Some of us began the morning with a brisk hike to a nearby
waterfall. This hike consisted of three suspended bridges and a visit with
spider monkeys and coaties. We found out that we weren’t allowed to swim in the
waterfall due to an increase in cyanobacteria (this was not the case last
year); however, we enjoyed meditating on the rocks below the falls.
After a
delicious breakfast, we met with guest speaker, Dr. Alberto Rivera, owner of
Atitlan Nature Reserve. His passionate lecture educated us about a variety of
topics. He is very knowledgeable about many topics including sustainability,
economics, butterflies, physics (including zip line building), marine biology,
history (A.K.A. he knew more U.S. history than all of us combined). Dr. Alberto
taught us about the three volcanoes surrounding lake Atitlan and the seismic
activity 85,000 years ago that caused the crater/lake that we see today.
Alberto is from Columbia and visited lake Atitlan as a child—he would boat to
the middle of the lake and drink the water. He left to study in Minnesota but
returned to lake Atitlan when his father became sick. Upon his return, Dr.
Alberto was disgusted by the state of the lake water. This initiated his
efforts to gather a team of researchers and environmentalists from around the
world to collaborate and improve the health of the lake and surrounding land.
This is still a huge work in progress, and is especially challenging due to the
lack of government support and money.
At the
reserve, we went into the butterfly garden and laboratory. While here, Dr.
Alberto informed us about the garden, endangered species, lab studies, and even
a new butterfly species!
We left the
campsite and waited along the beautiful lake shoreline before beginning our
boat ride across the lake. While the
scenery was beautiful, we ran out of fuel twice and were drenched by the 20-foot
waves (well actually 3 feet), as the wind blew violently at our cold
bodies. Thankfully, another boat towed
us to the shore of San Jose, and we quickly realized that this town was one of
the poorest that we encountered.
Malnourished looking kids clothed us in textiles and scarves that they
hoped to sell to us, but we didn’t have much money and were recovering from our
horrendous boat ride.
As our bus
drove through the town of San Jose, we saw that it greatly differed from the
scenery and vibe of Antigua. The latter
city was majority tourists and a lot of police presence. But in San Jose, we only noticed one tourist
and encountered a man who was dragged off of the street after he had been
injured. We were shocked by how the
locals left him alone and unconscious right after they had moved his body. The houses and schools looked dirty and
unkempt. It seemed as we got to the
middle of nowhere, the standard of living decreased. Does the government even know that this town
exists?
We rushed
to Los Andes and made it to the gates with two minutes to spare. After a bus ride full of jokes and bonding,
we happily arrived at Olga’s spacious house (Casa Oliver) in the dark. We were gracious for the filling, delicious
dinner provided to us, and we looked forward to showering and sleeping. Due to a recent power outage, we will only
have electricity available from 6pm-about10pm during our stay at the Los Andes
Reserve. After camping, this was not a large
issue that concerned us.
We are
eager to start the service portion of our trip at Los Andes!
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