Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Getting In Deep


PANAJACHEL, Guatemala--Even now, Lake Atitlan is one of the most spectacular places imaginable.

The big high-altitude lake, tucked under three picture-perfect volcanos, is suffering. There's a huge brownish algae bloom floating on the once-clear water. This impossible-to-ignore development has kicked folks into gear as they begin to debate how to rescue this treasure.

The reason for the degradation of the lake, of course, is human development. Plenty of folks are to blame. The towns ringing the lake have grown without any thought of environmental impact. Both the tourist town of Panajachel and the many smaller indigenous settlements that ring the lake pump raw sewage into the water. People wash their clothes directly in the lake, using phosphate-rich detergents. Untold numbers of small farms produce fertilizer-rich runoff.

For years, the deep lake has absorbed this abuse. But back in 2005, Hurricane Stan added an additional twist by washing plenty of toxic junk into the lake, and more important, severely damaging the water-treatment plant.

Not surprisingly in this country's corrupt system, millions of dollars donated or set aside for environmental improvements have simply disappeared into the mountain air.

My visit this weekend was my third time at the lake. I feared the worst. And indeed, when we were out in the lancha (small boat) that acts as a ferry among the lake towns, we got a good whiff of the ugly brown algae bloom. But from the shores of the lake, it wasn't too horrid. The optimist in me concluded that the lake isn't yet dead, and that possibly the algae bloom could alarm people enough so that they actually do the right things. Like they say here, Ojala que si...

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(Travelers' note: Once you get to Guatemala, it is easy to visit the major tourist attractions such as the lake. There's a surprisingly functional system of tourist minibuses that take you where you  want to go for reasonable prices. I can already hear the hardcore shoestring travelers jumping in to harangue me about how much cheaper and more authentic it is to use the chicken buses. Yes, it is. But, hey, dudes--the tourist shuttle from Antigua to Pana is $25 roundtrip. Your cab fare to and from happy hour back home is more than that.)

1 comment:

  1. I have no doubt that they will get it cleaned up. Pana is too beautiful not too. More at http://www.sightseeingreview.com/panajachelsightseeingtour.php

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