I spent the last few nights at San Pedro La Laguna on Lake Atitlan. Its a pretty cool little town on the far side of a big lake. To get there, you have to go to a town on the near side of the lake, about 10 miles from the highway, then take a water taxi shuttle for about 30 minutes to the other side. The lake is surrounded by a few volcanoes lots of mountains that get about 1000 feet above the surface of the water. The town itself is riddled with expats from all over the place who just can't seem to leave. I even got to watch a NFL playoff game where the play by play was in Spanish. That was hilarious!
Apparently the lake here has become infamous for an algae bloom over the past few years. It is compared to the Chesapeake Bay 20 years ago, when industrial waste and toxic chemicals were dumped into the bay until almost every living thing in the bay died. The good thing about Lake Atitlan is that it is much more of a closed system, with about 100,000 to 150,000 people living around the lake as opposed to the Chesapeake Bay, that has millions living upstream and along the bay contributing to the problem. So the problem is contained a bit more than the Chesapeake, only there dosn't seem to be a group of people who have gotten together to fix the problem.... yet. There have been some researchers from The University of California @ Davis that have been studying samples, testing the algae and such but no one seems to have addressed the cause of the problem or a way to go about fixing it. The US has donated some money to the effort but, alas, the money has
mysteriously "vanished". According to a few locals, McDonalds has offered to donate a bunch of money as well, but the locals are very wary of the strings that are said to be attached to any deal. And the guatemalan government doesn't seem to be too prepared to fix the problem either. I suppose time will tell. The good news is that it is really a bit too cold to swim or use the lake at present, so i'm really not missing out on anything. And much like people used the Chesapeake for sailing and other activities when it was sick, people can still enjoy certain outdoor activities here, as well. Also, the colder winter weather has suppressed the algae at the time being and it couldn't be prettier from above the surface.
So, all in all, i'm enjoying myself, just doing a lot of reading, hanging out on the hammocks you see here and watching TV in Espanol! Viva la relaxation!
