistador legends. The institutionalized effigy of Maximón is under the control of a local religious brotherhood and resides in various houses of its membership during the course of a year, being most ceremonially moved in a grand procession during Semana Santa.
Mayan girl selling at the maket in Pana, Guatemala
This young girl really touched our hearts while visiting in Panajachel. She was telling us that her greatest hopes was to someday be able to read. This has stuck with me for all these years. I can remember vividly the conversation with her. My friend Andrew stayed in contact with her and her family for many years. Unfortunately she lives to many miles away for her to attend one of the Escuela Integrada schools. She is also the person in the home that makes money to put food on the table. At the time of this picture she was 18 years old and had never attended school.
This is a picture of my wife Toni and a Mayan mother showing off her needle work. She is working on a new Hupil like the one she is wearing. All the art work and needle work is done by hand. This picture was taken while we were working on Escuela Integrada school in Chuchuca Guatemala. This family lives across the dirt lane from the school. Her children attend Escuela Integrada. If it was not for this school more than likely her children would not get an education.
I could not pass up taking this picture. We were in a church in Chuchuca Guatemala, Chuchuca is in the mountain highlands outside of Patzun Guatemala. These lovely faces on these children are something you never forget after being their. Children like this one is what Andrew and Becky Loveall gave up what they had in the United States to start Escuela Integrada school and give these children a chance for a education.
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Pictured here is the Central Parkfountain in Antigua Guatemala. I just love hanging out here day and night. It is so peaceful even though there is a lot of activity around and in the park.
Shoe shine children in Central Park, Antigua Guatemala
In Central park this is a common site, shoe shine children. These children start work as young as four or five years old. Andrew and Becky of Escuela Integrada try there hardest to befriend these children and hopefully get them into school to get a good education. The problem is that a lot of these families depend on the income from these small children to put food on the table for the families.
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This picture was taken this past year while in Chuchuca Guatemala. Our family and a friend of ours was their doing some work on Escuala Integrada School. The school was in bad shape and needed a lot of work done to it so it could be back in safe operating order for the children.
Becky speaking to the students at Chuchuca Guatemala Escuela Integrada school. The school year just beginning and students excited about going back to school. Andrew and Becky Loveall run both this school and Escuela Integrada in Antigua Guatemala. If it was not for these two schools several of these Mayan children would not have a education.
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