Monterrico

My sister Jen has been here visiting for 2 weeks - so we're been to a couple of new places. This is Monterrico on the Pacific coast, where it's REALLY hot and has lots of mosquitoes. Also great sunsets and turtles laying their eggs on the beach.

It is also on the edge of a nature reserve of swamp and river system, with lots of wildlife. My favourite was the Cuatrojos - which are fish with 4 eyes! They swim with 2 eyes above the water level and 2 eyes below it. Then they fly / skim across the surface of the water -- too fast to get a photo!

Nicaragua

I'm just back from a week in Nicaragua with Lukas and Barbara -- was great to see the little team there and chat about developing short term work there.

lake Nicaragua -- just at the end of the road where Lukas and Barbara live -- unfortunately very dirty and full of rubbish.

But this Laguna el Apoyo was gorgeous - with really clear water.

But still great sun sets

There's not much that puts me off swimming but......

I'm here again in San Pedro La Laguna - my favourite place for swimming - on Lake Atitlan -- but this week, the lake has filled up with green/brown sludgey stuff. Apparently it's a algae -- the result of years of contamination from chemical fertiliser and raw sewage ending up in the Lake. I'm told that it doesn't have much affect in small amounts, but has grown over the years - and this week all the algae -which normally lives happily at the bottom, has died and floated to the top. 'Experts' have actually been warning this might happen for several years -- especially as it has actually happened before -to Lake Amatitlan about 10 years ago. Why don't we ever learn??

Lots of people in the lake communities are trying to 'clean' it - using makeshift sieves or filters made from net curtains or sackcloth - but this only deals with the symptom not the cause, and even if it did work - you'd need a lot more people cleaning - considering the size of the lake! It's really sad to see - as Lake Atitlan is such a beautiful place, but now the water is seriously contaminated, it may take several years or even decades to sort it out -- and that's if the government and local authorities put water treatment works in place and change the local culture of putting rubbish in the lake. It makes me sad!

Strider training day

Last week we enjoyed a couple of days of training for the Striders. Rodolfo led a session about the history of Guatemala and about the church here. We also looked at our cultural preconceptions and how to work within a multicultural team, as well as thinking about the things we can do in order to grow spiritually in an unknown situation or church. It was great to share each others experiences in this.

Of course having 12 people in the house was also a good excuse to make proper British puddings and cakes!!!

Xela

This week I've been to San Pablo San Marcos -- almost to the border with Mexico - visiting some projects there -- but I took advantage of the trip and stayed in Xela for a couple of nights. Xela is actually the nickname for Quetzaltenango - which is a colonial city in the mountains. Yesterday I went to some nearby hot springs / sulphur baths -- to relax. It's in an incredible setting -surrounded by a wall of ferns and shrubs - where the water emerges seriously hot!

More new Striders -and a new swimming pool

This week I've been entertaining new Striders, Mirjam and Kathrin from Germany.

Today we met up with some of the others and discovered a swimming pool about 30minutes walk outside of Antigua. It's part of a nature reserve that's only just starting to be developed, but the pools are filled from the spring water from the mountains behind. It was great (although the others seemed to enjoy the water for slightly less time than I did!). Apparently further up the path, there's lots of wild life to see and great views over Antigua -- next time we'll venture up there!.

Quote of the day: "Oh no, I forgot pants!"