This is one of the lagunas in the municipal park Salinas Nueve Cerros. It is one of the parks that I will be helping to develop and then market. I didnt go swimming in it because it has...
a bunch of these guys. Ya, that is a crocodile. The first day in the park I also saw howler monkeys, turtles, a barba amarrilla (one of the most venomous snakes in the world), and countless species of plants, bugs (I guess I didnt get to see a lot of bugs, they were mostly just biting me), and birds.
This is what the houses are in Santa Lucia, where I will be living. I took this picture from the soccer field. The woman on the right is sewing a bag to sell. Their backyard is pure tropical rainforest and the border of the national park Laguna Lachua, another park I will be working with. Nobody really speaks Spanish in Santa Lucia except for the family I will be living with for the first three months. Everyone speaks Qechi, a Mayan language that I am going to learn. The house I am going to stay in doesnt look like this either. It is the only one in town made of cement. I am hoping that after those three months, I might be able to convince them to build me a place like the one in the picture.
Another attraction to Salinas Nueve Cerros. All that white stuff is salt. There is a natural salt water spring that the ancient Maya used. Throughout the park, you can find big pots buried in the ground that they would use to extract the salt and then go trade it amongst other Maya or even the Inca in South America. The dude in the foreground is Jose Antonio or just Tono for short. He is the head of Project Lachua, the govenment organization in charge of the Eco-region Lachua. The guy on the left is Elman. He is in charge of the farmland that is also within the park. The next guy is Don Adolfo, an agricultural engineer that was in for the week to see how the crops are doing. Next to him is Don Manual, the guy that knows everything there is to know about Salinas. I guess that is what happens when you take care of a place everyday for 10 years. He is also my next door neighbor in Santa Lucia. Don Ramiro, my work counterpart/host dad is not pictured because he had some other work to tend to that day. I just felt I had to mention him because he is a splendid man and I spent most of the week with him.
Don Manu again. That mound behind him is actually a Mayan tomb. There are a bunch of them around Salinas, some of which have been excavated and you can crawl into them. It is a little creepy, but you feel something when you are sitting inside.
This is just some of the stuff I saw last week, and there is still loads I have yet to see in the region. As you can see, it has a ton of potential for tourism. The challenge is going to be including the communities in that development so that they will care for these places in the future. I am counting the days until I get to move there for good at the end of the month.
1 comment:
Basketball, soccer, fast-pitch softball...sounds like your a triple threat. Very engaging and interesting stuff. You should consider writing a book while you're out there. I mean, aside from blogging. Do they allow
bee-kites in Guatemala?
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