So to quickly recap, we had a boat ride to the other shore of Atitlan, then hiked up to the hotel and made a quick visit to the parish. Albeit long overdue, here is the rest:
Before coming into San Lucas Toliman (SLT), we knew very little about what would be in store. We we did know was that at one time time, it was one of the poorest areas of Guatemala. Panajachel is probably the third richest after Antigua and Guate City.
Typical front yard, as seen from above
It ends up that the rich plantation owners from the Pacific coast used to use SLT as a glorified parking lot so that they could head off across the lake in their yachts to hang out and float in the much ritzier Panajachel. Things have improved a lot in SLT and I didn't see any nice cars around...I wonder where the rich people park their cars now?
The view from the lawn
One of my (formerly) favorite things about buildings in Guate is that they leave the steel rebar poking through the roof. At first I thought that they had just run out of supplies, time or energy. Ends up, they keep the rebar poking up just in case they want to keep building later on. Our hotel was no exception...the only thing exceptional was the funny foot smell that was lingering in our room before we moved in.
I fell on bars like these at my house in Antigua...could have been worse
A night shot of the hotel roof.
So after grabbing some food from the parish, we sat around an listened to some background stories, some past successes and just learning more about the parish in general. Case and point, Construction of housing for a post-Agatha relocation project, a parish subsidized coffee growing scheme AND a health clinic...
Food time at the parish
Thousands of pounds of coffee, waiting
...for this Coffee Roaster
Parish Clinic: The Scenic 
Driveway
Driveway We took a tour of the facilities, and learned about the way this facility (32 beds, 1 GP and 7 nurses) was worked into the regional health system of community midwives, mobile clinics, distant outposts, and the bigger hospital in Solola (~100 beds, GP, specialists, 2 ERs and 2 ORs). We then compared this parish clinic with the public health center on the other side of town.
The reception area of the SLT public clinic
There was a local couple sitting on the bench waiting for the doctor. After we had all flooded in, he turned to one of my classmates and asked... "You're all not sick are you?!" Hilarious!
The region has really mobilized its health system around maternal health, pre-natal and neo natal and trying to dramatically reduce the infant mortality rate. Totolya's community center hosted a Q&A period with some midwives from an outlying community, some very interesting insights about their experiences.
A break, halfway through the Q&A
On the way back from the clinic, we stopped at the local shrine of Maximon or 'St. Simon' which we had heard alot about, but had yet to see. Our coordinator was seen leaving a tienda with a mickey of 'Quetzalteca Especial', a shocking scene to be sure. It is customary to bring cigarettes and alcohol when going to Maximons' shrine because those are some of his favorite things.
Maximon, drinking his fill before a smoke
We suspected that the alcohol flows through his body into a bucket, which they drink later. Seriously interesting stuff...Catholic Saint mixed with Mayan God. Read up on him here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim%C3%B3n
So the next day, we got to give back to the community. At first, we thought there would be a choice between building houses, weeding at a farm or building a road. For various reasons, the first two weren't available. Entonces, we all went onto road duty. This was the road, tucked into the side of a ravine up a sizable hill.
Behold! The Road!
We had three wheelbarrows, some woven plastic bags and three sledges. They walked us over to some ruins in behind another house, well on its way to a similar state, and showed us where to start digging. And by digging, they meant breaking rocks apart with said sledges. FYI manual labour is pretty tough...my hands only lasted about 4 hours before my skin decided to give up. Thanks to our contribution of blood and sweat, we moved the road ahead by just under a meter. As we were tossing the chunks or rocks and broken glass into the void, we noticed that there was no drainage in the side wall. Seeing as this road is on the side of a hill, nearish to a river, we thought that might have been a good thing to put in. Hope it doesn't rain too much in Guatemala!
http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2010/05/29/tropical-storm-season-forms-guatemala-coast/ ...hope it holds up to 30 inches as there were a few houses right on the other side of that wall.
Group Love
Bam! Thats all for last week, this weekend... Soccer game in Retaheleu and the Cielo Grande MTB ride.
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