Santiago Atitlan

We spent Sunday getting to know a few of the other towns on lake Atitlan. First we went to San Pedro, just across the lake from San Lucas. It is a smaller town than San Lucas but is situated on a hillside that is rather steep and is populated with a large group of indigenous Mayan people, similar to San Lucas. It is incredible to think these people have been here for 2600 years. The disparity between the significantly more economically gifted ladino's and the indigenous Mayan can really be seen from a boat on the lake. Upper class homes of well-to-do Guatemalan and American owners are interspersed all along the shoreline, hidden among the trees. However, the beautiful multistory structures stand in clear contrast to the poverty they overshadow. Seeing the people in their homes and working in their fields makes our opulent lifestyle in the US seem decadent by comparison. I can't say I want to move my family into a one room cinderblock shack with a dirt floor and no water or electricity (what father would choose that for their children?) but I do need to teach my children to be grateful for what we have, to be less wasteful of our resources and to give back as much as possible.

Aaron