Guatemala • Lake Atitlan Directory

Computers for Guatemala / Computers for Hope.org

2012-02-05T12:22:00.001-06:00

Catherine S. Todd

SOLICITUD 2012.doc (ctodd1000@gmail.com)
2 messages

Kirk & Michelle Lightf... (Google Docs)

Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 8:06 AM

To: ctodd1000@gmail.com

Cc: LIVY5300@aol.com

Attached: SOLICITUD 2012.doc

Message from kirkmichelle80@gmail.com:

Hello Catherine,

I got a note from Don Livingston stating your interest in acquiring some computers from us.
Attached is the solicitud that needs to be filled out and returned to my email address: kirkl@computersforhope.org.

Our process has purchasers deposit 50% of the cost of the computers at the time of order, with the remaining 50% due before or at pickup of the computers in Chimaltenango. Deposits can be made into my BanRural account # 4-582-00192-5, name of Kirk Layne Lightfield.

We have a container that just arrived in Guatemala. It will take a few days to clear the port then about a week for us to prepare the computers. I am estimating computers will be ready the week of February 15th.
All computers come with LCD monitors which is one reason the price is more that what was listed on the website. They are all Pentium 4 computers, the difference in cost is based on the configuration as follows:
Pentium 4 1-2Ghz, 256MB of ram, 40GB hard drive with LCD is $105 or Q800
Pentium 4 greater than 2Ghz, 512MB of ram, 80GB hard drive with LCD is $125 or Q1000.
Please specify which computers you want when returning your solicitude.

All computers come with WindowsXP and Office 2007 installed in Spanish. We also provide a CD package of educational games that are used to teach computer skills to students.
The computers are guaranteed for 1 year. If you experience any problems simply return the computer to Chimaltenango where we will fix the problem or replace it with another computer of equal or greater value.

If you have any questions about the computers or our process, please email me.

Kirk Lightfield
5787-1656

Google Docs makes it easy to create, store and share online documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

SOLICITUD 2012.doc.html
15K

Catherine S. Todd

Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 12:15 PM

To: "Kirk & Michelle Lightf... (Google Docs)"

Thanks, Kirk. Hopefully we will have some funds in the next six months to set up a computer lab here in Pana and I'll get back in touch with you. I have listed your organization in the free online LakeAtitlanDirectory.com and thank you for your good work.

Yours, Catherine Todd

2012/2/5 Kirk & Michelle Lightf... (Google Docs) <kirkmichelle80@gmail.com>

[Quoted text hidden]

--

Catherine Todd
3007 Bent Tree Dr. Oxford NC 27565 USA
H 919.693.0853 U.S. cell 919.605.0727

"The winds of grace blow all the time. All we need do is set our sails."

Guatemalan Arts & Crafts (GAC)
AtitlanArts.com
Panajachel, Lake Atitlan
Guatemala cell (first dial 011 from the U.S.)
(502) 5920.0358 new Jan 2012
LakeAtitlanDirectory.com
Travel: lakeatitlan.blogspot.com/
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/catherinetodd/sets/
Eco-Architecture: catherinetoddarchitecture.blogspot.com/

COMPUTADORAS PARA GUATEMALA SOLICITUD 2011/12

Nombre de la escuela: ___________________________________ Nivel: _________________

Municipio: ____________________________________Depto: _________________________

Escuela es: parroquial: ____; publica:____: privada:______cooperativa:______internada:______

Nombre de Director/a____________________________ ____Tel:_______________________

Numero de alumnos en la escuela: total_______varones:__________señoritas:____________

SI SU ESCULA YA TIENE COMPUTADORAS LLENA ESTA SECCION:

¿Cuantas computadoras tiene ahora?_____________ ¿Cuantas más se necesita?:____________

¿Cuantos alumnos reciben clases de computación ahora?; __________

¿Cuantas clases se dan por día?_____ y por semana____

¿Cuantos alumnos en cada clase? ___________

¿Que grados reciben clases de computación ahora?_______________________________

¿Quien es el/la maestro/a de computación?___________________________________________

Si recibe más computadoras, (1) cuantos alumnos van a usar las computadoras_______________

(2) Cuantas clases van a dar de computación por día:___________ (3)por semana:__________

SI SU ESCULA NO TIENE COMPUTADORAS AHORA LLENA ESTA SECCION:

¿Cuantas computadoras se necesita?:________________________________

¿Cuantas clases de computación piensan dar cada día?_______ cada semana_____________

¿Cuantos alumnos van a usar las computadoras?______No. de alumnos en cada clase: ______

¿Que grados van a usar las computadoras? ________________________________________

¿Quien será el/la maestro/a de computación:________________________________________

¿Donde trabaja esta persona ahora?:_______________________________________________

¿Que experiencia tiene esta persona en computación? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

¿Esta persona puede conectar y componer computadoras? _______________________________

¿Que planes tienen para futuro crecimiento en el área de computación?, o sea, diga si piensa que van a necesitar más maquinas, etc._________________________________________________

¿Tiene una aula para una clase de computación y donde está?:____________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

¿Esta aula tiene mesas para las computadoras? Si no, ¿que planes tienen para conseguir mesas?:
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

¿Cuáles son las medidas de seguridad en esta aula de computación? (balcones en las ventanas, etc.):________________________________________________________________________

¿Quien será responsable por las reparaciones?_______________________________________

Es un requisito de este programa que su escuela da acceso de estas computadoras a otras escuelas en su municipio. ¿Como piensa cumplir este requisito? ¿Será que otras escuelas pueden usar las computadoras durante el día, noche o fines de semana? ¿Va a compartir el maestro de computación o las otras escuelas tienen sus propios maestros?

______________________________________________________________________________

Nombres de otras escuelas en su municipio, los nombres de sus directores/as, y teléfonos de todos los otros directores/as:

______________________________________________________________________________

¿Ha hablado con los otros directores/as, y ellos están de acuerdo compartir las computadoras?

¿Está de acuerdo en pagar) por un equipo de computadora, incluyendo el monitor, teclado, y ratón______? Se necesita impresoras?______ Cuantas? _______¿Piensa conectar al internet y se necesita servidor o router y cables?_________________ _Como está la calidad del servicio de electricidad en el lugar de la instalación?¿Puede comprar un UPS regulador de voltaje?

__________________________________________________________________________-

Que mas se necesita?__._______________________________________________________

¿Puede recoger las computadoras en Chimaltenango a no más tardar 48 horas después de que lleguen y como? _____________________________________________________________

Firmado:____ _______________________________________ Fecha:_______________

-----

Google Translate:

COMPUTER APPLICATION FOR GUATEMALA 2011/12
Name of School: ___________________________________ Level: _________________
City: ____________________________________ Department: _________________________
School is: Parish: ____; reports: ____: Private: ______cooperativa: ______internada: ______
Name of Director / a____________________________ ____ Phone: _______________________
Number of students in school: total_______varones: __________señoritas: ____________
IF YOUR COMPUTER HAS A FULL ESCULA THIS SECTION:
How many computers have now? _____________ How many more is needed: ____________
How many students are taught computer now; __________
How many classes are given per day? _____ And semana____
How many students in each class? ___________
What grades are taught computer now? _______________________________
Who is / the teacher / a computer? ___________________________________________
If more computers, (1) how many students will use the computadoras_______________
(2) How many classes will give computer per day: ___________ (3) per week: __________
IF YOUR COMPUTER DOES NOT HAVE NOW ESCULA COMPLETING THIS SECTION:
How many computers do you need?: ________________________________
How many computer classes to think each day? _______ Each Lately Ago

How many students will use computers? ______No. of students in each class: ______
What degrees are going to use computers? ________________________________________
Who will be / the teacher / a Computer: ________________________________________
Where does this person work now?: _______________________________________________
What experience does this person computer?
Does this person can connect computers and writing? _______________________________
What are your plans for future growth in the computer area?, That is, say if you think you will need more machines, etc._________________________________________________
Does a classroom for a computer class and where?: ____________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Does this room has tables for computers? If not, what are your plans for getting tables?:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What are the security measures in this classroom computer? (Balconies at the windows, etc..): ________________________________________________________________________
Who will be responsible for repairs? _______________________________________

It is a requirement of this program that your school provides access to these computers to schools in their municipality. How do you think this requirement? Will other schools can use computers during the day, evening or weekends? Will you share the computer teacher or the other schools have their own teachers?

______________________________________________________________________________
Names of other schools in the municipality, the names of its directors / as, and phone numbers of all other directors / as:
______________________________________________________________________________
Have you talked to other directors / as, and they agree to share the computers?

Do you agree to pay) by a team of computer, including monitor, keyboard, and ratón (mouse)______? Printer is required? ______ How many? _______ Will connect to the internet and you need server or router and cables? __________________ How is the quality of electricity service in the installation location? Can you buy a UPS voltage regulator?
-__________________________________________________________________________
What else is needed? __._______________________________________________________
Can pick up computers in Chimaltenango no later than 48 hours after they arrive and how? _____________________________________________________________
Signed: ___________________________________________ Date: _______________

Lake Atitlan Directory

2011-12-17T10:22:00.001-06:00

I think we have the directory almost in shape for publication. That would be grande.

LakeAtitlanDirectory.com

2011-12-13T11:53:00.001-06:00

LakeAtitlanDirectory.com is a free online directory of community services and more around Lake Atitlan and Guatemala. Add your own listing! This will be a white and yellow pages of all the things that are going on around the lake, along with community services, groups, nonprofits and more. There are so many interesting things happening here! Guatemala has so much to offer: it's a whole new world, and just a plane ticket away! It's nothing like you thought it would be. It's not all "steaming jungles" and gangs running around. It's a wonderful place and so affordable, and a great way to retire. We're just a few hours away. People even drive here every day. Thanks for stopping by!

HOW TO WORK TOGETHER FOR LAKE ATITLAN?

2011-12-13T11:46:00.001-06:00

From a discussion on Facebook in the open group AMSCLAE:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/AMSCLAE/181121465276992

This is the best explanation of why and how we need to work together: When I am attacked, my immediate reaction is to STRIKE BACK and in a BIG WAY. That's why I don't work with groups. I can't stand it. But here is a situation where we all NEED TO and I WANT TO work for the good of Lake Atitlan, so perhaps I will be able to learn the skills needed to do so. Here is what was written to me that changed EVERYTHING, in just a few words:

Acción Guatemala 11:24am Dec 13, 2011

Catherine Todd ... please don´t go just because of one person. if Maximo wants to be nice and make better translations, he should do it himself and we will all be grateful. If he can´t, then there might be another solution... we should all have a little patience. We are a community of many languages and we really need to share information"

God works in mysterious ways. Ever since I decided to do the LakeAtitlanDirectory.com which is simple, free online database listing all the community groups and services around Lake Atitlan, I have been subject to the most incredible rudeness and attacks by a few individuals. It's been enough for me to seriously consider shutting down the whole thing. But then I see something like what Acción Guatemala writes, and I see the problems when people can't or won't work together for the common good, and I realize that I have contributed to conflict myself by my immediate gut reaction of striking back, so I will give it another try.

I hope I can learn new skills at this late stage. If not, I will continue to work from the sidelines and provide what is necessary and remain in my small cloistered monastery where I do find peace. But the whole wide world is awaiting outside in all it's conflict and cacophony and I can't hide away here forever. It's time to save Lake Atitlan and that will take concerted effort of everyone working together.

The problems with Lake Atitlan are but a serious SYMPTOM of the lack of care that everyone who lives here has shown for the environment, whether it is by ignorance, or impotence, or incompetence; or ego, graft, corruption and greed. Many of us, like myself, don't know what to do and we are trying to find out. I hope everyone will help towards a common goal for the common good. It should be easy but it's not. I will never know why.

Dear God please show us The Way.

"The winds of grace blow all the time; all we need do is set our sails."

Energies of Place ~ Lake Atitlan

2011-11-27T17:39:00.000-06:00

pirimides vortex on lake atitlan

Posted in Consciousness & Perception, guatemala, sacred place, tagged consciousness, Energy, guatemala, lake atitlan, las pirimides del ka, reality, spirit of place, spiritual energy on February 25, 2010 | 3 Comments »

i escaped the clutches of the lake, or that is the way it feels. Felt it dragging me to its depths at times, to that which lay below and within. At times it shown brightly at me, like the day i watched the sun or something sparkle upon it, in lines and geometric designs and across [...]
Read Full Post »

Gringos in Guatemala

2011-11-21T13:39:00.003-06:00

Great blog I stumbled across by Michael Knutson, a new teacher at Life School in Panajachel. We helped Life School redo their computer lab a couple of years back:

Gringos in Guatemala ~ GuatemalaGringo.blogspot.com

http://guatemalagringo.blogspot.com/

Guatemala’s Lost Photographs (en Inglés y Español)

2011-10-24T21:37:00.001-06:00

I helped fund this project on Kickstarter.com. Kickstarter is such a marvelous way to help so many worthy projects... what a wonderful idea, and such a necessary book. I am very glad I came here to Guatemala in a time of peace. We are so lucky that we have lived in the United States in a time of peace. I hope I can help with the recovery still going on now. English & Spanish translation below. Catherine Todd

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jeanmariesimon/eternal-spring-eternal-tyranny-guatemalas-lost-pho-0

From: Kara Andrade kara.andrade (at) gmail.com
To: futuroscolectivos (at) googlegroups.com
Date: October 24, 2011  

Dear Futuros Colectivos friends,

I hope you are all well! In my continuing effort to support projects that will help me understand the Guatemala my mother and I left when I was a child, I am teaming up with photographer Jean-Marie Simon to help her publish her photographs from the 1980s, one of the bloodiest period of Guatemala's civil war. Jean-Marie was one of the few people at the time taking pictures of the violence, the army garrisons, the guerrillas and their encampments, the empty villages, the dead and displaced people. Little did she know that with every photo she was creating a historical memory of the armed conflict from a period in Guatemala’s history that many would not talk about, many still do not acknowledge -- and those who remember are still, thirty years later, reluctant to discuss.

When the Spanish edition of Jean-Marie Simon's book "Guatemala: Eterna Primavera, Eternal Tiranía" sold out in 2010, she invested the proceeds in a new, popular edition with more than 200 color photos. She wanted to ensure this edition would reach Guatemala’s remote rural communities, and that teachers knew how to use the book effectively at the elementary, secondary and university levels. In many of these communities it would be their only source of written historical memory of an era that is seldom seen in textbooks or spoken about in schools. She is underwriting this affordable color photo book for Guatemalans who cannot afford the previous coffee table edition, and donating 1,000 copies – 25 percent of the 4,000 print run – to public schools and universities including those in the most remote areas of Guatemala.

This popular edition will be published in November and with your help we're going to make sure it's done well. While the book’s basic costs are funded, we need additional resources such as a sewn binding for the books to guarantee durability and the cost of digitizing the Kodachrome transparencies in order to include 100 color photographs that have never been published in previous editions. We're also paying local staff to design, proofread and print the book.

To show your support donate to our Kickstarter campaign.

You can also tell your friends, colleagues and contacts who are interested in Guatemala's history. These published images can help the new generations of Guatemalans become informed citizens – making current decisions about their country's future from a place of knowing their country's past. To see some of the images click here.

Thank you for your help and interest.

Sincerely,
Kara Andrade

--- Translation:

Estimados de Futuros Colectivos,

Espero que estén todos bien! Quería compartir una campaña estamos trabajando en que se alinea con muchos de los valores que todos compartimos.

Estoy colaborando con la fotógrafo Jean-Marie Simon para ayudarla a publicar sus fotografías de la década de 1980, uno de los período más sangriento de la guerra civil de Guatemala. Cuando ella llegó a Guatemala en los años 80, llegué como voluntaria de Amnistía Internacional, documentando las violaciones a los derechos humanos en Nebaj, parte de los pueblos Mayas y área rural del triángulo Ixil guatemalteco. Llegué mientras muchas personas huían del país – huían del comienzo de tres décadas de guerra civil, desapariciones, asesinatos masivos y la política de tierras quemadas que arrasó con las vidas y pueblos de miles de personas indígenas. Jean-Marie fue una de las pocas personas de aquella época que tomaba fotos de la violencia, de la guarnición del ejército, la guerrilla y sus campamentos, los pueblos vacíos, las personas muertas y desplazadas. Con cada fotos ella estaba creando una memoria histórica del conflicto armado, pero eso no lo sabía, en un período de la historia de Guatemala del que muchas personas aún no hablan, muchos aún no reconoces – y aquellos quienes lo recuerdan aún, treinta años más tarde, se muestran renuentes a discutirlo.

Sus fotografías de la guerra civil de Guatemala fueron publicadas por primera vez como “Guatemala: Eterna Primavera Eterna Tiranía” (WW Norton). El libro vendió 20,000 copias. Las imágenes del libro forman el único conjunto fotográfico completo de ese período de la historia de Guatemala. En el 2010, publicó la versión en español del mismo libro, en Guatemala, y estuvo en el primer lugar de los más vendidos, se agotó en seis meses.

En noviembre publicaré una nueva versión estudiantil de su libro con el fin de enseñar a los escolares guatemaltecos acerca de la guerra de una forma más visual. Hay una gran necesidad de distribuir este libro en Guatemala, especialmente a niños de edad escolar quienes tienen poca información sobre la guerra.

La necesidad de un libro fotográfico para lograr este objetivo tiene una urgencia especial en Guatemala, donde 70 por ciento de la población rural es analfabeta o semi-alfabeta y donde el predominio de las lenguas mayas suma un reto en la distribución de información. La fotografía rompe las barreras lingüísticas y de la pobreza. El financiamiento será invertido en la publicación y distribución del libro para cubrir los costos de impresión, para crear guías para los maestros, paquetes de prensa, y fondos para viajar y llevar el libro a las áreas rurales de Guatemala donde su necesidad es mayor.

Este es el único libro de fotografías que cubre la guerra brutal de Guatemala. Es muy importante que los pueblos que más lo necesitan tengan acceso a él y que las personas lo utilicen como un recurso al enseñar la historia del conflicto armado guatemalteco.

Para mostrar su apoyo a nuestra campaña haga clic en Kickstarter.

También puede compartir con sus amigos, colegas y contactos que estén interesados en la historia de Guatemala. Estas imágenes publicadas pueden ayudar que las nuevas generaciones de guatemaltecos se conviertan en ciudadanos informados y tomar decisiones actuales sobre el futuro de su país desde un lugar de conocer el pasado de su país.

Para ver algunas de las imágenes haga clic aquí.

-----

Guatemala: Finding peace in the volcano’s shadow

2011-10-19T17:33:00.002-06:00

Reposted from Telegraph Travel, UK:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/centralamericaandcaribbean/guatemala/8831011/Guatemala-Finding-peace-in-the-volcanos-shadow.html

Guatemala: Finding peace in the volcano’s shadow

Antigua is fascinating, but Lake Atitlán really is too much of a good thing, finds Rhymer Rigby.

Image 1 of 4

Atitlán's famed clarity means the swimming is great. There's also a bit of a hippie vibe

By Rhymer Rigby

3:30PM BST 17 Oct 2011

1 Comment

Antigua is a great place to wake up. We’d arrived in the middle of the night after 20 hours of planes, stopovers and cabs with two small children. But when I stumbled, jet-lagged, onto our balcony it was all worth it. The red-tiled roofs of a beautifully preserved Spanish colonial city, punctuated by flowering trees and church bell-towers, stretched to the base of a giant conical volcano. And it was warm and sunny, but pleasantly so, as Antigua’s altitude cools the steam-bath heat of the tropics.

This Guatemalan town is cute and knows it, but it’s none the worse for this. Paradoxically, the city owes its remarkable state of preservation to the destructive power of the spectacular volcanoes around it. The Spanish built it as their third Central American capital in 1543, when it went by the name of La muy Noble y muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de los Caballeros de Goathemala. For centuries it was Central America’s most powerful city, something to which the grand civic buildings and elegant private houses bear witness.

But the area was very geologically active and, after a particularly destructive earthquake in 1773, Antigua was evacuated and the capital moved to Guatemala City. Antigua was never really abandoned but its relegation meant that, the odd earthquake notwithstanding, it retained its 18th-century charm while Guatemala City became an unlovely and unsafe urban sprawl.

Antigua’s geological instability has also resulted in an extraordinary vernacular architecture. Buildings, although recognisably Spanish in design, are low and massive. Single-storey walls are 3ft thick and columns barely 10ft high have the same diameter as those holding up the portico at the British Museum.

The town’s numerous churches are often better appreciated from outside; they’ve been shaken to pieces by earthquakes so many times they tend to be rather plain within. But, many of the humbler buildings such as restaurants and hotels have beautiful, shady courtyards in which to escape the mid-day sun. Antigua is in some ways a bit like Bath or Cambridge – the fabric of the city is the attraction and it’s best seen by walking around.
Neverthless, by day three, we felt we needed to stretch our legs a little more so we booked a day trip to the nearby Pacaya volcano. In years past, you could walk right up to streams of red-hot lava, but the 2010 eruption changed that. Although we couldn’t actually see molten rock, it was gratifyingly volcanic.

We watched smoke belch and rumble out of a crater that looked like an entrance to the underworld, walked across a blackened landscape where the ground was warm to the touch and sweated in a cave dubbed “the natural sauna”.

After four days in Antigua, we headed up to Lake Atitlán, Guatemala’s geological show- stopper. We passed some pretty scenery on the way, but nothing prepares you for the lake. As a scenic set-piece, it is astonishing. When he visited the area in 1933, Aldous Huxley wrote: “Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing.” He wasn’t exaggerating.

To appreciate the lake you need to get out of its biggest town, Panajachel. We picked up a water taxi at the docks and headed to Santa Cruz, which is everything a lakeside hamlet should be. Here, stretched along a couple of miles of shoreline, are perhaps a dozen hotels, all small and charming, with manicured gardens running down to the lake.

Atitlán’s famed clarity means the swimming is great. There’s also a bit of a hippie vibe. Quite a few foreigners discovered Atitlán in the Sixties and Seventies and our hotel was also a yoga retreat.

Our lakeside routine involved a fruity breakfast, a little swimming and perhaps a walk along the wooded shoreline. If we found this too taxing, we’d soak in the hot tub; in volcanic Guatemala, these are something of a national obsession.

The scenery is stunning and occasionally surprising. Walking along the lake at sunset one day, I could see what looked like a bush fire. But a local man told me, no, it was volcanic steam or smoke venting. Hardly surprising: although the last major eruption was in the 19th century, the area remains active and the lake is not only watched over by three volcanoes, the basin itself is a volcanic caldera.

We’d only intended to spend three days at Atitlán, but found it so relaxing, we extended to nearly a week. You probably could spend seven days doing nothing other than looking at the views but there are plenty of other activities. We hiked in the mountains around the lake and hailed water taxis to visit the little villages that dot the shores.

I climbed Volcán San Pedro, walking up through coffee plantations and cloud-forest to enjoy a bird’s-eye view of the lake.

Had we stayed longer we could even have scuba dived and parasailed. But eventually, my wife told me that we really had to leave.

As I carried our luggage to the jetty, I suggested that we might extend our stay. But she was adamant. It was time to go – and I daresay she was right.

Lake Atitlán is already too much of a good thing. And you don’t want to have too much of a good thing.

GETTING THERE
American Airlines (0844 499 7300; americanairlines.co.uk) flies to Guatemala City via Miami from around £600 return. Most hotels in Antigua offer an airport pick-up, which takes 45 minutes and costs about £40.
PACKAGES
Journey Latin America
(020 8747 8315; journeylatinamerica.co.uk) offers a 13-night package to Guatemala, from £1,581 per person, excluding return flight. Exodus (0845 287 7543; exodus.co.uk) has two 16-night packages to Guatemala, from £2,079 per person, including return flight.
THE BEST HOTELS
Casa del Parque, Antigua ££
A minute’s walk from the beautiful central square, in a traditional building, Casa del Parque is a friendly, good-value hotel with a swimming pool and hot tub.
Ask for a room on the upper floor as the few extra dollars are worth it for the views (00502 7832 0961; hotelcasadelparque.com ; doubles from US$80/£50 per night).
Villa Sumaya, Lake Atitlán ££
Set in gorgeous lan dscaped grounds on the shores of Lake Atitlán, Villa Sumaya is a great place to stay whether you’re into yoga or not. It has a swimming pool, hot tub, sauna and offers a range of spa treatments. The food is fantastic, much of it home grown (4026 1390; villasumaya.com; from US$80/£50).
Posada del Angel, Antigua £££
The place where Bill Clinton stayed when he visited in 1999, Posada del Angel is small, exclusive and immaculately decorated in a style that retains much of the building’s original charm. It’s expensive by Guatemalan standards, but still great value (7832 0260; posadadelangel.com; from US$210/£131).
THE BEST RESTAURANTS
La Esquina, Antigua £
If you want to eat authentic Guatemalan food, but with a slightly haute cuisine twist, this is the place to do it
(6a Calle Poniente No 7-5a Avenue Sur; 7882 4761).
Sunset Café, Panajachel £
It’s a fair bet you will need to eat in Panajachel at some point as it has the greatest concentration of facilities on Lake Atitlán and is the gateway to the lake. The Sunset Café has a superb location and, as its name suggests, has some of the best views of Atitlán’s extraordinary sunsets (corner of Calle Santander and Calle del Lago; 7762 0003).
Casa Escobar, Antigua ££
If you tire of basic but typical Guatemalan dishes and feel in need of a more upmarket experience, Casa Escobar does an excellent steak, along with a good, largely South American wine list. The restaurant has a sophisticated feel, too (6a Avienda Norte No 3; 7832 5250).

What to avoid

Most visitors skip Guatemala City entirely – and with good reason, as it has high levels of crime and poverty and rather lower levels of attractions.
Panajachel, on Lake Atitlán, is not a great place to stay either, but that’s because it’s scruffy, rather than dangerous. You want to be out on the lake.
Public water taxis run on the lake from 7am and are used by visitors and locals alike. If someone tells you that they’re not available it’s almost certainly because they’re trying to sell you a pricier private boat. Although they have designated stops, the public boats will dock at any jetty they pass on request.

Guatemala

1 comments

Add a comment

Comment with a Telegraph account

Alternatively...

Comment with one of your accounts

Showing 1 comment

Order by

Real-time updating is enabled. (Pause)

jeeb
10/18/2011 10:32 PM

Antigua is totally gorgeous, but extremely touristy (think groups of Americans down for a week or so to 'do' Central America) For the real Guatemalan experience, head to Quetzaltenango in the Western Highlands, Guatemala's second biggest city but with none of the issues of the capital. Within near reach of some beautiful volcano hikes and only 2 hours from lake Atitlan it is also one of the cheapest places in the world to study Spanish, with one-on-one classes and lots of after class activities. And unlike Antigua, also has a ton of Spanish schools, people in Xela (as Quetzaltenango is know locally) will actually speak to you in Spanish, not English! I loved it and can't wait to get back to Guatemala.
Here is where I studied, Utatlan Spanish School: www.spanishxela.com

Engineers Without Borders - USA (EWB-USA) Guatemala Project

2011-09-28T10:39:00.001-06:00

Home Projects Guatemala

Guatemala Pictures

Rutgers Football Concession Stand Fundraiser for Guatemala

Pics: Guatemala (Jan 2010)

Pics: Guatemala (Aug 2009)

Guatemala Project

Project Cost

$82,690.00

Assessment Cost

$11,000.00

Implementation Cost

$71,690.00

Funds Needed

$16,629.0

Background

NSCI, Guatemala is a village of approximately 4,000 people of Mayan descent and has been in existence since 2000.The town was originally located about 20 km away from its current location. Hurricane Mitch in 1998caused mudslides that destroyed 60-75% of the old village. The new town has access to good roads, decent houses, schools, health centers and farming land, but faces a crucial problem of insufficient water supply for domestic use. The Water Committee of NSCI sought help from EWB-USA and thus the Rutgers Chapter got involved with the project in January 2009. The project has technical and financial support from the local Municipality. Repair and Redesign of NSCI's Water Supply System is the main goal of the project. EWB-USA Rutgers has conducted three project assessments and one implementation thus far.

The Need

Inhabitants of this 4,000 person community have access to about 30 minutes/day water supply in the dry season and about 2 hours/day in the wet season. This water comes from pump-well and gravity-fed sources which dry up in the summer. The water is insufficient and unclean. However, NSCI has access to a pumped water supply system which failed in 2004. The goal of this project is to repair and redesign the water supply system for NSCI which can provide a 24 hour water supply all year long. It will improve sanitation and overall quality of life for the people in NSCI.

EWB-USA Response

Thorough Assessment
Three assessment trips in August2009, January 2010 and August2010 respectively were carried out to gain a thorough understanding of the problems and solutions for this water supply system. Educational programs about water conservation and sanitation were conducted in schools and community centers. Efforts were made to ensure agreement of all the parties about their responsibilities for the project and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed.
Implementation
The implementation for this project commenced in March 2011. The community members have committed to provide volunteer labor for the project. The implementation involves construction of concrete chambers to house pumps, repair/replacement of conduction pipeline and installation of new pumps. EWB-USA Rutgers will provide technical expertise and80% of the capital cost for implementation. Projected completion of the implementation is July 2011.
Following Up
The Memorandum Of Understanding, technical training for community members, installation of water meters at every house, a strong operation and maintenance plan by the community, and educational programs are some aspects of this project that will make it sustainable. After implementation, EWB-USA Rutgers plans to receive regular updates from the community about the system and also conduct follow up trips to assess the success of the project.
Moving Forward
EWB-USA Rutgers team is currently focusing on raising the remaining funds for a successful implementation in July 2011. Efforts include a dedicated group of students constantly approaching foundation and corporate sponsors for the project while planning fundraising events on campus. EWB-USA Rutgers is also finalizing some technical aspects of the design by addressing comments made by the Technical Advisory Committee. It is preparing an educational program to be implemented in July 2011 to reinforce the importance of water conservation and sanitation in the community.

Current Project Leads: Natalie Wright
Professional Mentors: Sandra Kutzing, P.E. and David J. Tanzi, P.E.
First & Second Implementation Trip Travel Blog Here

Project Sponsors:

Black water in San Marcos / Agua negra en San Marcos

2011-09-28T10:27:00.000-06:00

Catherine Todd

[SecTurLA] Agua negra en San Marcos
2 messages

aaculaax

Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 7:35 PM

Reply-To: atitlan@googlegroups.com

To: atitlan@googlegroups.com

Buenas tardes a todos,

con el crecimiento del lago tenemos mas y mas problemas con las fosas septicas de las casas a la orilla.
Ahora tenemos el caso con un hotel muy conocido en San Marcos. Los duenos y encargados no responden a nuestras preguntas.
La vista y el olor estan insorpotables.
Quien tenemos que contactar para resolver el problema? Que soluciones podemos ofrecer a los duenos?

Muchas gracias

Niels Gronau

--
http://www.atitlan.com/sector

Has recibido este mensaje porque estás suscrito a Grupo "Sector
Turístico Del Lago Atitlán" de Grupos de Google.
Si quieres publicar en este grupo, envía un mensaje de correo
electrónico a atitlan@googlegroups.com
Para anular la suscripción a este grupo, envía un mensaje a
atitlan+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
Para obtener más opciones, visita este grupo en
http://groups.google.com/group/atitlan?hl=es_US?hl=es.

ARG

Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 9:53 AM

Reply-To: atitlan@googlegroups.com

To: "atitlan@googlegroups.com Sosa"

Cc: "\"Autoridad del lago de Atitlán\"" , solola@marn.gob.gt

Estimado Niels,

Esta situación se va a multiplicar a medida que suba el nivel del lago. Han sido muchas las construcciones que se han hecho a la orilla sin tener en cuenta que el lago sube y baja en ciclo que todavía no podemos determinar. Basta recordar que frente a Cerro de Oro hay asentamientos humanos a 25 metros de profundidad y que en el pasado el lago ha subido por lo menos unos 20 metros por encima del nivel actual...

Esto no obvia la urgente necesidad de detener la contaminación generada por las fosas sépticas y en general por la disposición de aguas servidas. Para esto debe contactar directamente a AMSCLAE (7762-4074 o por correo <amsclae@intelnet.net.gt>) que tiene ahora un departamento legal que se encarga de las denuncias ambientales. También se puede denunciar ante el MARN de Sololá, atención Tomás Haroldo Arriola, por medio de una llamada (7762 1857) o de un correo solola@marn.gob.gt.

En cuanto a soluciones, se pueden ver soluciones temporales como bombear las aguas a un sistemas de tratamiento que esté por encima del nivel del lago. Las fosas sépticas normalmente deben estar a unos 100 metros del lago para evitar la percolación de las aguas servidas y la eventual contaminación del lago. Esto dependerá del tipo de suelo que se tenga. Si es rocoso, el agua no se filtrará y contaminará el lago, así esté a 500 metros de distancia de la orilla. Así mismo, donde hay suelos aluviales (que pueden ser inundados), suelos que suelen ser arenosos como los de los valles de Panajachel, San Buenaventura, Jaibal o el mismo San Marcos, el agua fluye con facilidad por el subsuelo, algo se filtra, pero eventualmente llega al lago. Lo ideal es tener un sistema con al menos un 95% de eficiencia y utilizar el agua purificada en jardines o huertos.

Quienes tienen un negocio turístico deben ser particularmente sensibles al hecho de que los visitantes y las aguas servidas tienen que estar separados (los visitantes no se deben / pueden bañar en aguas negras, ni la preparación ni el gusto de los alimentos se mezclan bien con aguas negras, etc). El futuro de los negocios turísticos depende de un manejo óptimo de las aguas servidas.

Saludos

Alberto Rivera Gutiérrez

Todos por el Lago

[Quoted text hidden]

Halt Pollution around Lake Atitlan - Contact Numbers / Detener la contaminación del Lago de Atitlán - Números de contacto

2011-09-27T11:42:00.003-06:00

All around Lake Atitlan there is an urgent need to halt the pollution caused by septic tanks and in general for the disposal of wastewater. Contact AMSCLAE (7762-4074 or by e ) which now has a legal department that handles environmental complaints. You can also complain to the MARN in Solola, Harold Thomas Arriola attention through a call (7762 1857) or e-solola@marn.gob.gt.

Todos los alrededores del lago Atitlán hay una necesidad urgente necesidad de detener la contaminación generada por las fosas sépticas y en general por la disposición de aguas servidas. Para esto debe contactar directamente a AMSCLAE (7762-4074 o por correo ) que tiene ahora un departamento legal que se encarga de las denuncias ambientales. También se puede denunciar ante el MARN de Sololá, atención Tomás Haroldo Arriola, por medio de una llamada (7762 1857) o de un correo solola@marn.gob.gt.

Thanks to
Alberto Rivera Gutiérrez
Todos por el Lago

---

For a report from AMSCLAE, Guatemala on the pollution and cyanobacteria in Lake Atitlan,
see: http://santacruzlalaguna.weebly.com/amsclae-cianobacteria-mayo-2011.html

---

de DEGUATE.COM. Foros de Guatemala » Ecología & Medio Ambiente » LA AUTORIDAD DEL LAGO DE ATITLÁN (AMSCLAE)

http://www.deguate.com/foros/messages/25/74453.html?1257186948

Crime, Corruption Killing Guatemalan Bus Drivers

2011-09-24T09:53:00.021-06:00

Be sure to read the comments from people who live in Guatemala, as I do. I too am tired of the sensationalism of the media. Yes, Guatemala does have it’s problems. But Guatemala doesn’t have the same problems all over it’s country, just as the United States doesn’t have the same big city problems all over the U.S. You can’t compare Guatemala City, New York or Chicago to a whole country.Gangs are always a problem in any country and there are many groups here helping Guatemala in their striving for equality and justice.

We live in the highlands in Panajachel, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala and it’s wonderful place. Peaceful and harmonious and everyone gets along. Here the men take turns patrolling the streets at night along with the police, and we have no crime. They are not “vigilantes.” They are law abiding members of the community, family men, members of the churches and the city council. This is what is meant by “working together” and “community,” things that are sorely lacking in our culture.

We idolize our criminals in our U.S. history, from criminal CEO’s, Presidents or those robbers and killers from “The Wild West”. Look at Billy the Kid whose legend says he killed 22 people before he was 21 years old. And Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid… What else were they but “gang members?” Read on…

Although no one uses gas cans or "lights matches" here in Panajachel, I like the idea of gangs hearing about this "technique." This my favorite quote out of the whole story below:

Meanwhile, Guatemala's wave of ~~vigilantism~~ community patrols are having its desired effect.

"We don't mess with the people in the provinces," says a 26-year-old former member of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang. "In San Juan, Xela, San Lucas, they're united. If they catch you, they'll pour on gasoline, light a match, and that's it."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104922411

Crime, Corruption Killing Guatemalan Bus Drivers

From NPR by Jason Beaubien
June 4, 2009

In Guatemala, bus drivers are being gunned down at an alarming rate. The hazardous situation on Guatemala's buses is a result of a confluence of corruption, crime and poverty. The Guatemalan government pays millions of dollars a year in subsidies to bus owners, yet the battered vehicles on the streets are mostly old school buses from the United States.

Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

Another story we're following today involves a conflict in Guatemala. In that country, driving a bus can be lethal. Corruption, crime and poverty have led to deadly competition among rival bus owners and have also fueled an extortion racket. Armed gangs demand bribes from the drivers. Drivers who don't pay up often pay with their lives. More than 70 drivers have been killed already this year in Guatemala and the problem is especially bad in the capital, Guatemala City. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports.

(Soundbite of horn honking)

JASON BEAUBIEN: In Zona Quatro on the northwest edge of Guatemala City, Percida Iguara(ph) is waiting for the Number 70 bus, one day after a driver on the line was assassinated behind the wheel. Iguara is terrified of the public buses, but she doesn't have a car and she says this is the only way to get around.

Ms. PERCIDA IGUARA: (Spanish spoken)

BEAUBIEN: We have to ride the buses, but it makes you nervous, she says. You don't know if you're going to return or if you're not going to return. The only thing you can do is put yourself in the hands of God.

The day before, three men in a Toyota Corolla pulled up alongside the Number 70 bus and shot the driver repeatedly in the head. On the same day, another driver on the Number 70 line was assaulted and a 25-year-old driver on a different line was also killed.

Iguara says the situation on Guatemala's buses is out of control.

Ms. IGUARA: (Spanish spoken)

BEAUBIEN: If they shoot the driver, just imagine, you don't know what's going to happen, she says. And if you get robbed, that's another story. If you don't have anything to give them, that's bad. She says the robbers might even get nervous and shoot you.

Police say that so far this year more than 70 bus drivers have been murdered behind the wheel in Guatemala, this in a country of less than 14 million people.

Guatemala is a graveyard for old American school buses; aging Blue Birds painted blood red rattle over Guatemala's roads. The long, boxy vehicles cough out clouds of thick, black diesel exhaust. Despite being the primary form of public transportation, Guatemala's bus system is a chaotic, fiercely competitive enterprise.

Drivers rent the vehicles by the day and they get to keep whatever proceeds are left after paying for fuel, protection and a meager salary for a fare collector. The faster you go, the more money you make. And why stick to your route if you can veer off and poach your rival's passengers? Or you could literally just kill your competition.

Mr. ADAIR GUARA(ph) (Union Leader): (Spanish spoken)

BEAUBIEN: This is a really ugly mafia, says Adair Guara, the head of a local bus riders union. It's said that some of the bus owners are so viscous that they'll kill their rivals or anyone who discovers their illicit businesses. The owners of the buses get millions of dollars each year from the government to provide public transportation. But Guara says there's no oversight to make sure the subsidized buses are safe or charging the standard rate or even operating on their assigned route.

In addition, local gangs extort protection money or la renta from drivers who pass through their territory. Twenty-four-year-old Luis Enrique Shava(ph), who has been working as a bus assistant for six years, says drivers are scrounging just to make enough to eat. But he says drivers can't get away without paying la renta to the local street gangs.

Mr. ENRIQUE SHAVA (Bus Assistant): (Spanish spoken)

BEAUBIEN: If they don't pay the protection money, he says, they can't work. And it's those drivers who suffer, because if they don't pay the gangs will them.

The municipal government in Guatemala says it is trying to change the system. The city's replacing some of the old school buses with clean, new articulated ones. The new vehicles have dedicated lanes on fixed routes, but most importantly, passengers pay at a kiosk before they get on. The drivers carry no cash, and thus they don't have to worry about getting robbed, extorted or shot.

Jason Beaubien, NPR News, Guatemala City.

Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Fed Up, Ordinary Guatemalans Turn To Vigilantism

John Burnett/NPR

All Things Considered

Night patrollers in San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala, say their rounds have chased away the gang members.

Photo Gallery: Violence Against Bus Drivers
Jon Lowenstein/NOOR

The killing of bus drivers is common in Guatemala as local gangs extort fees from drivers. Here, driver Werner Ramirez heads to the funeral of fellow bus driver and company owner Jesus Ubaldo Munoz. Munoz was gunned down in front of his house on the outskirts of Guatemala City.

A bus rests on a street after the murder of its driver and his assistant.
Jon Lowenstein/NOOR

A bus rests on a street after the murder of its driver and his assistant.
It is so common for buses to be attacked that owners often don't bother to repair them.
Jon Lowenstein/NOOR

It is so common for buses to be attacked that owners often don't bother to repair them.
More In The Series

Part 1 reports on gangs in Guatemala and the sicarios — or hitmen — hired to kill their members.

Former Gang Members Talk

"El Flaco" describes his life as a gang member. The 26-year-old claims to have murdered 22 people. Read excerpts from the interview.

"El Cholo" is 20 years old. He has been a member of different gangs — or maras — and says he's killed 10 people. Read excerpts from the interview.

Warning: These interviews are graphic and some may find parts of them disturbing.

Assassins On Their Roles

Christian and Roberto are sicarios, or assassins. Christian left the National Civil Police in April 2008; Roberto left the police in 2000. As sicarios, they estimate they've killed two dozen people between them. Read excerpts from the interview with them.
December 23, 2008

In Guatemala, anger over rampant crime and distrust of the police has led to widespread vigilantism. Though the practice is alarming to human-rights monitors, the public is applauding the efforts, saying they are finally cleaning up their towns.

Last year, the working-class Mayan town of San Juan Sacatepequez, Guatemala, was overrun with street gangs. Extortionists reportedly went through the phone book — name by name — demanding money and threatening violence against families that didn't pay. Residents complained of an impotent police force and a justice system that releases criminals back into the population.

Taking Back The Streets

Fourteen months ago, the people of San Juan Sacatepequez took matters into their own hands. Every night, men gather in the plaza to go on patrol with machetes, truncheons and two-way radios. On a recent night, a group of 20 men — bundled against the mountain cold, some in balaclavas — walked the darkened, hilly streets of their sector.

The patrol leader, a local veterinarian nicknamed "The Jackal," says the gangbangers have mostly left San Juan Sacatepequez, and their security patrols have been so effective that other cities now want to copy them.

"Right now, nothing happens anymore because they know we're patrolling at night," says The Jackal. "If the delinquents try to rob anyone during the day, everyone in the marketplace has whistles to sound the alarm. And everyone comes out and captures the thief."

And what happens then?

The patrol leaders say they hand the thief over to the police. But San Juan Sacatepequez's police chief, whose officers have effectively been marginalized by the citizen patrols, says there have been six vigilante killings in the 10 months he has been on the job — and an attempted lynching last month. Townspeople caught two Nicaraguans they said were thieves. They tied the men up, stripped them, beat them bloody, and paraded them around town.

"They were at the point of pouring gasoline on them and setting them on fire. But it was avoided when the police intervened," says Arbol Pavilla, local representative of the Office of the National Human Rights Ombudsman. "They were lucky. I saw the gas can with my own eyes."

Residents Welcome 'More Tranquility'

At midnight, a cafe owner invites the patrol in off the streets to warm themselves with coffee and tamales. The owner, Osmar Mancilla, sits by the griddle and considers how things have turned around in San Juan Sacatepequez.

"I have a brother-in-law who had a bad experience with extortion. It was a type of terrorism; they had him afraid all the time," Mancilla says.

"There was so much insecurity in the streets. When you'd leave your house, you never knew if you'd ever return. Since they started these patrols, thank God, things have changed. There's more tranquility," he says.

Did the street gangs flee San Juan Sacatepequez because of the night patrols' presence, or because of the message sent by the vigilante killings — in which gang members were publicly incinerated?

"It's sad, because I think there's divine justice, and the only one who can take a life is God. But there are extreme circumstances. If the police protected the population, there wouldn't be the need for these measures," Mancilla says.

Government Encouraged 'Social Cleansing'

Back out on the street, a burly patroller in a ski mask, nicknamed "El Chino," says, "These people are human garbage. We don't want them around."

A few years ago, the Guatemalan government — frustrated at its police force's inability to control the gangs — encouraged limpieza social, or social cleansing. It was an overt message for communities to organize and dispose of gang members, whose numbers are today estimated at 80,000. What happened, wrote a newspaper columnist recently, was the creation of a societal "Frankenstein."

"The state cannot be plunged into a situation where there is no rule of law. We have a saying: The medicine can be worse than the illness," says Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez. "Social cleansing doesn't solve problems, because the result is impunity."

Jimenez says Guatemala is opening new academies to beef up its police force, which is currently less than half the size needed for a country of 13 million. Human-rights monitors accuse the police of condoning social cleansing, if not actually participating in it.

Meanwhile, Guatemala's wave of vigilantism is having its desired effect.

"We don't mess with the people in the provinces," says a 26-year-old former member of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang. "In San Juan, Xela, San Lucas, they're united. If they catch you, they'll pour on gasoline, light a match, and that's it."

COMMENTS:

Scott Snelling wrote:

I was disappointed in the tone of sensationalism in this story. I have ridden Guatemala's chicken busses in many parts of the country and always found them to be surprisingly convenient, efficient, and cheap. I spent three months this past winter in Guatemala, much of the time was spent touring on my bicycle. No matter how small of a road I decided to ride down, it was never long before a chicken bus lumbered past me with a load of passengers enveloped in Marimba music.

You spoke of the busses "belching smoke", implying they are bad for the environment. But Guatemala takes our trash busses and patches together a functioning public transportation system; what could greener?

Sat Jun 6 09:28:03 2009

Abram Huyser Honig (CatrachoAlbino) wrote:

I've lived in Tegucigalpa, Honduras for five years, all in poorer neighborhoods. All the problems described in the article happen here too. However, Association for a More Just Society, the organization I work with here, has found a much more peaceful, hopeful, successful solution to these problems than anything these articles point to. Four years after we started working in one of the most violent neighborhoods in the city, UNDP stats show that murder, rape, and robbery are all down by over 60% (opposite the overall trend in Honduras). It's now one of the only neighborhoods in Tegucigalpa where bus drivers don't pay any "war taxes"--and there's no vigilantism either. Basically, we helped the justice system work like it's supposed to. We hired our own investigators and lawyers to work directly with victims, connect them with trustworthy, committed law-enforcement officials (they really do exist), and do some of the groundwork for police and prosecutors who have upwards of 200 cases assigned to them at once. The result: both gang members and vigilante groups that plagued neighborhood have been convicted and incarcerated, the neighborhood's peaceful, people believe in the justice system.
More at http://www.ajs-us.org/vigilantes.htm

Thu Jun 4 14:04:58 2009

Tomas K (TK57) wrote:

Thanks for doing the story about our buses, but you received a lot of bad information. The country is not updating buses and giving them dedicated lanes. That's one bus route called Transmetro and it's been around for two years.
What the government is trying to do is set up a pre-paid card system that would be installed on all routes.
Secondly, the payment system for drivers varies by company, but generally in the city the bus drivers are on a salary that's negotiated between the drivers union and the companies.
The extortion by gangs is of the companies that own the buses. The drivers are the victims in case the companies don't pay.
By the way, zona 4 is not on the northwest edge of the city.

Thu Jun 4 12:21:28 2009

Amy Mikus (blondamy5)

Amy Mikus (blondamy5) wrote:

No one will deny that Guatemala faces its own set of problems, but I am frustrated with its continued portrayal as nothing more than a dangerous, lawless country full of murders, drug traffickers and violence. What about a story on some of the indigenous communities in the highlands? Or the many NGOs who are working to build roads, bridges, schools, water systems, trade cooperatives, etc.? Limiting the characterization of Guatemala to the problems in Guatemala City is like describing the U.S. only by looking at L.A., Chicago or N.Y.C.; you get some truth but there's so much more to the story. Mr. Beaubien, I am an admirer of NPR and especially its foreign coverage. I will be in Guatemala next week, and if you would like to join me I'd be happy to introduce you to some of the many amazing people and organizations who are working to create hope and opportunity in Guatemala.

Thu Jun 4 09:11:16 2009

Recommended (17)

Under the Volcanos, Antigua Guatemala

2011-09-03T02:24:00.000-06:00

I photographed these volcanoes with clouds rolling in every night, at Dona Clara's hotel in La Antigua Guatemala where I stayed the first few months I was there. March 2006 was my first trip to Guatemala and not to be my last. I fell in love immediately, and I now live here part time and go back and forth between North Carolina and beautiful Lake Atitlan all the time. How lucky can one person be? Lots more photos on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/catherinetodd/.

Lake Atitlan Marathon

2011-04-15T21:02:00.000-06:00

Inscriptions for the Lake Atitlan Marathon will start in May 2011. The Marathon will be held in May 2012 in Guatemala. More information see the Lake Atitlan Marathon website.

Lago de Atitlán (Lake Atitlán)

2011-03-18T05:22:00.000-06:00

Interesting blog with photos about Lake Atitlan (Lago Atitlan):

Lake Atitlan with Volcanoes Toliman and Atitlan behind.
Lago de Atitlán

(Lake Atitlán)

by Eve Andersson
Home : Guatemala : One Article

Lago de Atitlán (Lake Atitlán) is the most beautiful lake I have ever seen. It is surrounded by craggy mountains and three traditionally shaped volcanoes. Formed by a collapsed volcano cone, Lago de Atitlán is 320 meters deep, the deepest lake in Central America. Approximately fifteen towns or villages lie on the perimeter, mainly inhabited by traditional Mayan peoples with a sprinkling of foreign settlers.

(photos)

Panajachel
Panajachel (or Pana, for short) is the town that most tourists visit. It is a very comfortable place to just hang out and you can usually get whatever you need there. This town is full of restaurants and hotels. It's a good starting place if you want to go visit other towns by boat.

(photos)

by Eve Andersson (eve @ eveandersson.com)

More: http://www.eveandersson.com/guatemala/atitlan

Lake Atitlan volcano view from my balcony, Panajachel, Guatemala

2011-02-20T23:03:00.006-06:00

Post left:

Lake Atitlan balcony.jpg (long rectangle size, use for forms and online db)

Lake Atitlan balcony.jpg (regular size)

Guatemala NGO / foundation research db, by EntreMundos and Proyecto GT

2011-02-18T09:05:00.001-06:00

About this Database
...is a collaborative work between EntreMundos and Proyecto GT, is a free online resource designed to assist local NGOs and community groups in Guatemala search for funding opportunities both nationally and internationally. This database was originally designed in 2007 by Michael Norman, CEO of Proyecto GT, and its contents researched, input and regularly updated by EntreMundos staff.

Guatemala

* Agricultura ( 7 items )
* Animales ( 1 items )
* Arte ( 6 items )
* Afiliación Religiosa ( 8 items )
* Ayuda Humanitaria ( 8 items )
* Derechos Humanos ( 14 items )
* Desarrollo ( 37 items )
* Educación ( 24 items )
* General ( 3 items )
* Indígenas ( 14 items )
* Juventud ( 18 items )
* Medio Ambiente ( 25 items )
* Micro Crédito ( 2 items )
* Mujeres ( 19 items )
* Organizaciones Políticas ( 3 items )
* Pobreza ( 15 items )
* Salud ( 23 items )
* Salud Sexual y Reproductiva ( 10 items )
* Sociedad Civil/ONGs ( 12 items )
* Tecnología ( 3 items )

http://www.proyectogt.org/rdb/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=4&Itemid=26

Transitions Abroad.com

2011-02-18T00:41:00.002-06:00

Use this as a model for the Lake Atitlan Directory?

* Home
* Work Abroad
* Study Abroad
* Travel Abroad
* Living Abroad
* Volunteer Abroad
* TAzine Issues
* Writing Contests

TransitionsAbroad.com's Free Program Listings for Qualified Institutions

(For a Featured Listing on our site, please click here.)

* If you seek to add or update an enhanced Paid Listing on our site, please click here.
* If you seek to add or update a Banner Ad on our site, please click here.
* Please search our site to insure that your program is not already listed. If so, please indicate ckeck in the form that you are making a update to an existing listing.
* Please note that we do not trade links as a matter of policy and will only consider a link if we deem it of value to our audience.

Please enter the information below and we will add/update your listing(s) on our site if they meet our criteria for inclusion.
Organization Contact Information (Step 1 of 3)
* Organization Name:

* Email Address for TransitionsAbroad.com to Contact:

* EMail Address for Customers/Applicants to Contact:

* Website Address:

Address of Brochure (if any):

Job Title:

Telephone Number(s):

Street Address:

City:

State:

Zip Code:

Country:

Program(s) Information (Step 2 of 3)
Is this a New Program, an Update to an existing program or do you wish to Delete it on the site?
New Update Delete
* Program Title #1:

Program Type #1:

Please read this important note: Keep program descriptions to no more than 3-5 sentences without bullet points, as lengthy descriptions will strongly diminish the chance of publication. Thank you.
* Program Description #1:

(Maximum characters: 750). You have characters left.
Specific Website Page for Program (if different from Home Page entered above):

This Program is:
New Update Delete
Program Title #2:
Click here to go to finishing step.
Program Type #2:

Program Description #2:

(Maximum characters: 750). You have characters left.
Specific Website Page for Program #2:

This Program is:
New Update Delete
Program Title #3:
Click here to go to finishing step.
Program Type #3:

Program Description #3:

(Maximum characters: 750). You have characters left.
Specific Website Page for Program #3:

...more

Comments or Feedback (Step 3 of 3)

Please note that we do not trade links as a policy.
Feedback or Comments are welcome!:

Date:

Home | Work Abroad | Study Abroad | Travel Abroad | Living Abroad | Teach English Abroad | Volunteer Abroad
About Submit Articles List Your Program Archive Disclaimer Privacy ©Transitions Abroad

FotoKids.org

2011-02-11T22:34:00.003-06:00

fotokids.org

© All photos copyright Fotokids 2007

---
http://www.fotokids.org/newsletter_current.htm

FOTOKIDS
Fundación de Niños Artistas de Guatemala

December 2010
Letter from the Exec. Director

The rains have stopped. There is a nip in the crisp mountain air and the bougainvillea has burst into bloom. The winter winds pick up and bring the smell of wood smoke. Although 46 degrees isn’t considered cold by most of you, there is no heating here and so at 6 a.m. I’m writing tucked under the covers with Jack the dog curled up next to me and a strong cup of Guatemalan coffee. The volcano Fuego is erupting sending fists of smoke into the blue, blue sky.

Soon it will be Christmas season with pine needles spread on the floor, that will offer up their aroma as you walk over them, tamales, hot fruit punch, processions and the sound of singing as the posadas go from house to house asking to be let in (and given hot chocolate).

The season will be ushered in by Handel’s Messiah in the ruins of an old convent lit by hundreds of votive candles.

You know it’s been a rough year for us but we have forged ahead and have, despite challenges gotten a lot accomplished, and I’m happy. October/ November are grant writing months for me and so I get to take a long lingering look back. This year we have expanded the program and brought in 60 more students ages 5 to 14 in three difficult, dangerous barrios.

Abdias and Werner (18 years old now) both have found they really enjoy teaching and get a kick out of the little kids calling them profie (for professor) and confiding their secrets. There is so much good bonding that

Happy Holidays!!!! goes on as the older Fotokids teach in their own neighborhoods and set an example of what you can do if you stay in school and stay in the program.

The 3-year Save Girls program graduates 10 young women this year (can’t believe its been three years already, but then hey, neither can I get my head around the fact that Fotokids will celebrate it’s 20th anniversary next year) and we are taking on Ana, Gaby and Jessica from the program as interns. They will help us teach a public school class of fourth graders, conduct workshops in our new anti-violence program and work in the design studio Jakaramba. As a side note we are looking for sponsors to fund their university scholarships. Ana has been accepted into the school of architecture and Gaby and Jessica in graphic design at San Carlos University.

Save Girls has been so successful in terms of student participation and motivation that we duplicated it this year with Marta teaching in Tierra Nueva 1 and have plans to expand it again in 2011.

We continue to bring in international professionals to teach students and have been blessed with many good mentors who have given workshops in book design, HDR (high dynamic range) photography, Adobe Lightroom, studio lighting, advanced Photoshop, portraiture and business planning.

I went with Evelyn and Nancy Morales up to California, where former Admin. Director Logan had arranged for us to present the Fotokids model at the California state teachers conference. First time for Evie and Nancy to give an extemporaneous workshop in English. They did quite well and best of all we met a group there that works in video in SF with at-risk kids that we would like to bring down here to teach. In 2011, as I have mentioned in previous newsletters, we are looking at meeting the violence in the neighborhoods head on.

Well as head-on as we can get without losing ours. The extortion by gangs has gotten so bad that I overhear things like, “there are only 2 houses occupied on my block of 12 homes. Everyone else has moved out, they can’t pay the protection money.”

I’ll give you more details on that program in the next newsletter, but it’s kind of exciting and it may at least get people thinking that something can be done, you know if you can’t see there might be a solution, you’ll never find one.

If you want a copy of the 2010 annual report send me an e-mail info@fotokids and I’ll send it along.

Thanks to you all we were able to replace, and I might add upgrade, our computers and cameras! So things are going well. We have our Fotokids graduates, most of them with at least 12 years experience in the project, giving back to their communities and I consider them national treasures. We have many things to be thankful for this year.

What’s New with the Kids

Rosa’s 9-12 year old class are working on advertising copy and using design software to make labels for imaginary products. The slogans (and products) were interesting: Royal Chocolate Cereal, helps make you fatter! Kill Lice Shampoo smells like fruit and is white, Fiesta juice made with lemon, orange and a touch of alcohol, “Life is fresher with Fiesta!”, Vegetable Shampoo, 100% natural ingredients, squash, carrot, tomato and broccoli, Sugar the Original! with orange flavoring, you don’t need kool-aid just add water!

David Ixbalán, after a successful and busy internship with a local cable television studio designing their logo and inauguration campaign, has graduated from design high school! His family came down from Santiago Atitlan and were so proud of his accomplishments. His Dad rents a cornfield to eke out their meager income and his mom sells tomatoes in 3 markets to help the family with oil, soap and the necessities. David has been with us since he was 9 years old and is a talented designer. We are considering setting up a space in central Santiago Atitlán for the Lake version of Jakaramba, where David and Josefa can develop the design studio there. It’s important that the indigenous kids from there have a chance to use the skill they have developed to serve and be reintegrated into their own communities

.
David with his Mother and Dad photo by Linda Morales

Holy, also from Santiago Atitlán who her father told us last January would not be studying, had obviously changed her mind and graduated from high school this year in pre-med.

Andres and Nancy have photos published in Revista the magazine published by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard along side an article excerpted from our very own Fotokids June newsletter (written by your humble correspondent). http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/publications/revistaonline/fall-2010-winter-2011/cyclones-violence

Linda documented a film being made on the Peten by Ana Carlos, a Guatemalan television producer, and also worked for the Paiz Foundation documenting their marimba festival.
Janne works for the newspaper photo by Werner Monterroso

Eleven year old Janne and 13 year old Nestor from Werner and Abdias’s class in Mezquital did a photo assignment for the Guatemalan newspaper Siglo 21 taking pictures of for a supplement on the day of the child.

Those of you who remember Gladiz, one of the original Fotokids from near the dump, will be interested to know I went to her wedding! She’s 29 now, working as a medical receptionist and made a good match I’d say with a rather jolly lawyer who seems very kind. They are every much in love and expecting their first child.

Yamilet brought in her new baby to show us. I don’t know what will happen there, I know Yami is planning on going back to school but with a new baby who knows.
Evelyn, Administrative Director of Fotokids and Nancy of design studio Jakaramba attended staff management workshops in California. I went too and they were good workshops, gave me things to think about. We stayed at my Dad’s place in San Francisco and that’s always fun to show people around, China Town, the Park, taking the ferry etc.

We had a younger kids exhibit as part of Foto30, Guatemala’s month of Photography and we bussed in the kids from Tierra Nueva and Mezquital. Our kids all wore their black Fotokids tee shirts and brought their cameras. It was a little like being surrounded by tiny paparazzi, every time I looked up, or didn’t, or was talking to someone there was a flash going off. People were impressed by the kids work, especially, and no surprise, the ones that depicted violence. Many others though were noted as well. We had a big turn out in terms of audience.

We are working with Colegio Maya, an excellent private school in Guatemala City, and they have taken us on as their outreach project this year. We are doing a small gallery presentation as part of a fundraiser in conjunction with their production of a Mid Summers’ Night Dream. We are photographing dreams.

Alex, Jorge, Kevin and Steven spent the Day of the Dead with me in Antigua. So many things have happened that this year, that although we did cover the families celebrating and flowering the grave-sites in the cemetery, I added some additional activities. We visited a thoroughly enjoyable installation at the Cooperative Española on the synchronization of music in the Americas with sound, video and dance steps painted onto the floor. Steven and Kevin tried the tango and Alex the rumba. Then we went swimming in a friend’s pool just to blow off all the heavy things that have happened recently.

You may have noticed that this newsletter is a bit more upbeat - that’s because the Holiday season is coming and I don’t want to depress you. If you are interested in hearing everything that’s going on, not for the faint of heart, you can subscribe to the private Dump Insider’s Edition blog, at info@fotokids.org
We are also on FaceBook in two locations, Fotokids and Fotokids Santiago.

Honduras- GUARUMA students and first time travelers Adolfo and David were invited to Missouri gave talks and presentations to Runge Centre and River Bluffs Audubon Assocation- http://www.guaruma.org/blog/
Order the 2011 Guaruma Calendar on Sale Nov. 26th $12.50 (inclds shipping) U.S.A. on our web site www.fotokids.org with PayPal or info@guaruma.org

Don’t forget there is a Design4Kids workshops coming up in Las Mangas January 16-22nd. If you want to use your skills in photography, Photoshop design and love nature this is for you. It is so beautiful (see GUARUMA web site to check out what it looks like) and opportunities for nature photography are endless. Birders from the Smithsonian and white water rafters from all over the world have come here. It’s a special place, and so far, unknown to many. The kids will work for a client and there will be ample time to both mentor and take your own photographs. www.design4kids.org

How You Can Help

We will need many more educational scholarships! There are two kinds of scholarships Educational which pays for a students traditional education $300 a year, paid in any way you choose, monthly, quarterly annually, and Fotokids Photography scholarship $150 which pays for our teaching and materials expenses. All our programs are free to the participants.

You can use PayPal button on the opening page of our web site…www.fotokids.org or

Make checks out to: San Carlos Fdn/Fotokids
and send to: Fotokids. P.O. Box 661447, Miami, FL 332

In Memoriam

This Quarterly Newsletter is dedicated to 16 year old Mynor Chavez, a stellar, much loved member of Fotokids for the last 6 years, who was brutally assassinated this month in a neighborhood gang murder.

Open Door Atitlan ~ Free Library, Santiago Guatemala

2011-02-11T22:15:00.001-06:00

www.opendooratitlan.org

The Open Door Library is a non-profit educational center that is supported by a diverse network of individuals and groups around the world who believe in sharing the gift of learning with the youth of Santiago Atitlán.

The library offers an inviting space for children and teens to discover the joys of reading, receive academic reinforcement, and explore creative expression.

design by jakaramba design studio www.jakaramba.com

our blog:

http://www.bpasantiago.blogspot.com/

Photos from Chichicastenango ~ Diane Dreyfus Jan 2011

2011-02-07T19:39:00.007-06:00

Lake Atitlan Health Cyanobacteria Resource

2011-02-05T21:37:00.004-06:00

2.5.11: Anyone heard of any updates from here? This is an udated entry, but it appears to have been posted in Fall 2010. CT

Pollution - Cyanobacteria Lyngbya
In Lake Atitlan Guatemala

Lake Atitlan in Guatemala is currently experiencing a bloom of blue green algae known as Cyanobacteria Lyngbya caused by pollution from human and organic sources. In 2009 the genus Lyngbya Hironymusii was detected. This year, 2010, the strains Lyngbya robust and Microcystis cf. botrys were detected. The bloom this year is not as severe as last year, and November winds are helping to dissipate it.

Located in the highlands of Guatemala, Lake Atitlan is a scenic wonder and a popular tourist destination in the country of Guatemala. There is a large indigenous population around the lake including Tz'utujil and Kakquichel Maya. Many are subsistence farmers who depend on the lake for all of their drinking water and irrigation. Many others rely on the tourist industry.

Roads To Lake Atitlan are Open

There have been reports that the road into Lake Atitlan is closed. This is only true for the main road in from Solola to Panajachel. That road is closed until January for some needed work. There is an alternate route into Panajachel from Antigua, which is well known by the shuttle drivers. As always, it's safest to travel in daylight only due to changeable conditions.

Regular shuttles are also running from Antigua into San Pedro La Laguna on the othe side of Lake Atitlan. The road into San Pedro is open, but a bit rough in places. The shuttle drivers know it well. If you are driving yourself, then use extreme caution as the road is steep and full of switchbacks.

The lake received a record amount of rain this year which has resulted in many landslides and introduced a large quantity of pollution and new nutrients for the Cyanobacteria to feed on. The level of Lake Atitlan has risen over 3 meters, causing flooding of homes and businesses along the lake shore. The loss in tourist revenue associated with these problems has been very difficult for the many people who depend on it for survival.

Cyanobacteria is a form of blue-green algae naturally occurring in waterways and oceans worldwide. It feeds on pollution from agricultural runoff and human waste. It receives nutrients from the pollution in the form of nitrogen and phosphates in the water. The genus Lyngbya, in Atitlan, contains green pigment chlorophyll which traps the energy of sunlight and enables it to carry on photosynthesis. Most cyanobacteria in small concentrations is generally harmless. When cyanobacteria concentrations increase they can form HAB's or hazardous algal blooms. The toxins produced from a "HAB" can include cyanotoxins that induce everything from mild skin rashes to death of animals in cases of extreme exposure. The toxins from Lyngbya can vary widely over short times and could potentially be highly toxic to dogs who come in contact with the lake.

Another recent development is the appearance of Water Hyacinth in some of the bays of Lake Atitlan. This aquatic plant is highly invasive and can choke waterways quickly.

As of July of this year Health Minister Ludwig Ovalle, and the Deputy Minister of Environment for Guatemala, Enma Diaz held a press conference to report evidence of toxicity of cyanobacteria in humans and asked people around Lake Atitlan to refrain from using the lake water for human consumption, irrigation of crops and to not eat the fish, to avoid possible liver complications. "There is evidence that a low percentage of cyanobacteria has produced a toxin that causes liver damage, diarrhea, skin problems and hepatic encephalopathy, among other diseases," explained Ovalle. There were many cases of severe dermatitis reported around the lake from people who came in direct contact with the cyanobacteria during attempts to "clean" the lake in 2009. This was during the peak bloom, where it had amassed in large quantities.

Both Margaret Dix, a scientist at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, and Eliska Rejmankova, a scientist at University of California Davis, agree that the cyanobacteria Lyngbya will return annually for the foreseeable future due to the nutrient load in Lake Atitlan. The current cyanobacterial bloom season starts in early September and lasts through late November. Last year the bloom peaked and covered a large portion of the lake in mid October. Seasonal winds helped break up and dissipate much of the bloom in November.

First International Symposium on Cyanobacteria and Cyanotoxins
September 27-29, 2010 in Guatemala

This symposium held at the end of September has not released any detailed recommendations so far. The Minister of the Environment did release a declaration at the end of the symposium which is reprinted below. One of the clear challenges in monitoring cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins is the lack of laboratories capable of analyzing cyanotoxins rapidly enough to disseminate health warnings to the general public, as is demonstrated by the first declaration of the Symposium on Cyanobacteria and Cyanotoxins.
The symposium was the collaboration of the Agency for International Development USAID United States, the Pan American Health Organization, the Mexican Institute of Water Technology (IMTA), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), among others.

(more) http://www.lakeatitlanhealth.com/

Lago de Atitlan Expedition 2010 ~ UC Davis

2011-02-05T21:17:00.003-06:00

Feb 2011: Note, has anyone had an update from this research trip? CT

"About Lago de Atitlan Expedition
This 2-week expedition, funded by the US National Science Foundation, brings together experts to understand the ecological processes in Lago de Atitlan and suggest future directions that will further our understanding of the eutrophication in the lake. Our goals are to collaborate with Guatemalan scientists, govt officials, & community groups, and train Guatemalan students to develop local capacity to conserve one of the most beautiful highland tropical lakes in the world."

Lagoatitlan2010.blogspot.com

Friday, April 23, 2010

All were up early this morning to finish closing up the labs, safely store our samples for transport, and leave our “home town” of Panajatchel. [Panajachel]

The drive to Guatemala City was much smoother than we’d expected, given our experience with traffic on the way to Panajatchel. We arrived at the Universidad Rafael Landivar just in time for our final presentation of the trip. In a nearly fully auditorium, we presented an overview of the trip, our preliminary findings, and recommendations for the future.

Charles MacVean, dean of the College of Environmental Sciences and Agriculture, opened the session by reminding us of the importance of science in making good decisions and stressing that collaborations of this type provide great hope for Lago de Atitlan.

Photo: Dean MacVean opening the session

Charles Goldman (UC Davis) spoke next. He shared the experiences of Lake Tahoe, which shares many of the same challenges as Lago de Atitlan. After spending 30+ years working on the lake, Dr. Goldman understands the importance of making a long term commitment to a watershed. The parallels are intended to provide hope in two areas: 1) we can learn from what has been done at Lake Tahoe, and 2) it has been demonstrated that factors that damage deep lakes can be changed.

Photo: Charles Goldman

Eliska Rejmankova (UC Davis) spoke next (in Spanish!) to share more specifics about what the expedition learned during the two week expedition.

Photo: Eliska Rejmankova

Nancy Giron (Universidad Rafael Landivar) continued this part of the presentation and provided a detailed overview of the expedition’s activities. She described the fast paced schedule, an overview of the types of experiments conducted, and underscored that the testing and monitoring of this lake should continue if we are to fully understand the dynamics of this lake.

Margaret Dix (Universidad del Valle) was next at the podium and also stressed that science-based decisions will be critical for ensuring the long term health of Lago de Atitlan.

Overall, the message of today’s presentation was

· The lake is sick, but it’s an early stage sickness

· Options exist for mitigating water quality damage

· Capacity exists in Guatemala to fix these problems

· The international science community is fully engaged

A question and answer session after the presentations yielded great discussion. Questions like: “How do we know it isn’t the effects of Hurricane Stan (2005), rather than direct sewage disposal, that has deteriorated lake quality?” (answer: long term monitoring is critical for answering questions like these), “Can we kill the cyanobacteria?” (answer: not realistic, let’s just manage the lake so it doesn’t get enough nutrients to bloom), and “Can chemical or mechanical treatments be applied?” (answer: no, the lake’s too deep for chemical or mechanical treatments to be viable options), and “Is the cyanobacteria in this lake toxic?” (answer: we don’t think so, but we’ll need to work with the samples more in a full scale laboratory. Attention also needs to be paid to the microsystis, which deserves additional study.)

Photo: Dr. Komarek (far left) answering cyanobacteria and microsystis questions

After a wonderful reception hosted by the university that allowed for conversations filled with future collaborative ideas, we piled back into our busses and traveled to a beautiful home in Guatemala City, hosted by Amigos del Lago.

More on that tomorrow!

Posted by Christine Schmidt at 10:15 AM 2 comments

More: comments and photos at http://lagoatitlan2010.blogspot.com/

Lago de Atitlan Expedition 2010 ~ UC Davis & Universidad del Valle

2011-02-05T21:16:00.001-06:00

Thursday, April 22, 2010

No boats went out this morning to collect samples (the chemistry group says thank you!). The focus was packing. Many of the conversations this morning, however, focused on the exchange of email addresses and facebook names so that expedition participants can keep in touch. Many friendships have been forged over the past two weeks.

At around 11am, we all piled into busses and were driven to the Altiplano campus of the Universidad del Valle [Guatemala]. We were greeted by the leadership of the university, surrounding communities, and government agencies and learned more about the Universidad del Valle’s commitment to focusing their research efforts on Lago de Atitlan through the formation of a new, university-wide center.

The center's goals:

1. Generate trusted, pertinent information for monitoring and analyzing the situation of the watershed of Lago de Atitlan

2. Systematize information and documentation that relates to the watershed of Lago de Atitlan

3. Propose behavior changes among those who live in the watershed

4. Use appropriate technologies to contribute to the development of solutions for problems faced in the region

Photo: the center’s goals in Spanish

(more) http://lagoatitlan2010.blogspot.com/2010_04_22_archive.html

Partners of the Americas & Kids Share Workshops at ASOCAMPO, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

2011-02-05T11:13:00.003-06:00

Partners of the Americas & Kids Share Workshops at ASOCAMPO, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

KidsShareWorkshops | November 30, 2010 | 2 likes, 0 dislikes

Dear friends,

I am pleased to share this video with you of our recent visit to Guatemala on a site investigation. It was a very good choice to go first before teaching which I had wanted to do originally. I personally gained a lot of knowledge and additional appreciation for families living in coffee communities. I also feel strongly about working to help these kids with education because they are the future of the coffee plantations from which we enjoy.

After my visit it became clear to me the best way to make a difference is to assist in building an interactive library, arts education, health and sports programs with the help of Partners of the Americas and other non profit organizations. One of our directors also suggested having the Peace Corps involved the first two years so we could have an ongoing presence. These kids have little exposure to the outside world and I am certain few books from which to learn. We did notice a new school was being built. As far as we know only one organization, Catholic Relief Services, which is supported by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has an active presence. This community was hit hard not too long ago and lost more than half of its family members. But they are rebuilding and feel proud of their heritage and way of life as you will see in the video.

My hope is that by focusing on this rural community for which my employer GMCR purchases coffee from, other NGO's will take notice and want to give to this coffee community as well. Maybe some of you drink coffee, I do. The US is the largest consumer of coffee so I feel it is important to give back to these kids and their families. They are our future and coffee is always going to be important to many folks as it has for many centuries when it originated out of Ethiopia in the 9th century.

Thank you, Kristina Applegate Lutes; Executive Program Director & Founder
Category:

Education

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuKpU5xUC4o&feature=player_embedded

The Fabulous Venetian Ball in Antigua

2011-02-04T12:17:00.003-06:00

Revue Magazine: RevueMag.com

March 8

The second annual Antigua Masquerade Ball, a colorful, Venetian-style charity event, is coming to the ruins of San José El Viejo on Fat Tuesday, March 8.

In addition to costume contests, the ball will feature dining, cocktails, music and raffles. There will also be an auction of four unique pieces of art, which the artists will “speed paint” in only 90 minutes.

Event proceeds will support an array of children’s charities, according to event organizer Lyne Bissonnette.

Doors will open at 6 p.m., although participants are invited to gather at La Merced church at 5 p.m. to parade down Fifth Avenue to the venue.

Only 150 tickets (Q500 each) will be sold. The price includes two drinks, food, entertainment and setup. Music and dancing continue until 11 p.m.

Participating NGOs are selling tickets;
for more details visit www.antiguavenetianball.com

How to upload pdf files onto blog?

2011-02-04T09:56:00.000-06:00

How do I upload pdf files on the blogger? Which gadget should I use? Thanks Report abuse

lemonloaf
Level 1
11/12/09

I would like to upload pdf articles or word documents on the blogger so that my group can click on it and get access to the articles. I have browsed through all the categories and not sure how best to do this. These articles may not have a web address or url.

Thanks

Best answers

DarkUFO
Top Contributor
Official Blog*Star
11/12/09

Goto a free site like http://www.docstoc.com/ and then upload your PDF. It will then give you the Embed HTML Code to add to your blog post.

San Lucas Toliman & the San Lucas Mission

2011-02-04T09:37:00.003-06:00

http://www.sanlucasmission.org/history.php

About Us | San Lucas Toliman | Program Areas | Projects | Volunteer | Educational Resources | Juan Ana Coffee | Donate | Newsletter
parish history

The San Lucas Mission was originally founded as by the Franciscan order in the late 16th Century, with the building of the Mission Church around 1584.

In 1958, as the Catholic Church in Rome called for greater involvement of clergy and lay people in world missions, the Diocese of New Ulm responded by launching a diocesan partnership with the Diocese of Sololá, Guatemala. Fr. Greg Schaffer, a diocesan priest from New Ulm, began serving as pastor of the San Lucas Mission in 1962.

Perhaps one of the most well-known parishes in Guatemala, its long-term devotion has been the enhancement and enrichment of the whole person – spiritually, intellectually, and physically – by addressing both the immediate effects of poverty and its underlying causes.

Through listening to the expressed-felt need of the people, the philosophy of the San Lucas Parish attempts to respond, as Jesus did, to the needs of the people.

Parish programs began addressing the needs for housing, healthcare and nutrition, education, and land - all attending to the integral human development of the community.

Beginning 45 years ago, San Lucas was a small village of cornstalk homes with thatched roofs, lacking both electricity and plumbing. There were neither health care facilities nor schools and women and children suffered severely from the lack of healthcare, with many women dying in childbirth and children suffering as a result of malnutrition.

Education, inaccessible to the majority of the Maya population, perpetuated discrimination against the Maya, who were consequently unable to find employment off of the coffee plantations. Land ownership, with which the people could live and raise their own crops, constituted the gravest of injustices, having resulted in the systemization of land deprivation with huge disparities in rural land ownership.

Through the initiatives begun by the Parish, San Lucas is now a village of cement block and stone homes, built by local stone masons and carpenters trained in parish programs. Free healthcare and nutrition programs, including dental facilities and an eye clinic, are also available to the people.

Through education, the people of San Lucas have taken advantage of the opportunity to advance. Very proudly, many of today’s Maya teachers, doctors, engineers and lawyers of San Lucas have been educated in the parish’s programs. The literacy rate, around 2.5% when the Parish school began, is now more than 85%. For youth interested in pursuing post-secondary schooling, the parish provides annual scholarships and for others there is an apprenticeship program, through which students gain training in agriculture, stone masonry, carpentry, electricity, and plumbing.

With respect to land ownership, perhaps the most significant of the parish’s programs, the San Lucas Parish has undertaken the restoration of land and livelihood to the landless Maya majority - over the last 35 years more than 4000 families have received 3 acre plots of land.

In listening to the expressed felt need of the people, the San Lucas Parish has attempted to address situations of injustice, promoting as its base the structural and systemic change that is necessary in addressing the process of poverty and its underlying causes.

About Us ~ Links:

Newsletter
History/Overview
Parish Philosophy
Mission Statement
Staff
Photos

Support Our Efforts

More: http://www.sanlucasmission.org/history.php

Contact us: info@sanlucasmission.org

San Lucas Tolimán:

La Parroquia
San Lucas Tolimán
Sololá 07013
Guatemala
CENTRAL AMERICA
Phone: +(502) 7722 - 0112

New Ulm, MN:

Diocese of New Ulm
San Lucas Mission / Kathy Huebert
1400 Sixth Street North
New Ulm, MN 56073-2099
Phone: (507) 359 - 2966

San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala | E-mail | Web Design by Group M7 | Photography by Alexander Zoltai

Harvard and Montessori meet at Lake Atitlan

2011-02-04T09:13:00.004-06:00

From Dragoness' Utterances, by diane e. dreyfus: http://didreyfus.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/harvard-and-montessori-meet-at-lake-atitlan/#comment-165

Excerpt:

"Two nights ago, I met an art historian and a psychologist, here, who generously shared about their work in several communities around Lake Atitlan. They are both proponents of Harvard’s Project Zero http://www.pz.harvard.edu/. The art historian, Maribel Rivero Socarras had worked with the concepts of David Perkins in fostering “visual thinking” in children before she joined the team of four others, working with Guatamala’s Fundosistemas. (http://www.transformacionlocal.org/) Maria Jose Matheu, the psychologist, facilitates parent training and teacher evaluations. Together, this group is positively impacting about 4,000 indigenous (K-12) students."

More: http://didreyfus.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/harvard-and-montessori-meet-at-lake-atitlan/

I want to build a school on some of my (very small) building lots, and am interested in finding out more. I was thinking classes for art, music, dance, beading, computers and construction using recycled building materials. I hope to be working with LongWayHomeInc.org using used tires, rammed earth, plastic bottles filled with dirt, sand or adobe.

Could Harvard and Montessori help here?

Diane's response: "Harvard Project Zero and Montesorri are pedagogical methods so you can USE or ADAPT them as you please."

rechargeable battery service, rechargable lantern, Burrobrand.biz

2011-02-02T01:12:00.006-06:00

Welcome to Burro

Burro is a new kind of company dedicated to delivering high-quality, affordable goods and services to low-income families in the developing world. Our for-profit business model will allow us to sustainably serve consumers who are largely ignored by the marketplace but who are eager and able to spend on innovations that improve their productivity.

The world's poorest people spend some $5 trillion annually on goods and services, but few businesses pay careful attention to meeting the particular needs of those who earn a dollar or two a day. Much of what is offered to them is overpriced, poorly made, and sold at inconvenient locations. But Burro puts its clients first. Like the hardworking pack animal that inspired our name, we are truly out there—in the fields and on the trails, helping our clients live more comfortably and work more productively.

More Power

Burro's first offering is a rechargeable battery service that our clients use predominantly for flashlights, radios, and cell phone charging. It costs less than available throwaway batteries while delivering more power and eliminating potentially hazardous waste. Roughly half of Ghana's 23 million people live without electricity, including the vast majority of rural communities. For these people, little things can mean a lot—a Ghanaian family can spend half a day's income on a pair of poor-quality, throwaway batteries just so a child can do a few hours' homework at night. Burro's better battery offering is already helping such families to do more with their lives.

We are conducting our pilot in Koforidua, the capital of the Eastern Region of Ghana, a peaceful, democratic nation in West Africa.

---

See NY Times article "When Microcredit Won't Do" & comment (below):

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/when-microcredit-wont-do/

Max Alexander
South Thomaston, Maine
February 1st, 2011
11:35 am
This is very similar to what my brother, Whit Alexander, is doing now in Ghana with Burro (www.burrobrand.biz) and the subject of my next book, The Gong-Gong Man, due out early next year from Hyperion. His model is also creating a sustainable for-profit business that recruits local villagers as salespeople in a consignment model. His core offering is a rechargeable (NiMH) AA battery that he essentially rents to off-grid villagers, who exchange for fresh at far less than the cost of the throwaway batteries most Ghanaians use. The batteries are charged by Burro at a central grid location. They are used in flashlights, radios and proprietary cell phone chargers that Burro also sells. Unlike solar devices, which are expensive and don't work optimally during the rainy season, Burro's batteries are extremely versatile and always provide plenty of power. His latest product is a battery-powered lantern he developed in partnership with Greenlight Planet that provides as much light as kerosene hurricane lamps at one-fifth the cost, without the danger and odor. You can learn more at Burro's website or my own blog related to my upcoming book (maxalexander.info).

Burro. Do More.

Contact Us

Burro, LLC
Seattle, Washington
Whit Alexander, Founder
whit@burrobrand.biz

Burro Brand Ghana Ltd.
PO Box KF721
Hospital Road (near Market Street, green office)
Koforidua, Eastern Region, Ghana
+233.3420.222.05

When Microcredit Won’t Do: Microconsignment

2011-02-02T00:39:00.007-06:00

COMMUNITY ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS: cesolutions.org: Changing Obstacles into Opportunities

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANT TO DO! Microconsignment for stoves, water filters, reading glasses, water filters and more...

Read more at the NY Times:

January 31, 2011, 9:15 pm
When Microcredit Won’t Do
By TINA ROSENBERG

Fixes looks at solutions to social problems and why they work.

Tags:

Guatemala, microconsignment, Microfinance, Poverty

If you asked poverty experts to name the single most significant new concept in the field in the last few decades, chances are they would say microcredit. Microcredit is the lending of very small amounts of money to very poor people to help them invest in things that have the potential to bring income later on — a loan of $50 to buy a sewing machine to make clothes, for instance, or piglets to raise and sell. It reaches nearly 100 million clients in more than 100 countries.

One of the reasons that microcredit is so exciting is that its benefits can go beyond the women (and they are almost all women) who borrow money. Not only does their increase in income add to the economy of the whole village, they can start businesses that sell needed goods and services to their neighbors. After all, much of rural development involves bringing to villages the same things that city dwellers take for granted. For example, a borrower can use her loan to buy a cell phone and charge her neighbors for calls and messages. She has a new business and her neighbors have a link to the outside world.

But microcredit isn’t a panacea. It has always been vulnerable to abuse. The most recent example is a scandal in India, where banks have been luring microborrowers into excessive debt, just as predatory lenders lured millions of Americans into unsustainable mortgages. Loans can be malignant. Some people shouldn’t take on debt. Some businesses are too risky. And the temptation is always present to spend the loan on food for the family or shoes for the children.

In the hills of rural Guatemala, a different kind of microfinance, one that doesn’t involve loans, is doing something microcredit can’t. A company called Soluciones Comunitarias (“community solutions”) is selling products that improve the health and prosperity of villagers, and doing it in a sustainable way while providing rural people — the vast majority of them women — with new business opportunities that do not require risk or debt.
Dominga Akalo‏, a Guatemalan MicroConsignment Model entrepreneur, tracks sales and inventory in a village in Solola.Community Enterprise Solutions Dominga Akalo, a Guatemalan Soluciones entrepreneur, tracks sales and inventory in a village in Solola.

Soluciones Comunitarias uses the same model employed by second-hand clothing and furniture shops in the United States and elsewhere: consignment. It’s an old idea. What’s new is using it to improve the lives of the rural poor.

Take reading glasses. Imagine you are a rural Guatemalan in your forties. You make a living as a tailor, weaver, carpenter or mechanic, but to your horror, your close vision is getting more blurry each day. It seems like the end of your livelihood. If you were middle-class and lived in a city this wouldn’t be a big deal — you’d just get reading glasses. But not only were these not available in villages, few rural Guatemalans even knew about them. Their progressive blurriness seemed, to them, incurable.

Microcredit cannot help get reading glasses to Guatemalans in mountain villages. With microcredit, an entrepreneur would first take out a loan, then buy an assortment of glasses, sell them to her neighbors and repay the loan. But there’s no existing market for reading glasses. A good sales force can create one, by teaching people that their vision problems are curable — and that this is the cure. And while it’s not hard for an ambitious entrepreneur to learn to test eyes and find the right glasses, someone has to teach her. She has to be confident in her ability to sell people a product they don’t realize they need. She has to acquire the credibility to sell a health product. It’s one thing to take on debt to buy a cell phone or baby chicks to sell — she knows there will be a market for phone calls and chickens. Reading glasses are too much of an unknown. “Lots of women are afraid of debt,” said Clara Luz de Montezuma, a Guatemalan who trains women entrepreneurs for Soluciones. “When you borrow money, you fear you won’t be successful, and it will be very difficult to pay it back.”

Greg Van Kirk was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nebaj, Guatemala, a town of about 10,000 people in a mountainous Mayan region, when he thought of consignment as the solution. He was an unusual Peace Corps volunteer, having already had one career as an investment banker. He had worked in structured finance for UBS, helping companies do complex deals to buy, sell or lease airplanes and power plants.
Greg Van Kirk teaches Margarita, a Guatemalan entrepreneur, how to give an eye exam.Darby FilmsGreg Van Kirk teaches an entrepreneur how to give an eye exam.

Van Kirk’s adventures in less-structured finance didn’t start with reading glasses, but with cookstoves. He saw that families in the region cooked on open fires on the dirt floors inside their houses. Their ceilings were black from smoke. People coughed all the time and children were always sick. (Respiratory illnesses are a leading cause of death in poor countries, and indoor cooking is a significant cause.) Open-pit fires, moreover, were inefficient. The heat dispersed, and only one pot could be heated at a time. That meant the family had to collect or buy a lot of firewood. Moreover, fires were unsafe, especially for children, and cooking on the floor was unhealthy, luring ants and the family’s chickens into the house.

Van Kirk worked with a local mason named Augustín Corrio to try to find something better. Corrio took a standard stove design and rejiggered it in various ways. The best model had cement block legs, a brick chamber surrounding the fire on three sides, a metal sheet over the fire so several pots could be heated at once, and a chimney to take the smoke outside the house. This stove used 60 to 70 percent less wood than an open fire — so even though it costs about $100 it could pay for itself quickly. Buyers could pay in installments. It could be locally produced from basic construction materials.

The problem was how to sell it on a wide scale. No micro-borrower would take out the enormous loan necessary to buy a number of stoves to resell.
An Ixil Guatemalan woman with her improved cookstove provided through the MicroConsignment Model.Community Enterprise Solutions An Ixil Guatemalan woman with her improved cookstove provided through Soluciones.

Van Kirk thought that consignment was the answer. With consignment, a supplier gives a product to a retailer, who then sells it. After the sale is completed, the retailer reimburses the seller, keeping a commission. The risk is taken not by the retailer, but by the supplier. Van Kirk made a deal with Corrio: Corrio went around to groups of people in Nebaj and surrounding villages to talk about the stove and show pictures. When a family ordered one, Corrio built it right in their house with materials Van Kirk had bought for him. Families paid in installments about equal to the money they saved by buying less wood. As payments came in, he repaid Van Kirk and kept a commission.

The stoves and the consignment model were both successful. Soon Van Kirk and a fellow Peace Corps volunteer, George Glickley, began to train local women to sell the stoves and protective glasses, eye drops and reading glasses supplied by VisionSpring, a nonprofit organization that sells eye glasses to poor people all over the world. (My co-author, David Bornstein, is a member of VisionSpring’s board.)

VisionSpring had started out using microcredit for part of its sales — its retailers took out loans to buy glasses to sell. But it didn’t work very well. “We needed a financing arm — but we weren’t a microfinance institution,” said Malini Krishna, the company’s vice president of development. At Van Kirk’s urging, in 2004 the organization switched from microcredit to a consignment model. “Why put all that risk on somebody up front?” said Krishna. “Why not help them put the glasses out there and then get repaid when glasses sell?”

One of the first entrepreneurs Glickley and Van Kirk trained was Yolanda García. She was a primary school graduate and housewife — she knew the men because Glickley had lived in her family’s house when he was in the Peace Corps. Consignment was key for her, she said. “If I had had to take out a loan I wouldn’t have done it. I always felt I wanted to do something, but we didn’t have the economic resources beyond what we needed for the day.”
Maria, a Guatemalan MicroConsignment Model entrepreneur, administering an eye exam in a village in Quetzaltenango.Community Enterprise SolutionsA Soluciones entrepreneur administered an eye exam in a village in Quetzaltenango.

Van Kirk and Glickley trained her in how to test eyes and fit glasses, but more important was boosting her confidence to sell a mystery product. “No one knew about reading glasses,” she said. “People thought I was crazy.” That wasn’t the only obstacle. Her first customer was eager — she wanted to be able to read her Bible again. “But who will do the examination?” she said, looking around. Clearly, there was no doctor there.

“I will,” said García.

García nervously took out her charts and instruments. A few minutes later, the customer was reading small print and grinning from ear to ear.
Related
More From Fixes

Read previous contributions to this series.

“Luckily, “the ‘aha!’ moment comes quickly,” says VisionSpring’s Krishna.

Still, García said, it was not a very successful campaign. She sold five pair of glasses and netted 65 quetzales — about $8. But García was thrilled to be earning anything. She spent the money on school supplies for her kids.

In 2006, Van Kirk and Glickley founded Soluciones. Its entrepreneurs — the vast majority of them women — now travel from village to village selling glasses, water-purifying buckets, solar flashlights, a solar panel that powers a lamp and cell phone charger, eye drops, sunglasses, energy-efficient light bulbs and vegetable seed packets. (The stoves are mainly sold around Nebaj.) A campaign in a village takes two days — one for publicity and one for sales — and usually nets each entrepreneurs some 200 quetzales, although once in a while a lucky salesperson can triple that. Van Kirk said that a new salesman started just two weeks ago and has already earned $100 — more than he would make in two or three months in a different job.

Soluciones is still very small. In the last two years, it has sold fewer than 7,000 pairs of glasses. The solar lamps are the most popular big-ticket item, with 3,000 sold since their debut. Soluciones today is owned and run by eight Guatemalans who were its original entrepreneurs, including Yolanda García and Clara Luz de Montezuma. By the end of the year, it will be running a consistent profit.

Soluciones is an incubator, testing new strategies and new products that may some day sell all over the world. (Van Kirk and Glickley have more information about their non-profit efforts at cesolutions.org.) Improved cookstoves, reading glasses, water purifiers, solar lamps — these are all products that can provide equity, in the form of ability to work and better health, to villagers who before only had access to microcredit debt. Yet the real news here isn’t the cookstove or the lamp. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of such practical and ingenious products exist. Yet they do little good if the rural poor can’t use them. A constant drumbeat of the Fixes column is that the more important innovation is the delivery mechanism.

Is microconsignment a system that can deliver these products on a sustainable basis and large scale to people who need them? If so, how? Saturday’s column will respond to comments, and will explore answers to those questions.

Join Fixes on Facebook »

Tina Rosenberg won a Pulitzer Prize for her book “The Haunted Land: Facing Europe’s Ghosts After Communism.” She is a former editorial writer for The Times and now a contributing writer for the paper’s Sunday magazine. Her new book, “Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World,” is forthcoming from W.W. Norton.

More and photos: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/when-microcredit-wont-do/

Read more excellent comments; here's one:

18.
Max Alexander
South Thomaston, Maine
February 1st, 2011
11:35 am
This is very similar to what my brother, Whit Alexander, is doing now in Ghana with Burro (www.burrobrand.biz) and the subject of my next book, The Gong-Gong Man, due out early next year from Hyperion. His model is also creating a sustainable for-profit business that recruits local villagers as salespeople in a consignment model. His core offering is a rechargeable (NiMH) AA battery that he essentially rents to off-grid villagers, who exchange for fresh at far less than the cost of the throwaway batteries most Ghanaians use. The batteries are charged by Burro at a central grid location. They are used in flashlights, radios and proprietary cell phone chargers that Burro also sells. Unlike solar devices, which are expensive and don't work optimally during the rainy season, Burro's batteries are extremely versatile and always provide plenty of power. His latest product is a battery-powered lantern he developed in partnership with Greenlight Planet that provides as much light as kerosene hurricane lamps at one-fifth the cost, without the danger and odor. You can learn more at Burro's website or my own blog related to my upcoming book (maxalexander.info).

in the wild: Macaw (II)

2011-01-25T20:09:00.000-06:00

in the wild: Macaw (II)

Guatemala Society and Culture, Aid and Development

2011-01-21T22:54:00.002-06:00

http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/Central_America/Guatemala/Society_and_Culture/Aid_and_Development/

Guatemala Society and Culture, Aid and Development

from dmoz.org, Open Directory Project: The Definitive Catalog of the Web

Description

* Top
* : Regional
* : Central America
* : Guatemala
* : Society and Culture
* : Aid and Development (27)

* Economic Development@ (13)

See also:

* Regional: Central America: Society and Culture: Aid and Development (0)

This category in other languages:

* French (9)

* Agua Viva Children's Home - Chimaltenango. A non-denominational Christian home and school describes its history and current programs, with information on sponsoring a child or participating in a mission trip.

* Ak'Tenamit - A non-profit international development organization working to reduce poverty among Q'eqchi' Maya in Eastern Guatemala. Describes programs, organizational structure, and how to get involved.

* Amigos de Santa Cruz - Nonprofit describes economic, education and health projects in Santa Cruz la Laguna, Lake Atitlan.

* Amnesty International - Guatemala - Ongoing collection of news and reports on the status of human rights.

* Amnesty International USA - Guatemala Human Rights - News, reports and success stories for the country including AI Annual Report entries for the past ten years.

* Casa Guatemala - Homes for orphaned, abused, or abandoned children, in Guatemala City and Rio Dulce. Describes programs, facilities, and financial support needs. [English/Spanish/French]

* Center for Mayan Women Communicators - A non-profit which functions as a center for women to unite and to develop skills in communications technology to enable better representation in the world and in the media. [English, Spanish]

* Common Hope - Works to improve health care, education, housing, and human development in Guatemala. Site described programs, people, history, statistics, and financial arrangements.

* Directory of Development Organizations - Guatemala - Comprehensive directory of international organizations, governments, private sector development agencies, civil society, universities, grantmakers, banks, microfinance institutions and development consulting firms. Includes contact information. [PDF]

* Eldis - Country and Region Profiles: Guatemala - Database of online development policy, practice and research documents, searchable by sector or keywords. Includes index to British Library of Development Studies printed material.

* Guatemala Stove Project - Canadian nonprofit which raises funds and send volunteers to build masonry stoves with low-income households. Describes the advantages of these stoves, and how to get involved. [English, Spanish]

* Helps International - US-based nonprofit describes their economic development, health and education programs.

* Light the Village - The Guatemala light project provides solar power LED light systems to families in remote villages. Team members, sponsors, and project photographs.

* Masons on a Mission - Description of a project by a multinational group of Masons in Guatemala to replace traditional cooking methods with more healthy ones.

* MayaWorks - Community development nonprofit which organizes handicraft producers, provides microloans and training, and sponsors tours of participating communities. Describes programs and offers retail and wholesale purchasing online.

* Mayapedal - Sustainable development project which recycles used bicycles to build pedal-powered machines. [English, Spanish]

* OneWorld US - Full Coverage: Guatemala - Provides news, opinion, events and campaigns on human rights and sustainable development issues.

* Partners In Solidarity - US-based charity which supports rural education and medicine.

* Partners of the Americas - Alabama-Guatemala Chapter - NGO facilitating student and professional exchanges, as well as charitable work, describes their past projects and provides current contact and meeting information.

* Project Mosaic Guatemala - Antigua-based center to match foreign visitors with volunteer opportunities throughout the country. Gives overview of services and placements, with recent newsletter and financial information. [English/Spanish/German]

* Pura Vida - An ecumenical Christian project providing food and education in Lemoa, Quiche. They describe their work as well as donation and volunteer opportunities.

* Servants For Him - Christian evangelism program which provides household biosand water filters, as well as health education.

* The Highland Support Project - A US Methodist-affiliated group supporting economic development projects with several women's groups in the highlands.

* The Mayan Connection - Los Cimientos Alliance - Antigua-based international group working with Maya K'iche people to recover their land in Los Cimientos. Gives dispute history, and describes ways to get involved.

* The Penny Foundation - Helps peasant women and men from indigenous rural families granting microcredit and training for access to land, agricultural production and textiles.

* UN OCHA ReliefWeb - Guatemala - Provides latest updates on emergencies, sector reports, appeals and financial tracking along with background information and employment vacancies.

* US State Department - Human Rights Report: Guatemala - 2008 report on the current status of human rights practices including human freedoms, civil liberties, political rights, international investigations, discrimination, worker rights, child labor and working conditions.

For actual links, go to: http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/Central_America/Guatemala/Society_and_Culture/Aid_and_Development/

With transatlantic support, new school opens in Jocotenango

2011-01-18T23:52:00.001-06:00

What an inspiring story, and we can do it in Panajachel, too!

By Matt Bokor • January 18, 2011, Revue Magazine
Education for the Children Foundation

VIPs & children

Built with an outpouring of support from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, a modern new school has just opened for over 500 Guatemalan children, many of whom might not get an education otherwise.

Located in Jocotenango, just three kilometers from La Antigua, the spacious Escuela Proyecto La Esperanza has 20 classrooms, a computer lab, an audio-visual room, library, kitchen, psychology room and more. It also has access to playing fields and green space, thanks to the generosity of Finca La Azotea, which donated most of the 3,000 square meters of land on which the new school stands.

“This is a very special day,” British Ambassador to Guatemala Julie Chappell told an assembly of children, parents, teachers and supporters seated in the broad courtyard on Monday, Jan. 17.

The bright, airy learning center is the centerpiece project of the Nottingham-based Education for the Children Foundation, whose chairman, David McKee, fought back tears as he addressed the audience.

“We have a beautiful building – but it’s just a building,” he said. “A school needs children who want to work hard and study. A school needs teachers with abilities but who also understand the problems of the people of Jocotenango.

“A school needs leaders with vision. But most of all a school needs a heart and a soul. La Esperanza has those qualities that make it a school,” he said.

The top three learning priorities will be computer skills, English and extra-curricular activities, be they sports, arts or community service, McKee added. “With education, all things are possible.”

French architect Pierre Turlin, who worked at greatly reduced rates, was cited for working closely with materials supplier El Mastil to keep construction costs down (approximately Q3,440,000). El Mastil also discounted prices as its contribution to the project, McKee added.

Another of EFTC’s top benefactors locally, Ricardo Pokorny and Katie Cunningham of Finca La Azotea, provided a 75% discount on land costs and allowed the foundation to repay the balance over 15 years. Children can go out the back door, through rows of coffee plants, and enjoy sports on a wide playing field, among other educational features at the farm.

Not only are children of Azotea employees enrolled at the 2,000-square-meter school, it also plays a pivotal role in improving the future of the community, Pokorny explained.

“If education improves in Jocotenango, I improve, Azotea improves, tourism improves,” he said. “It reduces violence … the whole town improves and reduces its sleeper community characteristics.”

The school replaces a smaller, cramped center where children didn’t have the opportunity to play on green grass. La Esperanza also has capacity for 125 more children than the old location, which EFTC had been renting since 2008.

“This school has space to think and study – but also to play, to have access to real grass. The old school didn’t have space to play,” Ambassador Chappell said. “This is one dream fulfilled — and we’re waiting to hear what the next dreams are, and we’re here to support them.”

To donate or for more information, visit www.eftc.org.uk.

Education for the Children Foundation

Categories: Editorial, Education
Tags: Ambassador Julie Chappell, David McKee, Education for the Children Foundation, El Mastil, Escuela Proyecto La Esperanza, Finca La Azotea, Jocotenango, Katie Pokorny, Paul Stickland, Pierre Turlin, Ricardo Pokorny

http://revuemag.com/2011/01/with-transatlantic-support-new-school-opens-in-jocotenango/

---

My comment:

Catherine Todd
January 18, 2011 at 11:01 pm | Permalink

This is just wonderful, and what we want to do for the children and families in Panajachel. I love the idea of creating a school for “computer skills, English and extra-curricular activities, be they sports, arts or community service, McKee added. “With education, all things are possible.”

With education, many things are possible, but I know that it’s heart, soul and Prayer that makes things worthwhile. Good going and I hope we can do the same thing soon. We’ll be working with LongWayHomeInc.org, another wonderful organization in Chimaltanango. Check their website out.

My Antigua: Pierre Turlin

2011-01-18T23:51:00.000-06:00

Read this story about why this Parisian loves living in La Antigua, Guatemala (about 1.5 hrs from Panajachel). It's why I love living here too. If I couldn't return to my beloved Paris, Lake Atitlan is a second - and now - first choice! One day you will come too, I hope! Your friend Catherine Todd

http://grupoquepasa.com/interviews/my-antigua-pierre-turlin/

My Antigua: Pierre Turlin

By Sofía Letona on September 201, Que Pasa

How did you end up in Antigua? Well, I’m from Paris and when I started working there, I did just that. I created a space big enough to turn it into a restaurant where there was live music, exhibitions and a display of furniture models. I had it for one and a half years, and during that period, I almost never was home because there was no time. It was then that I decided to sell it. I thought, “No, I’ll kill myself this way,” so I left with the idea of going in another direction entirely. As I had many friends in parts of Latin America, I decided to go to the United States, buy a pickup with a camper, and travel throughout Latin America. I left the United States to go to Brazil, going through all the countries possible and under several circumstances. Then I bought a farm in Costa Rica and didn’t really like it that much. I had already found Nadia (my wife now) during my time in Guatemala; we began a sentimental story. One day she said, “Look, I’m here (in Guatemala), and I like it, so if you want, come live here.” And I did.

What was your job in France? Well, once I completed high school, I studied fine arts and ceramics, and graduated in both. Then I studied and graduated in design. My work has always been the same since I was little: creation. All that has to do with it: to transform any material and give it another look. In Paris, I made prototypes of furniture, arranged exhibitions and created sculptures.

Was it difficult to get a job in that area? I was born in the year 1951, and during the 70’s and 80’s in France, there were an insane amount of opportunities because they were the years of Mitterrand, who had two periods of government. He was a socialist, but a bourgeois socialist, not a communist, which means that there was development for the country in a direction where the bourgeoisie and the people walked forward with a cause, so for 20 years I worked and worked and worked.

What happened once you were here in Guatemala? I married Nadia, had a son and our life started here, but I was not yet integrated into society because I didn’t speak Spanish. I was with an Italian woman who spoke French, so I didn’t have to make an effort, and I didn’t want to work in the same field here; I had made plans to make ships.

How did the ship making go? When I got here I started to build one, finished it (it took me three years without doing anything more than the boat which was a little more than ten meters in size), and Nadia told me, “We’re not going to live somewhere else, we are staying here.” Imagine that, after making the boat for three years, I had to do something else. Then Nadia said, “Look, why don’t you offer your artwork and design? There’s a clientele here that can really appreciate it,” and I said, “okay.”

How did you like the idea of continuing what you had been doing in France? It didn’t bother me because it was something that I liked. I was working as before, but in a different way because I didn’t have the same stress I used to have in Paris; there, if you want screws, you’re going to spend two hours looking for them. I thought I’d create a new range of furniture, ceramic sculptures and a collection of blown glass, and that’s how we opened the first showroom, Differenza.

What was working in Guatemala like? From the beginning, I realized that in Guatemala there is a gold mine in the matter of people and material to work with. There are plenty of artisans who are very good at manual labor. The only thing missing here is the cultural development because they didn’t go to school and don’t know what is happening in the world, but their manual capacity is incredible; they have a huge ability to help me develop my ideas.

What changed over time? I found the world of artisans and workers, and on the other hand, I found the world that my wife already knew: the world of customers. All these people of Antigua and foreign ones, and some from the city that realized I had the capacity to develop things with fine art and called me to participate in other projects, like the Château DeFay.

How has your integration with Antigua progressed? People got to know me more and more. I became the Treasurer for the Club Antigüeño (Antigua’s Club), then the president of the Asociación de Vecinos (Neighborhood Association) of San Pedro El Alto, and it was then that I became an Antigüeño, and the proof is that we go back to Europe very little. I have no great desire to go; I’m totally submerged in this life.

What do you like the most about Antigua? First, Antigua has a world, a social group. I’m talking about people you know, like about 5,000 or 10,000 people who almost all know each other. There are events that are organized and everyone goes and there’s another event and usually you’ll find the same people. You walk in the street and you can’t go 50 meters without saying hello to someone you know, whether they are foreigners or Antigüeños, two separate groups; they aren’t really separate because they are mixed, and this mixture has made an interesting group.

I like the possibilities that exist for children in Guatemala. Here the children are important. As a child I lived in Paris; you cannot play in the street, not tennis, not football, there is nothing to do. After school, I went straight home. Here you can do everything! That’s one of the things that encouraged me to have a child, that the environment is different and they can do so much.

The only thing that I am missing here in Guatemala is the right to vote because I don’t have the nationality; the most interesting thing is that in France I never voted for being too individualistic and here I am fully integrated into society.

Carmela Ramos Family in San Jorge, mostacilla group

2011-01-10T20:58:00.003-06:00

from Lianne Gonsalves
to "Catherine S. Todd"
cc Aurelio Castano
date Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 7:35 PM
subject Re: Lianne Gonsalves, author of "Behind the Beads: Mostacilla and Its Impact..."

Wow, this looks amazing! I just sent off an e-mail to the two oldest siblings of the family I worked with (they're the ones on Facebook) and I might shoot off an e-mail to Dr. Wallace as well to see if he's still directly in contact with the family itself. Please feel free to post my paper wherever - anything to raise awareness!

I hope I can get you in contact with the Ramos family in San Jorge (who I stayed with) - when I was there, the mother Carmela, was not only in charge of a mostacilla group, she also appeared to be fairly well respected in the community and helped out at the local clinic.

I'd love the extra work in Guatemala but alas I'm headed back to school when return to the United States - I'm getting a Master's in Public Health at Johns Hopkins. I'm currently working as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Caracas and there are a few other ETAs scattered around the country who I'd be happy to recommend to you - they've all got a command of Spanish and a couple of them are definitely interested in development work...

- Show quoted text -

Behind the Beads: Mostacilla and Its Impact on the Women of San Jorge la Laguna

2011-01-10T17:46:00.005-06:00

by Lianne Gonsalves, North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC, USA (written around 2007):

"You know, the people here really love beads as do people all over the world. Beads are something tangible; it inflames their imaginations...” –Surunda Velasquez

Though barely 20 years old, mostacilla (beadwork) has quickly spread across Guatemala, becoming a popular tourist souvenir and export item. Since its arrival to the San Jorge la Laguna, Sololá, Guatemala 15 years ago, mostacilla making has become a source of income for the majority of women and their families in this town. However, lacking a market in which to sell their products, the women of the town instead sell their work to indigenous vendors in neighboring Panajachel and Sololá. These vendors buy the work cheaply, then turn around to resell to tourists (or better yet, export to foreigners), making apparently a significant profit in the process. The women of San Jorge feel they are forced to sell mostacilla to their vendors at extremely low prices, and are unhappy they are unable to do anything about it. The women dream of a unified organization of San Jorge’s mostacilla workers, independent from vendors, with their own access to the tourist and international market. However, too much competition between the women, lack of leadership and lack of foreign support works to ensure that, at least for now, a market in San Jorge will remain just a dream.

Methodology

The methodology for this study relied heavily on the use of open-ended interviews. Starting with members of my immediate host family, I used their references and those of my extended host family members in a snow-balling effect, which eventually allowed me to have extensive, sit-down interviews with 13 women living in different areas of San Jorge. Interviews (all of which were recorded) took place in the homes of these women (or the home of a family member), an environment which was both convenient and comfortable for the informants. At the start of each interview, I began with a ten-question survey, consisting of simple, easy-answer questions that allowed me to gain some basic information about the women I was interviewing (how old they were, how many years they had been doing mostacilla, etc.), let them become comfortable with me, and also provide me with some quantitative data to analyze later.

The interview itself was tailored to the women; women who had been doing mostacilla for close to 15 years were asked more questions about the history of mostacilla in San Jorge, while others who had been identified as the “señoras” of mostacilla work groups were asked more about vendor relations and business. Most interviews lasted about 30 minutes. Outside of San Jorge, I conducted both formal and informal interviews (also open-ended) with a number of mostacilla vendors in Sololá, Santiago, and Panajachel. Some vendors were street-side sellers, selling mostacilla from a small cart while others had established tiendas filled with hundreds of different designs. Depending on how much time the vendor was willing to spare, interviews lasted anywhere from 10 to 35 minutes; these interviews were not recorded.

Click here to download the pdf article: http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/wallace/Guate2007%20Gonsalves.pdf

US$100 Million for Emergency Support for Social Services after Natural Disasters

2010-12-12T11:18:00.002-06:00

Press Release No:2010/231/LAC

WASHINGTON, December 10, 2010 – Between May and September of 2010, consecutive natural disasters caused over 200 fatalities, affected over 500,000 people and caused considerable damage to the physical and productive infrastructure of Guatemala. The World Bank Board of Directors approved a US$100 million loan to provide emergency assistance to preserve health and education services in Guatemala following this series of natural disasters, which caused an estimated US$1.55 billion in damages and losses (4.1 percent of the nation’s GDP).

This emergency project will fund health workers and teachers’ salaries in the poorest municipalities of the country, helping to keep health facilities open and to sustain education coverage for 2.8 million vulnerable children while the Government devotes other financial resources to rebuilding efforts.

“The severe natural disasters of 2010 further aggravated Guatemala’s fiscal situation, which was already precarious after the global economic crisis of 2008-2009. This project will help preserve basic social services in health and education in support of the Recovery and Reconstruction Plan recently presented by President Alvaro Colom’s administration”, said Laura Frigenti, World Bank Interim Director for Central America.

The project will support two priority social services in Guatemala:

· Three levels of health care and emergency services (primary, secondary and tertiary) in the poorest 130 municipalities, through the financing of salaries of qualified health care workers.

· Basic Education services for vulnerable children, through the financing of salaries of teachers in the poorest 130 municipalities and Telesecundaria facilitators in rural and isolated areas.

This emergency operation includes a component to support the Government in the coordination, monitoring and review of the project implementation, including audits.

In further assistance to the country’s reconstruction efforts after the eruption of the Pacaya volcano in May, the passing of Tropical Storm Agatha in April and a heavy raining season, the World Bank has also proposed a restructuring of an ongoing World Bank financed project to support the Rural Economic Development Program. This restructuring is expected to release US$15 million for funding the rehabilitation of nearly 100 rural bridges.

A recently approved World Bank project, Expanding Opportunities for Vulnerable Groups, will also help to increase access to health, nutrition and education services for the extreme poor and to improve physical access to social service providers in the most vulnerable municipalities.

Visit Guatemala.com

2010-11-28T17:16:00.002-06:00

Visit Guatemala.com

Idealist.org

2010-11-13T02:00:00.001-06:00

http://www.idealist.org/

Also listed Atitlan Festival.

The Blog
Is Your Organization Truly Effective?

By Put Barber. Can you and your colleagues answer these five questions (and would you answer them the same way)? 1. What is our organization aiming to accomplish? 2. What ... MORE
Posted on November 12, 2010 2:01pm | Mail a friend
Last Day to Upload Your 10.10.10 Videos!

By Julia Smith. Awhile back, we blogged about One Day on Earth, a project centered around October 10, 2010 (10.10.10): One Day on Earth is asking you, me, and the rest of the ... MORE
Posted on November 10, 2010 2:56pm | Mail a friend
Idea File: Cruising in Your Neighbor's Car

By Celeste Hamilton. Today's idea Car sharing services such as Zipcar have been around for a while, allowing people to access vehicles quickly and for short periods of time. Bu ... MORE

www.idealist.org/

Atitlan tour 2010

2010-11-09T15:35:00.000-06:00

The Lake Atitlan bicycle tour - 2010

Starting out with 27 participants the first year and 54 in the second, the event grew to 200 enthusiastic cyclers last year and they hope to reach the same amount in 2010. Many of these runners are nationals coming from around the lake or from departments like San Marcos, Huehuetenango, Totonicapán, Quetzaltenango, Chimaltenago and Guatemala City but every year a few participants from the United States, U.K., Canada, The Netherlands and other countries join up to the event and enjoy this beautiful bike ride around Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. The event is an opportunity for anyone to get to know and enjoy the astonishing views around Lake Atitlan, in one day, by bicycle, completely organized!

50 people of personal and over 100 extra volunteers will be working on the 5th of December to make this Lake Atitlan bicycle tour an enjoyable event for all the participants. Boarding the boat from 6:00 to 7:00 am at the Panajachel public beach will take the riders to Tzununa from where they will bike towards San Pedro la Laguna. Here lunch will be provided before continuing to climb half the San Pedro volcano and arrive in Santiago Atitlan (Lunch) and San Lucan Toliman where everyone will assemble and wait for the boat to San Antonio Palopo. From here they ride through Santa Catarina to arrive back in Panajachel.

Inscriptions are open! (most bike-shops in Panajachel, throughout November or you can join up as late as the day of the event itself here in Panajachel, very early then.)

Onil Stoves ~ uses significantly reduced wood for cooking in developing countries

2010-11-08T21:26:00.006-06:00

The Ecocina_550 Model, from StoveTeam.org

www.stoveteam.org/why/why.html

The Problem

In the late 1980’s, medical teams reported an alarming number of children being treated for burns and respiratory problems. A number of concerned volunteers found the problem emanated from the way people cooked.

Most of the poor continue to cook over indoor fires located on the floors of unventilated homes. These fires cause debilitating burns, skin and eye problems.

Excessive smoke in homes results in respiratory problems that, according to the World Health Organization, are the leading cause of death in children under the age of five. Testing of carbon monoxide, a deadly toxin, found readings in the homes to be as much as twice the level considered dangerous.

These inefficient open fires also result in massive deforestation.

The Solution

After an exhaustive investigation of the cultural and technological factors surrounding open fires, the new, fuel-efficient Ecocina stove was developed by StoveTeam International. It is economical to build and operate, saving up to 60% of the wood currently used while also reducing particulate matter and carbon output by 70% ... (more)

* StoveTeam
* NEWS
* Donate
* Why stoves?
* Projects
* Get Involved
* Photos & Media
* About StoveTeam
* Contact us
* SiteMap

The Ecocina_550 Model

ECOCINE Kitchen is a small, highly efficient, but less polluting fuel kitchen. Uses less than 40% of the wood needed for a typical open fire for cooking, and fuel needs can be both twigs and sticks ears to 1.5 "/ 4cm in diameter. The emiciones CO CO ² and the ECOCINE are approximately 10% of typical emiciones an open fire. These results have been verified in an independent study done to so require the EPA to take Research Center. The kitchen is ECOCINE principle, a well tested, but not patent 'rocket elbow'. The kitchen incorporates several improvements ECOCINE meaning.

---

Note: Onil Stoves use so much less wood for fuel that they are preventing burns in children and smoke inhalation by family members, are saving forests and trees and preventing erosion and mudslides, and are given out around Guatemala and other developing countries where many still cook with wood. I think the people have to pay 1/2, perhaps Q 860 ($100 US), but Grupo International will help when they can by contributing around Q350 and they come up with the rest. It's a excellent program. I helped pay for one for my landlady in Panajachel, and it works GREAT.

See StoveTeam.org or contact Marco Tulio Guerra, 502-5184-9521, cel 502-7922-1861.

---
ONIL STOVES

La Cocina Ecocina - StoveTeam
La Cocina Ecocina. en Español. StoveTeam · NEWS · Donate · Why stoves? .... Contactos. Guatemala. Marco Tulio Guerra Tel. 502-5184-9521. Cel. 502-7922-1861 ...
www.stoveteam.org/cocina/cocina.html

StoveTeam International News
In Guatemala, Marco Tulio's factory is gearing up for production. .... StoveTeam International a 501(c)(3) organization. PO Box 51025. Eugene, OR 97405 ...
www.stoveteam.org/news/news.php

StoveTeam International News
Marco Tulio's factory in Guatemala is beautiful and up and running. .... StoveTeam International a 501(c)(3) organization. PO Box 51025. Eugene, OR 97405 ...
www.stoveteam.org/news/news.php

Contact:

Guatemala
Marco Tulio Guerra
Tel. 502-5184-9521
Cel. 502-7922-1861

El Salvador
Gustavo Peña
Inversiones Falcon
Tel. 503 -2451-9605

Honduras
Ing. Sergio A. Salinas
Tel. 504-782-0530/31
Cel. 9995-3120

Festival Atitlan 2011 ~ March 19, 2011

2010-11-08T15:20:00.004-06:00

FestivalAtitlan.com

Roberto Luz Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 1:30 PM

Dear Friends:

March 19, 2011 will mark the 10th anniversary of the Festival Atitlán. We have gradually been changing and improving things over the years, and have evolved into a very special and unique event. With your help we plan on making this the best one yet. It's time to start moving energies and putting together the threads that will be the Lake Atitlan International Music and Arts Festival 2011.

Although we are growing, it is very important to maintain the festival atmosphere of peace, brotherhood, positivism, and the spirit of cultural and social exchange where we can gather with people of all races to celebrate the great diversity and to share the flowers of our diverse cultures. At the same time it is necessary to continue the philosophy of using the funds generated by the event to support local projects that will improve life on Lake Atitlán. It’s proof that regular folks can unite to cooperate and achieve improvements in the future of all people. Artistic activism. The festival will always remain a nonprofit event. If the event was commercial, it just wouldn’t work.

Every year we have grown, and we had more than 1000 participants in 2010. To date, the Festival has maintained itself exclusively with the sale of tickets (a donation of Q100 for "visitors" and Q50 for "locals") and labor donated by the organizers and participants. To produce a festival of this kind field it is necessary to build a temporary village with all its services, and then make it disappear and return the forest to its natural state.

For 2011, we decided to seek economic and logistical assistance to achieve improvements to help ensure that the Festival continues to make progress. This is the help we are looking for:

1. The biggest discussion we have been having between this year organizers is about whether we should extend the festival to two days. This would allow more performers to participate, and also give us more time for the non-musical arts and the children section.

What has prevented us from having a two day event in the past is simply the lack of economic resources to pay for a second day’s rent on the sound equipment. This year there are rumors of finding money for the equipment, but a second day means doubling the infrastructure (health, security and control, accounting, etc.) It would be necessary to hire extra staff for those positions.

2. We are expecting more people in 2011, and we have been using the same composting toilets for 5 years, we need to build more.

3. As always, we need art materials for the children’s section.

4. All artists and organizers participating in the Atitlán Festival donate their art and time. The festival takes responsibility for their room and board, and traditionally we have supported them with a small incentive to pay for gasoline. We have had offers from top quality national and international musicians who only seek the money to get them here, and we had to refuse because of lack of funds. These groups include "Congreso" from Chile, "Toots and the Maytals" from Jamaica, Buffy StMarie from Canada, and "Sobrevivencia" from Guatemala. In 2011 I am trying to bring a Native American dance troupe from the United States, complete with drums, costumes, and paint… a genuine exchange cultural.

5. In the past our lack of resources limited the amount of propaganda, and I am sure that, with further support from the press and with paid newspaper ads we would attract more viewers. If you have connections with the press, please help us.

6. Our eco-project on the cyanobacteria problem, which we began in 2010, is producing ecological and cultural educational materials. We have produced and we're handing out 5000 copies of the first eco-comic, which is for adults: "Ixim Acha o Ciano Acha…Que Puedo hacer yo Para Eliminar la Cianobacteria en el Lago Atitlán", and we are in the process of finishing a tale for children: "Berta Basura", which will be published in December. We are looking for money to produce the second edition of Cianoacha…. In addition, in November the first wave of mini eco-videos (mostly on the cyanobacteria) that we have been preparing to give to the cable stations around the Lake is ready. If you have connections with any of these stations, please connect us. You can see some examples of these projects on their page on our internet site: www.festivalatitlan.com/cyanobacteria/cyanobacteria.html

Apart from economic help Festival Atitlán we need lots of help in all phases of the project, from organization to trash. In 2010 there were more than 80 people who helped produce the show, and if we have a two day event we will need more. We are in the process of developing a complete jobs list. I will send it to you when it’s ready.

And finally, I want to make a call to all musicians, dancers, actors, poets, clowns and artists of all kinds to come to share your art and good energy and help Festival Atitlán 2011 to be the best event of the year.

Roberto Luz , festivalatitlan.com

Catherine S. Todd Mon, Nov 8, 2010 at 4:19 PM
To: Roberto Luz
Two days would be GREAT. How much is needed for the second day's rent on the sound equipment? What we can do to help the cyanobacteria is imperative. Thank you for all you good work for the festival and the lake! Looking forward to an update, and posting this on my Lake Atitlan Directory blog. LakeAtitlan.blogspot.com

Yours, Catherine Todd (contact and links below)

Vote for "A Class Apart, Guatemala" on the BBC World Challenge

2010-11-08T09:15:00.002-06:00

Note: Vote for "A Class Apart, Guatemala" on the BBC World Challenge. Same group, different name. THANKS! CT

A class apart - Guatemala - World Challenge 10
Mateo Paneitz went to Comalapa, Guatemala, in 2003 as a Peace Corps volunteer. Peneitz's desire to help this impoverished, predominantly Mayan community ...
www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/2010-finalists-project06.php

A Class Apart - World Challenge 10
Long Way Home – A Class Apart – Alexandra Posada - Guatemala. 27-09-2010 ...
www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/producer-project06.php

---

Vote for Long Way Home in The World Challenge.co.uk before 12th November 2010!

I just got back from visiting LongWayHomeInc.org in San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala, who are building the most beautiful and incredible technical school with recycled materials including tires, earth bags and plastic bottle "bricks" filled with dirt or sand. This project is just stunning and they are going to help us do the same thing here in Panajachel, Guatemala.

The school is so beautiful with arched doors and windows and an arched ceiling, and colored glass bottles in the ceilings and walls with the sunlight shining through. Once the walls are plastered over you would never know it was made with rammed earth tires and bottle "bricks." This is definitely the wave of the future for green building!

This will change everything, and make such a huge difference for people who have lost their houses in the last three hurricanes that have hit Lake Atitlan, as people will learn how to build with free materials clogging the landfills or contaminating the rivers. Long Way Home is training people to build with these techniques. I can't wait to begin myself! We will work with them as partners to build a technical school, with art, music and computer classes as well in 2011. We're gathering free materials to recycle starting today, "as we speak."

Long Way Home needs votes right away for their excellent building project, as they have been chosen as one of the 2010 FINALISTS out of thousands of entries!

Voting closes 12th November 2010. www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/vote_2010.php

Can you vote for them and pass this along? They are an excellent group that are helping to change the world. I promised to get twenty votes before voting closes, so here you go...

Long Way Home / Welcome!
Vote Online for Long Way Home in the BBC World Challenge: Education, Employment, and Breaking the ... Follow longwayhomeinc. Content © by Long Way Home ...
www.longwayhomeinc.org/,
contact by email:"Genevieve Croker" ,

See their video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGt3sY54vyg&feature=player_embedded

Then Vote! http://www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/, www.theworldchallenge.co.uk/vote_2010.php

THANK YOU.

Catherine Todd

--
Catherine Todd
3007 Bent Tree Dr. Oxford NC 27565
H 919.693.0853 U.S. cell 919.605.0727

"The winds of grace blow all the time. All we need do is set our sails."
"Los vientos del golpe de gracia todo el tiempo. Todo lo que necesitamos hacer es establecer nuestras velas."

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - St. Augustine

"Peace and justice are goals for man." - Martin Luther King

Blog: http://catherinetodd.blogspot.com/
Music: http://www.last.fm/music/Catherine+Todd
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/catherinetodd/sets/

Guatemalan Arts & Crafts (GAC)
Panajachel, Lake Atitlan
Guatemala cell (dial 011 from the U.S.):
(502) 5013.6300
Travel: http://lakeatitlan.blogspot.com/
Architecture: http://catherinetoddarchitecture.blogspot.com/

Sharing the Dream in Guatemala, Santiago Elder Center, Mayan Traditions

2010-11-04T20:34:00.000-06:00

Sharing the Dream is an umbrella organization for many projects in the Lake Atitlan region. They have the Santiago Elder Center and Mayan Traditions.

Diane is in the states but goes down to Guatemala several times a year and has staff in Guatemala for the various projects. Contact:

Diane Nesselhuf
diane@sharingthedream.org
(402) 953-1249

(from EF, email, 9-14-10)

605.624.6895 | info@sharingthedream.org | 10 W. Main, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069

Maya Traditions Foundation - United States & Guatemala
Maya Traditions - Weaving Cultural Identity with Opportunity .... Wholesale buyers outside of the United States can buy F.O.B. directly from ...
www.mayatraditions.com

Partners:

* AMMID
* AMO
* Candle Group
* Casa Guatemala
* Colores de Guatemala
* COPAVIC
* Creaciones Chonita
* El Bongo
* El Bosque
* Flor del Campo
* Foundations for Education
* Humberto
* Maya Traditions
* Mayan Hands
* Oxlajuj B'atz'--Thirteen Threads
* Ruth y Nohemi
* UPAVIM

GlobalCrafts.org

2010-11-03T20:06:00.004-06:00

GlobalCrafts.org

Gifts With Humanity, Partners in Fair Trade and Global Crafts are all trademarks of Global Fair Trade Crafts Inc, 2808 Hibiscus Drive, Edgewater, FL 32141 - Tel 1.866.468.3438

Maya Traditions / Fundación Tradiciones Mayas

2010-11-03T20:02:00.002-06:00

Starting on October 20th Maya Traditions will begin holding the remaining four workshops of its Leadership and Initiative Project for 2010. The participants of the workshops are 9 youth and 6 women that have been identified as strong leaders from the six communities with which Maya Traditions works ( Chirijox, Quiejel, Santa Clara, San Juan la Laguna,Patanatic and Chuacruz). The overall objective of the workshops are for the participants to identify and prioritize the problems affecting their communities and work together to develop projects to address an solve these problems. Dates for the rest of the 2010 workshops will be determined on the twentieth. For more information about our our Leadership and Initiative Project or about our Education Program in general, pleas contact:

Dora Martinez at dora@tradicionesmayas.org.

Maya Traditions (Fundación Tradiciones Mayas)

Contact:

Casa del Arbol
Callejon Chotzar
Panajachel, Solola, Guatemala
Tel/Fax: 502-7762-2829
Direct Line from USA: 1-386-308-3448
(Not an International Call)
Email:guatemala@mayatraditions.com

In Guatemala we have bilingual staff to serve you.

MPI Guatemala | Manna Project International

2010-11-03T19:46:00.003-06:00

Manna Project International: Guatemala: Yo no se manana

Manna Project International: Guatemala. Friday, August 6, 2010. Yo no se manana. ¡Bienvenidos from MPI Guatemala's new house in Sololá! ...
mpiguatemala.blogspot.com/2010/08/yo-no-se-manana.html

Manna Project International: Guatemala

2 Nov 2010 ... Manna Project International: Guatemala .... Send mail to our new home at: MPI Apartado Postal #5. Solola 07001. Guatemala ...
mpiguatemala.blogspot.com

Manna Project International: Guatemala: Guatemala welcomes Hillary ...

5 Mar 2010 ... Manna Project International: Guatemala ... Now we are in Sololá, well actually 10 minutes away in nearby Panajachel. ...
mpiguatemala.blogspot.com/.../guatemala-welcomes-hillary-clinton.html

MPI Guatemala | Manna Project International

Help Manna Project Grow: Become an MPI Guatemala Founding Donor Today ... from Guatemala City, the community lies within the department of Sololá, ...
www.mannaproject.org/guatemala

LaAntiguaGuatemala.net ~ for NGO's & ONG's

2010-11-03T19:38:00.003-06:00

Guatemala NGO Network
Antigua, Guatemala

About Us

La Antigua, Guatemala lies nestled the Valley of Panchoy, surrounded by mountains and three volcanos. Because of its legendary beauty and proximity to the Capital city of Guatemala, its services and international flights, it is attractive to visitors and residents alike. It is in this setting that the Guatemala NGO Network was conceived and has flourished. Founded by two Americans, Gene Budinger and Judy Sadlier as a community forum, attended by residents of La Antigua, who were active in helping Guatemalans to improve their lives and their communities, it has expanded to include many NGOs based outside of La Antigua and directed by Guatemalans, Europeans and Americans.

NGOs, for those who may not be familiar with the acronym, stands for Non-Government Organizations. The work we do is as varied as the work that charities do in Europe and the United States. However, in Guatemala, poverty is a way of life for 64% of the population, many who live in remote villages reached only by dirt roads. Many only speak their native Mayan language and do not read or write.

The Guatemala NGO Network is a forum for NGOs to learn about the work of each other, to collaborate and share resources and to learn about the laws and taxation and business practices that are essential for successful operation. Before our web site, we held quarterly public meetings to gather and exchange information. The web site now enables us to exchange even more information, not only with each other, but the community, the country and indeed, the world.

Here we offer the profiles and information of our participating NGOs and individuals. The information includes our various types of work, the locations in which we work, our current activities, our needs and the resources we have to share. Each month we will focus on a participating NGO. We will provide ongoing and updated information about “best practices”. We will be a window of opportunity for both volunteers and donors interested in our work.

Whatever your interest may be, we hope you enjoy this website, that you bookmark it for future visits and you participate with us in bringing a better life to many needy and deserving Guatemalans.

www.laantiguaguatemala.net

Onil Stove

2010-11-03T10:26:00.007-06:00

www.onilstove.com

www.helpsinternational.com/

Welcome to the ONIL Stove Site!

Our organization has developed a complete line of cooking stoves which replace the more dangerous "three stone cooking fires" commonly used in rural, third world countries.

Our stoves have proven extremely efficient, fast and eliminate many of the hazards associated with open flame cooking.

After an exhaustive, two year investigation of both the cultural, as well as technological factors surrounding open flame or three stone fires, the ONIL stove has proven to :

* Reduce smoke emission's from within the dwelling by 99%,

* Increased the cooking surface height - eliminating burns and/or uncontrolled fires,

* Created a 60-70% savings in fuel consumption - allowing for a reduction in deforestation.

Our stoves have been extensively field tested and we have placed well over 5000 stoves into service since 2003.

Please click on one of our many ICONS above to learn more about how YOU can "Change a Life" by assisting needy families in obtaining an ONIL stove.

The Plancha stove is made of cast concrete. It can be made in a manufacturing site and carried to the homes. Installation time is short and the stove may be used immediately following installation. The use of this stove reduces wood consumption by 60-70%. The Nixtamal stove is made to efficiently cook large quantities of boiled foods. Its combustion principles is the same as the plancha stove but is optimized for boiling large pots. The nixtamal stove is equally as efficient as the plancha stove.

Guatemala Office
Calzada Atanasio Tzul 21-00 Zona 12
Complejo Empresarial El Cortijo II
Bodega 517
Guatemala, Guatemala 01012
011(502) 2428-6600
011(502) 2428-6666 Fax
vivi@helpsinternational.com

Onil Stove
15301 Dallas Pkwy, Suite 200
Addison, TX 75001
(972) 386-2901 | (972) 386-4294 (fax)
info@onilstove.com

Long Way Home ~ building with recycled materials

2010-10-20T09:10:00.005-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF6za6ZbkZo&feature=uploademail

Long Way Home / Welcome!

Long Way Home is a non profit operating in Guatemala. They seek to provide an end to the cycle of poverty by empowering the community through youth programs ...
www.longwayhomeinc.org/

alternative construction, building with recycled bottles, Guatemala, Long Way Home, longwayhomeinc.org, nonprofit

Radio Ati in La Prensa

2010-10-16T17:29:00.002-06:00

Original Aritcle written by Carolina Escobar Sarti in la Prensa Libre.

The function of a Radio station

"When you think of News and Media, we think of Guatemala City and mostly don’t see the importance of supporting the development of local media.

That while people come here from all over the world, many different artists, information for the “Revista Ati” was never lacking, just space," said the journalist Lucia Escobar (not my relative but I once said I would not mind at all sharing blood with this ‘patoja’) for an interview with the magazine ‘Newsroom’, where they discussed the weekly ‘Radio Ati’ magazines, transmitted from the Jucanya neighbourhood", in Panajachel, Solola.

Whenever a natural disaster like the storm Agatha passes, or something that deserves to be reported in that region, the whole world calls to those, who are already recognized as professional communicators (with a social vision).

Logo - Radio Ati

Therefore, this radio magazine is born out of the need for communication and information specialized in cultural, ecological and social issues from a local perspective with a global projection: From Atitlán to the world. Some people want to do well in Guatemala and there is a need for people to be well informed so what better than combining both.

Lucia says, "Radio Ati is the poor version of ‘Revista Ati’, and last year in October when it came to the cyanobacteria, advertisers went into a crisis, we could not continue printing the magazine."

To avoid losing force we decided to try a cheaper format, the radio. We also thought that with an environmental crisis the interest in information is the highest, so our informative work should continue."

The production of Radio ATI stands on four themes: freedom of expression, indigenous culture, art and ecology. "Our aim and dream," says Lucy “is to someday make Radio ATI available on local radio stations, not only the Internet because our work is important to be heard on a local level. It should last, because information and communication are extremely important to achieve structural changes to the lake and its ecology."

Every Wednesday Radio Ati publishes an online magazine, broadcasting throughout the week, at the following pages: in Central America: www.eco-book.net; in Guatemala: www.elperiodico.com.gt; for people at lake Atitlan: http://www.atitlancommunity.com

In addition to the objectives mentioned, the will and clarity of vision they have, one of the fundamental values of this whole project, is what gives this group their strength. People, all with a deep awareness to the reality of life. They are a group of artists, journalists and communicators who live at Lake Atitlan, aware of the urgent need to unite and work for this body of water, with the same collective interests in that bit of the world and beyond, with non-traditional approaches.

During the four previous years they published 22 printed editions of the ‘Revista Ati’ magazine and made 17 "Festivalitos" (Art-festivals) in the Atitlán Basin, and supported various rally’s, schools and other events around the lake. Names like Pablo Robledo, Lucia herself, Joshua Aguilar, Juan Miguel Arrivillaga, Karla Olascoaga, René Denis, Gabriela Jimenez, Itziar Sagone, Rafael Olivares, Pat'za Volpi and others, support the effort.

"We always struggle not only because of environmental and economic degradation of communities around Lake Atitlan, but the culture. Something that always surprises us is that, having such a presence of artists in the region, there is no permanent cultural agenda, "said Lucia to ‘Newsroom’. "The presence of a large business community in the region with considerable difficulty perceiving the benefits of a strengthened cultural life, is one reason," she concludes.

This integral view of communication, linked closely to reality, is a bridge, the only perhaps, for us to get closer to truth.

bon voyage ‘ati radio’.

Guatemala NGO Network renamed

2010-10-14T09:36:00.003-06:00

* In celebration of the one year anniversary of our web site and recognizing our desire to further grow the network throughout Guatemala, we have renamed La Antigua Guatemala Network.

Our new name is Guatemala NGO Network and our new web addresses are:

www.guatemala-ngos.net

www.guatemala-ongs.net

These addresses will take you to our site, which is being modified to reflect our new name and our intention to make this site a resource that the world can use to better serve Guatemala and her people. For any comments or questions please contact Judy Sadlier at 7832.9871 or send an email to laguanet@gmail.com. Thank you!

Guatemala NGO Network

2010-10-14T09:30:00.004-06:00

The Guatemala NGO Network is a forum for NGO's to learn about the work of each other, to collaborate and share resources. [read more ...]

NGOs that are active in education:

Antigua Guatemala Rotary Club
Calle del Espiritu Santo # 37 "A"Antigua, Guatemala
Sacatepequez

Arms of Jesus Children's Mission
xx
x

CasaSito
7a Avenida Norte no. 51Antigua
Sacatepéquez

Child Aid
xAntigua
Sacatepéquez

Children International Guatemala
Calle Mariscal 5-76, zona 11, Colonia MariscalGuatemala
Guatemala

Common Hope
Km. 2 Carretera a San Juan del Obispo Antigua, GuatemalaAntigua
Guatemala
Cultural Survival

Cultural Survival
215 Prospect StCambridge
Massachusetts

EducArte
1era calle 4-66 zona 1Ciudad Vieja
Sacatepéquez
Esperanza Juvenil

Esperanza Juvenil
12 Avenida 16-32 Zona 2Ciudad Nueva, Guatemala City
Guatemala

Fotokids/Fundación de Niños Artistas
Zone 13Guatemala City
Guatemala
Friends of the Deaf

Friends of the Deaf
Carretera a Ciudad Vieja, Valle de Santiago # 29 AAntigua
Guatemala

Fundacion Cultural Duane Carter
Portal de los Panaderos 2 2nd FloorAntigua
Sacatepequez, Guatemala

Fundación los Niños
9a Calle Poniente no. 7Antigua
Sacatepéquez
Habla Guate

Habla Guate
El CalvarioAntigua
Guatemala

La Biblioteca Puerta – The Open Door Library
Cantón XechivoySantiago Atitlan
Solola

Let's Be Ready
2a Avenida Sur no. 34Antigua
Sacatepéquez

Los Patojos
1era. calle, zona 3Jocotenango
Sacatepéquez

Miracles in Action
241 Countryside Dr.Naples
Florida 34104

Niños de Guatemala
4 Calle Oriente No. 41, Casa Convento ConcepciónLa Antigua
Guatemala

Niños del Lago
Segunda Avenida no. 4AAntigua
Sacatepéquez

Open Windows Foundation
Calle Real 3-43, Zona 1San Miguel Dueñas
Sacatepéquez, Guatemala.

Pequeños Per Listos
Avenida ???Antigua
Sacatepéquez

Spanish Language and Cultural Immersion Program
Residenciales Dona Beatriz, Final Calle de los DuelosAntigua
Sacatepéquez

Starfish, One By One
Callejon las Armonias, Off Avenida los ArbolesPanajachel
Solola

Transitions Foundation
Colonia Candelaria No. 80La Antigua
Sacatepequez, Guatemala

...more: www.laantiguaguatemala.net

Guatemala NGO Network

2010-10-14T09:13:00.003-06:00

Guatemala NGO Network

La Antigua Guatemala Network was created in November 2009 and is Guatemala's first NGO portal.

laantiguaguatemala.net

Guatemala NGO Network ~ LaAntiguaGuatemala.net

2010-10-13T20:30:00.006-06:00

www.laantiguaguatemala.net/en/whats-new

LaAntiguaGuatemala.net

Guatemala NGO Network

October´s NGO of the Month: Niños de Guatemala (NDG)

Everyone can do something!

Niños de Guatemala (NDG) is a 2006-established Guatemalan-Dutch non-governmental organization, which works towards building a better future for Guatemalan children where such work is needed most. We believe the keys to achieve such a goal are: education, empowering local communities and reaching self-sufficiency.

In January 2009, NDG opened a primary school in the town of Ciudad Vieja, 15 minutes away from Antigua. The school Nuestro Futuro offers access to education to children from the most under-privileged families, who would not have such an opportunity otherwise. Some of our students are the first of their families to achieve literacy.

The school is built to hold eight grades of pre-school and primary school. In 2009, the school was started with three grades. Each year, a new grade is added to the school so that by 2014 the school will be completed.

An experienced local staff runs Nuestro Futuro and provides the children with a government-approved educational program. Remedial teaching, arts, crafts and sports are also taught with the help of volunteers.

...(more)

Copyright © 2009 Antigua Network
design by epicentro: www.EpicentroAntigua.com

* How to use this site
* Find NGO's
* Volunteers
* What's available
* What's needed
* Industry Best Practices
* More about Guatemala
* More about Antigua
* Map of Guatemala
* Join Us
* Calendar of Events
* Positions Available

Our Sponsors:

Antigua Fine Homes

Over 20 years connecting home buyers with sellers to become the most trusted real state company in Antigua, Guatemala.
La Peña de Sol Latino

With good cheap innovative food this indoor/outdoor place is fast becoming the hottest bar/restaurant in Antigua
Doña Luisa Xicotencatl
Bakery and Cafeteria
4a Calle Oriente No. 12 Phone: 7832.2578

Where friends meet to eat!
ShoolAcademia de Español Ya!

Personalized language study in Antigua which includes cultural experiences.
Owner: Evelyn Herrera 5658-9755
degustantigua.com

Looking for a good restaurant? Check out degustantigia, the first and only restaurant guide in Antigua. We feature over 80 complete menus.
Ads by Antigua Network

Guatemala - Day of the Dead & All Saints Day Nov 1, 2010

2010-10-13T14:07:00.003-06:00

LAND of the MAYA EXCURSION 2010: rutahsa.com/guate-10.html

Featuring the DAY of the DEAD CELEBRATION

Giant kites are constructed and flown in the Santiago Sacatepéquez cemetery to celebrate the Day of the Dead

LAND of the MAYA 2010!

Rutahsa Adventures and Kathy Didier are collaborating to present a remarkable Guatemala excursion to be held Oct. 23 - Nov. 6, 2010, and featuring the colorful and fascinating Day of the Dead Festival held in Santiago Sacatepéquez on All Saints Day (Nov. 1). Rutahsa's annual Guatemala excursions for 2005 & 2008 featured this folkloric celebration and all our travelers were enchanted...and you will be, too!

But the Day of the Dead ceremonies are only the tip of the iceberg! Guatemala without a doubt is one of the most remarkable places on earth, full of marvelous places and people. While only about the size of Tennessee, Guatemala's varied topography ranges from sea level to soaring volcanic peaks over 13,000 feet high; its climate zones include steamy tropical jungles, rain-shadow desert valleys, cool cloud forests, and chilly alpine plateaux; and it is home to an amazing diversity of Maya, Mestizo, European and Caribbean traditions. The Highland Maya, comprising roughly half of Guatemala's population and speaking over 20 different languages, have maintained a rich and colorful culture that gives Guatemala its special flavor. There is so much to see, so much to leave you marveling, so much to make you want to return to Guatemala again and again. And this is why we have been exploring Guatemala since 1969-- and each year learning new secrets.

Every year since 1987 we have organized a very special trip to Guatemala, and 2010 is no exception! The especially unusual highlights of this year's excursion will be the Day of the Dead Festival, a visit to two Mam Maya communities far off the beaten track where traditional Maya costume is still preserved in all its glorious color, and several beautiful hikes, including climbing an active volcano! Of course, we will also visit colonial Antigua, dazzling Lake Atitlán and the Chichi market. We'll also make a cross-border foray into Honduras to visit the Classic Maya site of Copán. A two-day extension to magnificent Tikal National Park will also be offered.

Day 1, Sa. Oct. 23: Fly from home to Guatemala City; you will be met at the GUA airport and taken 45 km to lovely Antigua Guatemala to settle in to the Posada de Don Rodrigo, originally the sumptuous home of a colonial aristocrat, now tastefully remodeled into an attractive hotel. The "PDR" is very conveniently located just a block and a half from the main plaza of Antigua and is a great place to headquarter while you are getting to know Antigua. For a preview, visit the PDR's webpage: Posada de Don Rodrigo.

This evening you'll enjoy the refreshing climate of Antigua (altitude around 5020 ft) and start to get to know your way around this romantic town. We'll have supper as a group, so that introductions can be made all around.

Day 2, Su. Oct. 24: AM: We'll go on a half-day walking tour of Antigua, guided by Liz Bell, author of one of the best Antigua guidebooks, who will take us to some of the more important colonial monuments, giving us a cook's tour of places not normally accessible to visitors. PM: Free time to explore more ruined churches, convents and monasteries. Two sites not to miss: Capuchinas Convent and Santa Clara Convent.

In its heyday, Antigua was the capital of the Kingdom of Goathemala, and the third largest city in the New World (surpassed only by Mexico City and Lima). Then it was destroyed in a series of earthquakes in 1773. Today it is a great tourist attraction for its colonial architecture and ambience. For more details on Antigua's history and architecture, see our website Monumental Antigua. A visit to the "Casa Popenoe", a lovingly restored colonial home is a must for lovers of Spanish architecture and period furnishings. (Note: This historic home was closed in 2008, but we hope it will be open again in 2010.) Anyone really interested in the architecture of Antigua should ask bibliophile Mike Shawcross for a copy of Verle Annis' scholarly tome The Architecture of Antigua Guatemala, 1543-1773. This long-out-of-print work has recently been reprinted and Mike has copies for sale (we can introduce you to Mike).

Alternatively, you can spend the afternoon boosting the local economy shopping for beautiful handwoven Maya textiles, jade jewelry and other types of artesanía for which Guatemala is justly famous. A great place for textiles and other native crafts is Nim Po't, on the same street as our hotel, just a block away walking toward and through the landmark arch that bridges the street. Second night at the PDR.

Day 3, Mo. Oct. 25: AM: We'll board our private bus and head out of Antigua, passing between the soaring cones of the volcanoes Agua, Fuego and Acatenango, following a paved road that drops down to the Pacific coastal plain. Near Escuintla we'll turn and head north through the hot country of sugar cane fields and cattle ranches. After a brief refreshment stop at Los Cocales, we turn eastward and head back up into the cool volcanic highlands, passing through vast coffee fincas (plantations) that blanket the fertile slopes of Volcán Atitlán. As we approach the town of San Lucas Tolimán you'll get your first thrilling glimpses of shimmering Lake Atitlán.

From San Lucas to the T'zutujil Maya town of Santiago Atitlán is just a short drive, but a very interesting one as we will be passing through small plots of land tilled in traditional manner by Maya families. The contrast between these small family fields and the great mechanized sugar cane fields of the coastal plain or the sprawling coffee fincas that we passed through earlier is striking.

PM: We should arrive at the Posada Santiago, our home for the next two nights, in time for a late lunch. Food at the Posada is great; for a snack we highly recommend the guacamol and homemade tortilla chips. The Posada is run by an American ex-pat, David Glanville, and you will find him an interesting person to get to know; the Posada has an unusual history and you should be sure to take a look at the humorous pamphlet in their library "The 24 Questions Dave Just Won't Answer Anymore". For more information, visit the Posada's homepage and take their virtual tour..be sure to click on "Activities" to see the tree dogs (David's sense of humor showing through!): Posada de Santiago.

The afternoon will be free time to relax, enjoy the Posada's lovely grounds, pool and hot tub, or go for a swim in the lake (chilly) off the Posada's private dock. David makes killer margaritas, and this would be a good time to indulge, if you are so inclined.

The more ambitious and restless might consider a 15-minute hike from the Posada to the Peace Park memorializing the victims of a massacre committed here by the Guatemalan Army in 1990 during La Violencia, part of the Mayan people's tragic history, but an instance in which a community stood up against oppressive authority and eventually won: negative international publicity forced the Army to withdraw from Santiago.

Just beyond the Peace Park is yet another tragic scene, this one geological rather than socio-political: the small community of Panabaj was partially buried by a mudslide that descended from the steep volcanic slopes one night following torrential rains from Hurricane Stan in 2005. Many of the victims were never recovered. Today you can walk out over the surface of the dried mudflow, presently being reclaimed by vegetation; it is only a few feet thick in most places, but it was deadly in its speed and overpowering force.

Day 4, Tu. Oct. 26: This morning we will take a walking tour of the town of Santiago Atitlán, which in pre-conquest days was the capital of the Tz'utujil Maya nation. Our guide will be Dolores Ratzan, a Tz'utujil woman and native of Santiago, formerly married to an American author. Dolores will show us through the town with an insider's knowledge. We will visit the ancient church of Santiago, see its altar carved by native artisans and replete with Maya symbology, see the "navel of the earth", the town market, pay a visit to the shrine of the native deity Maximón, and also learn about Santiago's tragic recent history during La Violencia-- from which the town has recovered remarkably.

Santiago women still weave on the backstrap loom, and still wear their distinctive traje (i.e., traditional clothing), which features a halo-like headwrap. To see more photos of Santiago traje, as well as native costume from all over Guatemala, take a look at our website on Traje of the Highland Maya.

After Dolores' guided introduction to Santiago you will have free time to visit the many crafts shops that line the main street leading down to the town dock. Just be sure to remember your way back to the Posada de Santiago; should you forget, you can always ask a local...and keep asking from time to time as you wend your way back through the town. Or, if you speak some Spanish, you can hire a "tuk tuk" (a three-wheeled motorcycle cab) for Q5 to take you back to the hotel.

Second night at the Posada Santiago.

Day 5, We. Oct. 27: After breakfast we will board a motor launch and cross beautiful Lake Atitlán to the small town of San Marcos to begin a 3 - 4 hour hike around the margins of the lake, passing through small communities and replete with dramatic views of the sapphire jewel that is Atitlán. The launch will meet us at points along the way allowing anyone who tires of hiking to finish the trip by boat. The hike ends in the town of Santa Cruz where we all reboard our chartered launch and cross over to bustling Panajachel, largest of the lake towns, and home to a seven-day-a-week street market of all kinds of textiles and crafts from all over Guatemala.

Upon arrival at "Pana" we will go to our lodging for the night, the Posada de Don Rodrigo (sister hotel to our Antigua home).

Day 6, Th. Oct. 28: This morning we will reboard our private bus and climb up and out of the dramatic, cliff-ringed Lake Atitlán caldera to go a few kilometers north to the Panamerican Highway. Upon joining the Panamericana, we will turn northwestward towards Huehuetenango, the most important city in western Guatemala and capital of the department ("state") of that name. "Huehue" (pronounced "Way-Way") is about a five hour drive from Pana, with lots of remarkable scenery en route: the towering cone of Volcán Santa María, the rugged central highlands, and the picturesque patchwork quilt of Maya agricultural plots blanketing improbable slopes.

Upon arrival at Huehue, we will visit the post-classic Maya site of Zaculeu.

Zaculeu was the capital of the Mam Maya nation at the time of the Spanish conquest, and was taken by the conquistadores in 1525 only after a protracted siege and fierce resistance by the Mam. Archeological restoration of Zaculeu was funded by United Fruit in 1948.

At Zaculeu we can see plastered pyramids and remains of temples with Mexicanized architecture. There is a restored ballcocurt where the sacred (and deadly) Mesoamerican ball game was played. There is also a special feature not seen by anyone except those who know where to look: a pre-Columbian handprint preserved in original plaster remaining on one of the ruined buldings.

In Huehue our lodgings will be the Hotel Casa Blanca, not luxurious, but one of the better hotels in Huehue and centrally located.

Day 7, Fr. Oct. 29: Eat a hearty breakfast today, for a hike is planned! We will visit the Mam Maya town of San Juan Atitán, then hike across the mountains for several hours to reach another Mam town, Todos Santos Cuchumatán.

San Juan Atitán is seldom visited by outsiders, and you'll find out why. The road to San Juan is steep in places and not suitable for our bus, so we will ride standing up in the back of pick-up trucks. The pickups are provided with rails to hold on to and so you cannot fall out; this is the native system of transportation. But we won't go completely native--to be completely authentic we would have to be all crammed into just one truck!

San Juan is a completely Mam Maya town. When we were last there (2008) almost everyone was in traditional native dress, not just the women, but the men, too, and the children were miniatures of the adults...like father, like son. The elaborate San Juan elaborate costume is described in some detail on our traje website.

From San Juan, at around 7500-8000 ft elevation, we will hike about four hours, accompanied by a local guide, along ancient trails, crossing mountain ridges and valleys between San Juan and Todos Santos. Hiking boots are a must, and you should have a daypack in which to carry your water, snacks, rain poncho (just in case), sunblock, and camera. You should be aware that this is a moderately strenuous (some will consider it genuinely strenuous) hike passing through elevations from 8000 up to 10,000 feet.

Anyone not wishing to hike can return downhill to the bus and then ride over to Todos Santos, arriving there well ahead of the hikers and having plenty of time to look around the town, visit the market, admire the distinctive costume, etc. This is the week of Todos Santos' annual fair, so the town will be bustling with activity.

Note: Both hikers and non-hikers need to carry some snacks for lunch, as there are no suitable eateries along the trail or in Todos Santos.

After crossing the last ridge (at around 10,170 ft) the hikers will descend to the town of Todos Santos Cuchumatán at 8140 ft. Shortly before reaching the town, the trail passes through Cumanchúm, an archeological site consisting of an ancient pyramid cluster. Some of the mounds now topped by the weathered crosses made famous by anthropologist Maud Oakes in her book "The Two Crosses of Todos Santos".

Like San Juan, Todos Santos is a Mam Maya town. Nonetheless, the native dress here is totally different. Distinctive features of the Todos Santos men's traje include the red and white striped pants, the split-legged dark wool overpant (use of which seems to be dying out) and the finely striped shirt featuring huge, intricately decorated collar. The Todos Santos women's huipil features a distinctive collar decorated with rick-rack. And as in San Juan, the children of Todos Santos are dressed just like their parents. Again, for more information on the native dress, visit our traje website.

Our lodging tonight will be the recently rebuilt, remodeled and enlarged Casa Familiar.

Day 8, Sa. Oct. 30: After breakfast we will once again mount up and head out in our trusty bus, climbing up and out of the Todos Santos valley, crossing a beautiful high (over 10,000 ft) plateau, then descend the dramatic front of the Altos Cuchumatanes range. If the weather is clear we'll stop at a mirador for an expansive view towards the Pacific with volcanic cones rising like exclamation marks from the central highlands. Our drive continues across the highlands to the major town of Santa Cruz del Quiché and then on to Chichicastenango.

Time permitting, we'll make a short visit just outside Quiché to the ruins of Utatlán, former capital of the Quiché Maya, another native kingdom conquered by the Spaniards.

Upon arrival at Chichi we will go directly to the Mayan Inn, a famous old hostelry. The Mayan Inn has been receiving guests for three quarters of a century. Each room is unique, and all are furnished with antiques, including some colonial pieces of museum quality. The food is excellent, and service is provided by turbaned Maxeños, i.e., K'iche' Maya men of Chichicastenango, in full traje. To learn more about the Mayan Inn, check out this website: Mayan Inn. A night in the Mayan Inn is a memorable experience. Of course, we've come to Chichi for its world-famous native market, and you can start your shopping tonight as vendors begin setting up for tomorrow's big market day.

Day 9, Su. Oct. 31: You may be startled awake by explosions around 6 AM, thinking a revolution is in progress, but it is only a typical market day in Chichi, and the people do love their bombas along with all the other noises, smells and color. This is without question the most colorful native market in all the Americas, with native vendors coming from long distances to sell their wares. See Rutahsa's website on Chichi's market by clicking here: Market day at Chichi.

After taking pictures and haggling for blankets, wall hangings, native blouses, men's shirts, ceramics, carved wooden masks, and all kinds of other crafts, antiques, and souvenirs, you'll be ready for lunch and perhaps to show off your newly acquired treasures to your fellow travelers. After lunch you might have time for another short visit to the market, but by 3 PM we need to be rolling down the road across the central highlands back to Antigua.

Back in Antigua we will take up our familiar lodgings at the Posada de Don Rodrigo.

Day 10, Mo. Nov. 1: Today is Día de Todos Los Santos, that is, All Saints Day on the Christian calendar. However, in parts of Mexico and Guatemala it is celebrated as the Day of the Dead. After breakfast, we will board our bus for a short ride to the small highland Maya town of Santiago Sacatepéquez where the celebration of the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) has become a noteworthy event. Families gather in the cemetery to commune with the spirits of their ancestors, decorating graves with flowers and sharing a meal --including fiambre, a special food made only for this ceremony-- with the dead. And colorful barriletes (kites), some of which are huge, are flown to the heavens as a means of communication between the living and the dead.

Although families gather to remember deceased loved ones, the spirit of the occasion is one of a joyful community fair: vendors sell refreshments in the cemetery (beer, even!), many indigenous women are there dressed in their finest traje, there is a queen and her court, and there is a judged competition for best kites, some of which are decorated with religious themes, others with patriotic or environmental themes (global warming was a popular subject in 2008!). Local people picnic amongst the graves, and visitors are welcome. You should be prepared for crowds, and it may require a real effort on the part of our driver to extricate us from the jam of vehicles, but that's all part of the fascinating experience.

For additional images and to get a better idea of what the Day of the Dead celebration is all about, we recommend you take a look at the following websites, but be sure to use your back button to return to our trip itinerary: Rosenfeld journal.

Second night at the PDR.

Day 11, Tu. Nov. 2: Today we are headed to Copán Ruins, which means crossing the border into neighboring Honduras. This means passing through Guatemala City, then descending down into the great fault-controlled valley of the Motagua River, driving through a surprising area of semi-desert, and twisting over a couple of mountain ranges to reach the border.

Upon arrival at the small rural city of Copán we will take up our lodgings at the Hotel Marina Copán. You will find the town charming, and full of friendly people. If we arrive in time, we will visit the small Copán Museum on the square. Though somewhat overshadowed now by the larger new museum out at the archeological site, this little museum displays some must-see treasures, most notably the large, exquisitely carved flint eccentrics, truly mind-boggling examples of fine art by master flint-knappers.

Day 12, We. Nov. 3: All day at Copán Ruins National Park, starting with a guided tour of the 1000-year-old Classic Maya site. Copán is famed for its marvelous carvings, which are better preserved here than in most Maya sites due to the use of volcanic rock that resists weathering. In addition to the numerous stelae depicting Copán's kings, there are pyramids and temples, and a fine ceremonial ballcourt, where the ritual game was played for keeps. In 1999, a series of archeological exploration tunnels underneath the ancient pyramids was opened to the public, revealing the completely intact buried temple known as Rosalila. In addition to the pyramids and temples, there is the new Museum of Sculpture, which houses many of the finest Copán sculptures (some of the stelae that you will have seen in the ruins are well-done replicas, with the originals moved into this museum for their preservation). Finally, the town of Copán itself is such a pleasant, friendly country town, a really nice place to spend a day. Second night at the Marina Copán.

Day 13, Th. Nov. 4: Today we reluctantly leave endearing Copán, and yet with a certain degree of eagerness in the knowledge that we are returning to wonderful Antigua Guatemala. The trip takes about five driving hours, but we'll have stops at the border, at a noteworthy geologic site or two, and for lunch, so we've got things to see and do en route! Once back in Antigua, we'll settle into our comfortable digs at the PDR.

This evening we'll go to the Casa de Artes for a lecture on Mayan textiles by a local expert.

Day 14, Fr. Nov. 5: A full free day in Antigua! By now you know your way around this charming city and have an idea which colonial ruins, museums, shops, and fine restaurants you still need to visit. We highly recommend a mid-morning trip to nearby La Azotea Cultural Center (Azotea provides a shuttle service for under a dollar) where you can tour a working coffee processing plant, experience Casa K'ojom museum of native music, and enjoy textile displays, a video and other cultural exhibits. Or you can head out on your own to explore more ruins or visit any of several museums in Antigua. Visit the jade shops, or an indigenous women's co-op selling fine weavings, or shop in the city marketplace (a wondrously bewildering complex) or the nearby artesans' market. Try to figure out where and what kind of food to eat: plato típico, Italian, Chinese, vegetarian, or other... Or just relax in the central park and get your shoes shined. Use your guidebook and enjoy the day-- there is so much to see and enjoy in Antigua.

As usual, for the energetic, we have another option: a half-day trip to Volcán Pacaya National Park. This involves an hour and a half bus ride from Antigua to the park, leaving around noon (exact time to be announced on the trip), followed by an uphill hike of about an hour and a half to the crest of an ancient volcanic rim. From this rim you can get great views of the highly active cinder cone of Pacaya. It is also possible to hike on another 15 minutes to approach within a few feet of an active lava flow, something that is quite exciting! [N.B.: Due to a 2005 lava flow it is no longer practical to ascend the main peak, although some visitors still do-- but this means they miss seeing the currently active flows up close.]

The return hike down is likely to be in the dark, returning to Antigua around 8 PM. The trail is easy, but you do need a flashlight. If the cone is in an explosive mode, you will appreciate the timing of this excursion: the night views from the old crater rim can be quite spectacular with volcanic fireworks!

For more on Volcán Pacaya, visit our website Pacaya Volcano.

Second night at the PDR.

Day 15, Sa. Nov. 6: Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Today is the day to fly out to the U.S. (or wherever home is), carrying tons of photos, souvenirs, and memories of a remarkable country and even more remarkable people, indigenous and Europeanized, historic and present. Along with these memories of a great trip, you will carry with you a determination to return, for Guatlemala is just too fantastic to visit only once!

TIKAL EXTENSION:

For those with a little more time, the adventure is not over yet! We offer this two-day extension to the main trip so that you can visit the world-famous Classic Maya ruins of Tikal, its dense tropical jungle, and wonderful wildlife.

Day 15, Sa., Nov. 6: Instead of flying back home, you will be picked up at the PDR early in the morning and taken to the Guatemala City airport for the flight out to Flores, the airport serving Tikal. At the Flores airport you will be met by a representative of the Jungle Lodge and board their bus for the hour-long ride to Tikal National Park.

Upon arrival at the Jungle Lodge you will leave your luggage at the reception desk and go on a guided introductory tour of the sprawling archeological complex, passing through the great plaza, flanked by the soaring pyramids of Temple I and Temple II, then on to Temple IV or elsewhere. Depending on the interest and stamina of the group, this orientation tour can last two to four hours, so wear comfortable walking shoes, and bring water, snacks and sunblock.

In addition to the amazing ruins of a once populous Classic Maya city, Tikal is also a wonderful site for its lowland tropical jungle, its brilliant birds and other wildlife. Keep alert and you'll see parrots, toucans, toucanets, hummingbirds, oropendulas, the beautiful ocellated turkey, and many other avian inhabitants of the jungle. And you'll almost certainly see foxes, guatuzas (agoutis), pisotes (coatamundis), and spider monkeys. You might also see howler monkeys, deer, peccaries, and small alligators in the water hole behind the visitors' center, or other jungle beasts. On our June 2001 trip one lucky Rutahsa Adventurer had a wonderful close-up view of a jaguar napping on a trail in the mid-afternoon.

The guided visit will end back at the Jungle Lodge where you can have lunch (included), and then check into your cabaña.

For the afternoon you may want to return to the ruins. Birdwatching and wildlife viewing improves in the late afternoon and early evening. Recommended: an evening visit to the "Lost World" where the giant pyramid makes a great place to await the sunset and to watch the jungle birds come in to roost for the evening. (The ruins are officially closed at 6 PM, so a park guard may shoo you towards the entrance before dark. But just in case he can be talked into letting you stay late, be sure to bring a flashlight for the walk back in the dark.)

Alternatively, you may want to visit the two Tikal museums, or enjoy the Jungle Lodge's small but refreshing swimming pool. Tikal is really a wonderfuls site, but it is hot! Fortunately, November is cooler than most of the year.

Su., Nov. 7: Get up early-- You can watch the sun rise from high atop Temple IV. (Note: You will probably have to hire a guide to get you into the ruins before the official opening time of 6 AM.) And by getting into the ruins early you both improve your chances of seeing wildlife as well as beating the heat.

If you are one of the early risers, you may want to come back to the Jungle Lodge for breakfast (which is included), and then hit the ruins again to prowl and marvel amid crumbling jungle-encrusted temples, palaces, causeways, pyramids, and numerous ruined edifaces of unknown purpose.

Wherever you wander, you are sure to enjoy...however, do not fail to be back at the Jungle Lodge in time for the afternoon bus (generally at 2 PM, but check with your Tikal guide to be sure) back to Flores for the return flight to Guate City, where you will be picked up and returned to the PDR in Antigua for your last night in Guatemala.

Mo., Nov. 8: An airport shuttle will pick you up at the PDR and take you to the Guatemala City airport for your international flight out. But we repeat-- we think you'll come back-- Guatemala is unforgettable, and it's impossible to see all its wonders in a single visit, not even with Rutahsa Adventures!

Three little girls from Santiago Atitlán with a friend from another village.

COST OF THE 2010 EXCURSION:

* 15-day excursion is $2200 per person (in double room accommodations).

* Because some of the hotels are small, single-room accommodations may not be available at every lodging. Nonetheless, if you prefer a room for one, please say so and you will be accommodated to the best of our ability (extra cost, of single accommodations to be determined).

* The main trip fee includes: lodging (double occupancy), all transportation in Guatemala, airport transfers, all guided tours, hikes and events described in the itinerary, services of a bilingual guide, medical emergency and medevac insurance, and a $25 tax deductible donation to Programa de Ayuda a los Vecinos del Altiplano (PAVA), that is, "Aid Program for the Residents of the Highlands". PAVA is a very remarkable and very effective organization helping highland Maya communities obtain schools, potable water supplies, critical bridges on access roads, and other greatly needed facilities and infrastructure. The citizens of the communities must take the initiative to make requests of PAVA, and must be willing to supply labor. PAVA representatives visit the villages to determine how best to answer their petitions; PAVA raises funds and supplies engineering expertise, and PAVA volunteers work with the villagers to make these dreamed-of improvements become realities. It is a truly inspiring program of outside aid combined with self-help. PAVA has accomplished many small but great good works over the years, and Rutahsa Adventures is pleased to further their work by way of this small contribution from each of our Guatemala travelers. For further information, visit PAVA's website: PAVA Fountation.

* Not included in main trip fee: Meals, tips, international transportation, Tikal extension, personal expenses (medicines, communcations, souvenirs, etc.).

* Cost of the two-day Tikal extension in double room accommodations is $435 in double room accommodations, and $510 in a single room. This extension cost will include: transportation from Antigua to GUA airport, flight to Flores, transportation to Tikal National Park, first day entry to the park, 4-hour guided introductory tour of ruins with bilingual guide, first day lunch, Tikal museum entries, overnight at the Jungle Lodge, 2nd day breakfast, ground transportation back to FRS airport, return flight to GUA, transfer back to Antigua, and overnight in the Posada de Don Rodrigo, and transfer back to GUA airport for your flight home. Please note: Because this extension includes round trip flight from Guatemala City to Flores and return, and because air fares are always subject to increase without warning, the cost of the extension cannot be guaranteed until the flight tickets are purchased.

To make an enquiry about our Guatemala 2010 Excursion, or to request an application blank, e-mail Kathy Didier at kdidier@suchmail.com.

About Kathy Didier: Kathy is an excursion leader of tremendous experience, having led numerous major excursions for the Appalachian Mountain Club, and even more trips of her own all over the world. Rutahsa Adventures has collaborated with Kathy on earlier trips to Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador and Bolivia, and is pleased to be organizing a return trip to Guatemala for Kathy.

Starting in 1998, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel began recommending Rutahsa Adventures' Guatemala excursions. For example, take a look at what Frommer's had to say about our 2002 Guatemala excursion: Frommer's 2002 review. And again, Frommer's recommends our Day of the Dead trip.

To see the varied services Rutahsa Adventures offers, click here: Rutahsa Adventures homepage.

Thanks for visiting!

Images on this website by Janie and Ric Finch, @copyrighted.

Investing in Guatemalan real-estate resources

2010-10-12T09:48:00.000-06:00

Information about recent real estate developments in Guatemala.

Panajachel has it's own gated community, called "residenciales", since many years and in Guatemala City its common to live in a gated residential community. Around Lake Atitlan this is a relative new phenomenon and recently a few project started and it is interesting to see them develop.

Blog about gated community projects around Lake Atitlan

Tips and tricks, a general information resouce about buying real estate in Guatemala:

General resource about buying real estate in Guatemala

More information and links about real estate agents in Guatemala

Lake Atitlan Health.com

2010-10-12T08:23:00.003-06:00

Looks like excellent information:

www.lakeatitlanhealth.com

Lake Atitlan Guatemala Pollution causes Cyanobacteria, Cyanobacterial Blooms, Blue Green Algae, Photo and updated information for 2010.

From Atitlan Comunidad: www.facebook.com/Atitlan.Community

maya archaeology.org

2010-10-01T20:46:00.002-06:00

Mayan archaeology program expands in 2009-2010, adding portable 3D laser scanning technology.

Nicholas Hellmuth

Our major programs in 2010 will be 3D scanning for preservation and documentation of cultural heritage. We are working with companies in Europe and the US to train our staff in Guatemala. FLAAR Mesoamerica will thus be the first local 3D scanning resource center in-situ in Central America (other scanners come down for a few weeks, and then go back to the US or Europe). FLAAR feels that the scanners should also be operated by Guatemalans, both professors and students, so that this technology will not merely belong to US and European institutions.

Three Guatemalan biologists work with FLAAR full-time in-house on staff. They are preparing a list of fruits, vegetables, and animals to 3D scan as well. First will be pataxte and cacao pods, for a research project on Dr Nicholas Hellmuth to document the differences between pataxte form of cacao among the Mayas compared with the normal cacao. Pataxte and cacao pods look similar in some respects but other aspects of their ethnobotany are completely different.

FLAAR works at providing Guatemalan students opportunities to learn new technology, so flew two from Guatemala for training near Boston.

...more

A Comprehensive List of Airports in Guatemala

2010-09-30T09:36:00.004-06:00

Here's a list of Airports in Guatemala (at least what's left of them after the rain):
A Comprehensive List of Airports in Guatemala: http://www.all-about-guatemala.com/guatemala-airport.html

Read Mark Francis' blog and sign up for email updates; while I don't agree with everything Mark thinks or experiences, you won't be bored. And you will get a taste of what Guatemala is really like. Buckle your seatbelts!

Great blog on "All About Guatemala" and updated all the time.

More at:

Mark Francis
GuateLiving-Real Life in Guatemala
http://GuateLiving.com

Programa preliminar del simposio internacional sobre cianobacterias y cianotoxinas

2010-09-22T21:54:00.000-06:00

Programa preliminar del simposio internacional sobre cianobacterias y cianotoxinas

http://www.atitlancommunity.com/atitlan/media/Programa_preliminar_del_simposio.pdf

INVITACION CONFERENCIA UVG-ALTIPLANO, MIERCOLES 29 DE SEPTIEMBRE 2010

2010-09-21T13:32:00.000-06:00

de Universidad del Valle de Guatemala-Altiplano,

La Embajada de los Estados Unidos de América y la Universidad del Valle de Guatemala-Altiplano, comprometidos en realizar aportes académicos en la búsqueda de soluciones a la problemática que aqueja el departamento de Sololá. Programa para el día miércoles 29 de septiembre de 2010, en las instalaciones de este campus en el horario de 9:00 a 11:00hrs, la conferencia ¿Qué puede hacer el individuo y la comunidad frente al problema de contaminación y Cyanobacterias en el Lago Atitlán?, disertada por el Ing. Antonio Quiñones, Director Adjunto de la División de Ciencias y Apoyo a los Ecosistemas, de la Agencia de Protección Ambiental de los EE.UU.

Se adjunta invitación, agradeceré confirmar de recibido la presente y confirmar participación antes del 24 de septiembre de 2010.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

English:

The Embassy of the United States and the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Altiplano are committed to make academic contributions in the search for solutions to the problems plaguing the department of Solola.

A conference has been scheduled for Wednesday, September 29, 2010, at the premises of the university campus in Solola between 9:00am to 11:00am hrs. How can an individual or community address the problems of pollution and Cyanobacteria in Lake Atitlán? Lectured by Mr. Antonio Quiñones, Deputy Director of the Division of Science and Ecosystem Support of the Environmental Protection Agency U.S.

Above you see the invitation, thank you and please confirm participation before September 24, 2010

(The program is in Spanish).

Guatemalan president seeks aid from UN

2010-09-21T12:26:00.000-06:00

Guatemala's president says the Central American nation will need at least $1 billion in aid to recover from tropical storms that killed at least 259 people and destroyed hundreds of bridges throughout the largely rural, mountainous nation beginning in late May.

President Alvaro Colom told The Associated Press on Monday that several European countries and the United States have confirmed they will attend an October meeting of donor countries to help rebuild Guatemala after widespread damage caused by Tropical Storm Agatha and subsequent storms.

"Main roads are devastated," said Colom. "We have 69 important bridges and 410 small bridges that are destroyed." He said four entire communities have to be moved to new locations.

Now, Colom said, Guatemala needs to create rules that prohibit the construction homes in areas vulnerable to heavy rains and flooding. "We cannot keep constructing as we have been," he said.

Colom spoke on the sidelines of a three-day world summit that opened Monday to study progress in the U.N. Millennium Development Goals set a decade ago to cut global poverty rates in half.

1er Simposio sobre Cianobacterias, cianotoxinas, el agua y la salud

2010-09-16T16:30:00.003-06:00

(Click here to open English version)

1er Simposio sobre

Cianobacterias, cianotoxinas, el agua y la salud

El evento se llevará a cabo en el auditorium de la Universidad Landivar, edificio H, Vista Hermosa III, Campus Central, zona 16. Estacionamiento no. 5, costará Q5.00 todo el día.

Universidad Rafael Landívar
Vista Hermosa III
Campus Central Zona 16
Guatemala City
Tel (+502) 2426-2626 (Extension: 2960 for Auditorium)
(Edificio H, Auditurium)

La inscripción al evento puede hacerse anticipadamente en AGISA, 0 calle 15-46 zona 15, Colonia El Maestro tel. 23693703 de 8 a 13 horas, o depositando su inversión en la cuenta 49-0017051-1, del BAM, a nombre de AGISA. El valor de la inversión es la siguiente:
· Antes del 20 de septiembre, profesionales Q300.00, Q150.00 estudiantes universitarios de pregrado de últimos años con
carné. Extranjeros US$50.00.
· Después del 20 de septiembre, la cuota será, respectivamente, de Q400, Q200 y US$60.00.
· El día del event o, la inversión será de: Q500, Q250 y US$75.00.
· Incluye almuerzos, coffee breaks, libro de resúmenes y diploma de participación.

AUDIENCIA
La actividad está dirigida a tomadores de decisión de diversos sectores y a:
* Usuarios de agua (industria, agricultura, ganadería, pesca, acuacultura, y biodiversidad)
* Autoridades del MARN, MSPAS, MAGA, INFOM, Municipalidades y Congreso de la República
* Encargados de calidad de empresas de agua privadas y municipales
* Laboratorios de salud y ambiente
* Ingenieros sanitarios, ambientales, y químicos, biólogos, agrónomos, veterinarios y zootecnistas, acuacultores, y profesiones afines
* Catedráticos, estudiantes e investigadores de carreras ambientales, recursos hídricos, salud pública
* ONGs que trabajan en gestión integrada del recurso hídrico

Si el clima lo permite, el jueves 30 de septiembre, los organizadores planear ir a Panajachel con algunos de los expertos internacionales. Estarán en el Porta Hotel del Lago esa tarde para dar un resumen sobre la actividad en Guatemala city, y contestar preguntas que la gente puede tener sobre cianobacterias, cianotoxinas, el agua y la salud.

1st Symposium on Cyanobacteria, cyanotoxins, water and health

2010-09-16T16:08:00.005-06:00

1st Symposium on Cyanobacteria, cyanotoxins, water and health

Universidad Rafael Landívar
Vista Hermosa III
Campus Central Zona 16
Guatemala City
Tel (+502) 2426-2626 (Extension: 2960 for Auditorium)
(Edificio H, Auditurium)

The 3-day event will be held in the auditorium of:

University Landivar
Building H, Vista Hermosa III, Central Campus, Zone 16.
Parking can be done at No. 5 / costs Q5.00 per day.

Date: 27th, 28th and 29th of September 2010

Registration for the event can be done at AGISA

0 Calle 15-46 Zone 15, Colonia El Maestro

tel. 23693703 (from 08:00 to 13:00 hours), or by depositing you contribution in to account 49-0017051-1, BAM, on behalf of Agisa.

The contribution value is:
° Before September 20, professional Q300.00 or Q150.00 for recent university students that can show their inscription card. Foreigners: U.S. $ 50.00.
• After September 20, the fee will be, respectively, Q400, Q200 and $ 60.00.
• On the day of the event the fee is: Q500, Q250 and $ 75.00.
This includes lunch, coffee breaks, information book and a certificate of participation.

Symposium

The activity is aimed at decision makers in various sectors and:
* Water users (industry, agriculture, livestock, fisheries, aquaculture, and biodiversity)
* Authorities MARN, MSPAS, MAGA, INFOM, Municipalities and Congress
* Responsible for quality of private water companies and municipal water
* Health and Environment ‘Laboratories’
* Sanitary engineers, environmental, chemists and biologists, agronomists, veterinarians and animal scientists and other related professions.
* Professors, students and researchers in environmental careers, water resources and public health.
* NGOs working in Integrated Water Resource Management

If the weather permits, on Thursday, September 30th, organizers plan to come to Panajachel with some of the international experts and will be at the Porta Hotel del Lago that afternoon to give an overview of the activities held in Guatemala city, and answer questions people may have on cyanobacteria, cyanotoxins, water and health.

The Symposium will be in Spanish.

-Click- for full size

Guatemala's claim on part of Belize

2010-09-15T18:34:00.000-06:00

Remember the special agreement between Belize Agreement, the so-called compromis? Well, it was signed on in December, 2008, and 21 months later on Thursday September ninth, the Guatemalan Congress unanimously approved it.

For those who framed the agreement, it is a significant accomplishment bringing Guatemala and Belize one step close to a referendum on whether or not to take the Guatemalan claim to the International Court of Justice. Speaking today from Guatemala City, Belize's ambassador to Guatemala Fred Martinez discussed the significance of this development:…

H.E. Fred Martinez, Ambassador to Guatemala

"It is significant in the sense that it shows a tremendous amount of political will on behalf of the 14 different political factions that are represented in the congress that the time has come to elevate this to a different level and a solution has to be found in an international court of justice. That has now been pass and that it's really a historic event in Guatemala."

Jules Vasquez
"While significant it is ultimately in substantial in term of the ultimate goal of resolving the differendum."

H.E. Fred Martinez, Ambassador to Guatemala
"Well I agree with you it is an important step, an historic step that has been past but it is only 1 step in the whole process, the biggest issue yet to come which is the referendum in both countries whether or not the people in both countries do so agree that it goes to the international court of justice. And then the biggest hurdle obviously is the presentation of the case if the people so agree at the international court of justice. We are just in the beginning of that process. We have been pleasantly surprise to put it very mildly that it should have pass the congress this quickly. But we have been pleasantly surprise, more so surprise by the fact that there was a unanimous vote and that there was very little debate in the congress itself."

Jules Vasquez
"How hopeful are you right now that it will happen within let's say medium term?"

H.E. Fred Martinez, Ambassador to Guatemala
"I think it is more feasible to talk about the medium term and not about the short term as I have explain about the political time tables. My personal guess and I am not talking for the government of Belize, but my personal educated guess on the issue is that this wouldn't be held until after the next general elections in Belize."

The agreement has already been approved by the House of Representatives here in Belize….

Limit for Cash Transactions Lowered to $3,000 in Guatemala

2010-09-14T22:32:00.004-06:00

From Central America daily news 14 September 2010

Limit for Cash Transactions Lowered to $3,000 in Guatemala

The Guatemalan Banking Superintendent (SOB) set in $3,000 the limit for transactions in cash without justifying the origin of the funds. From October on, the people that carry out money transfers over $3,000 should justify where the money comes from.

more:

Politics & Government
Limit for cash transactions decreased to $3,000

Topics::
Banking Authority (Guatemala), Edgar Barquín, Money Laundering, Prevention of Money Laundering, Banking, Government, Guatemala

©image: Daniel Borman

Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Supervision of Banks (SOB) of Guatemala, set in $3,000 the limit for transactions in cash without justifying the origin of the funds. From October on, the people that carry out money transfers over $3,000 should justify the origin of the funds.
"The purpose of limiting the income of currencies in cash in the national financial system pretends to detect, in a more effective way, any monetary transaction that can have some criminal origin", indicated Edgar Barquín, holder of the SOB, to Elperiodico. com. gt

The new regulation also applies to financial companies, Exchange Money Houses and other banks.

Read more at the source article by Luis Lima Sanchinelli (only in spanish)

Related resources

Guatemala Unveils Committee Against Money Laundering - May 21 10 (56%)

Growing Economies subject to money laundering - Aug 20 08 (53%)

Guatemala to Oversee Prepaid Card Systems - Mar 9 10 (50%)

Guatemala Implements Rules Against Money Laundering - Mar 4 09 (49%)

Guatemala • Lake Atitlan Directory

Computers for Guatemala / Computers for Hope.org

Lake Atitlan Directory

HOW TO WORK TOGETHER FOR LAKE ATITLAN?

Energies of Place ~ Lake Atitlan

Spiritual Travel, The Universal Life Force Localized

pirimides vortex on lake atitlan

Gringos in Guatemala

Guatemala’s Lost Photographs (en Inglés y Español)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jeanmariesimon/eternal-spring-eternal-tyranny-guatemalas-lost-pho-0

Guatemala: Finding peace in the volcano’s shadow

Guatemala: Finding peace in the volcano’s shadow

Antigua is fascinating, but Lake Atitlán really is too much of a good thing, finds Rhymer Rigby.

Related Articles

What to avoid

Guatemala

Travel »

Central America and Caribbean »

Showing 1 comment

Engineers Without Borders - USA (EWB-USA) Guatemala Project

Guatemala Pictures

The Need

EWB-USA Response

Black water in San Marcos / Agua negra en San Marcos

Halt Pollution around Lake Atitlan - Contact Numbers / Detener la contaminación del Lago de Atitlán - Números de contacto

Crime, Corruption Killing Guatemalan Bus Drivers

Under the Volcanos, Antigua Guatemala

Lake Atitlan Marathon

Lago de Atitlán (Lake Atitlán)

Lake Atitlan volcano view from my balcony, Panajachel, Guatemala

Guatemala NGO / foundation research db, by EntreMundos and Proyecto GT

Transitions Abroad.com

FotoKids.org

Open Door Atitlan ~ Free Library, Santiago Guatemala

Photos from Chichicastenango ~ Diane Dreyfus Jan 2011

Lake Atitlan Health Cyanobacteria Resource

Lago de Atitlan Expedition 2010 ~ UC Davis

Lago de Atitlan Expedition 2010 ~ UC Davis & Universidad del Valle

Partners of the Americas & Kids Share Workshops at ASOCAMPO, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

The Fabulous Venetian Ball in Antigua

How to upload pdf files onto blog?

San Lucas Toliman & the San Lucas Mission

Harvard and Montessori meet at Lake Atitlan

rechargeable battery service, rechargable lantern, Burrobrand.biz

When Microcredit Won’t Do: Microconsignment

in the wild: Macaw (II)

Guatemala Society and Culture, Aid and Development

With transatlantic support, new school opens in Jocotenango

My Antigua: Pierre Turlin

Carmela Ramos Family in San Jorge, mostacilla group

Behind the Beads: Mostacilla and Its Impact on the Women of San Jorge la Laguna

US$100 Million for Emergency Support for Social Services after Natural Disasters

Visit Guatemala.com

Idealist.org

Atitlan tour 2010

Onil Stoves ~ uses significantly reduced wood for cooking in developing countries

Festival Atitlan 2011 ~ March 19, 2011

Vote for "A Class Apart, Guatemala" on the BBC World Challenge

Sharing the Dream in Guatemala, Santiago Elder Center, Mayan Traditions

GlobalCrafts.org

Maya Traditions / Fundación Tradiciones Mayas

MPI Guatemala | Manna Project International

LaAntiguaGuatemala.net ~ for NGO's & ONG's

Onil Stove

Long Way Home ~ building with recycled materials

Radio Ati in La Prensa

Guatemala NGO Network renamed

Guatemala NGO Network

Guatemala NGO Network

Guatemala NGO Network ~ LaAntiguaGuatemala.net

Guatemala - Day of the Dead & All Saints Day Nov 1, 2010

Investing in Guatemalan real-estate resources

Lake Atitlan Health.com

maya archaeology.org

A Comprehensive List of Airports in Guatemala

Programa preliminar del simposio internacional sobre cianobacterias y cianotoxinas

INVITACION CONFERENCIA UVG-ALTIPLANO, MIERCOLES 29 DE SEPTIEMBRE 2010

Guatemalan president seeks aid from UN

1er Simposio sobre Cianobacterias, cianotoxinas, el agua y la salud

1st Symposium on Cyanobacteria, cyanotoxins, water and health