Lago Atitlan

After a week we left the barebones seminary dormitory where we were staying and headed to Lake Atitlan. I’d been bah humbugging this part of the trip, saying I wanted to do more clinics but in retrospect I’m really glad I did more than work.

First of all, I got to see my friend Mira and learn about the work she and her friend Denis are doing in San Pedro with early childhood laterality, special orientation and psycho motion. They are sharing their trainings with teachers and parents in order to prepare Mayan children (who are carried on their mother’s backs for much of their two first years of life, don’t ever get a chance to crawl around, be read to, or play with multiple objects in their environment,) for their school classes.

It was so balancing for me to be in an intact community, where people live comfortably, are not killing themselves to survive and have joy and beauty in themselves and their surroundings.

We did do one clinic on the far side of the lake from where we were staying in Panajachel (gringolandia) and that was in Cerro del Oro. People there spoke T’zuhuil and we had to rely on interpreters. Our women interpreters were really bright women and we were able to have a very collegial relationship with them. I hope they’ll be able to pursue more training and be in a position to help their community, which again seemed to have a low level of health knowledge as well as a very low level of access to care.

Many of you have probably been to Lake Atitlan but its certainly beautiful with Volcans Atitlan and Toliman standing over it.

I haven’t even written about the politics. The weak government. The increase in gangs and drug violence. The lack of justice. I refer you to the solidarity organization: www.nisgua.org and to our own Pueblo Partisan website again and ask your help for our educational work in Tanjoc and communities around Poptun in the Peten (www.pueblopartisans.org) where the nursing students and other instructors will be continuing to provide health consults and women’s health screening exams for the next three weeks.