Monday 10 February 2014

Communities in the jungle of guatemala

This day involved a river trip down the lake to a community called Ak' Tenamit 



Here a once isolated community now runs its own centre by the people to provide medical and educational needs.


The crafts are available for tourist purchase if you happen to boat in this way...!
Beautifully painted coconut shells and many other items but most interesting for me were their innovations for farming to try to work around sodden soil being stripped of nutrients by the constant rains. In order to grow other food items like mint and chives for cooking, large tanks of water filled with fish were providing the nutrient supply both as fish meat to eat and fertilizer for the plants being hand pumped up and cycled over the plants being grown in stones rather than soil. 

Even here I saw where the sharing of knowledge from our wetland biodynamic and organic farmers would provide a rich exchange.

The rains have been unseasonably wet now raining over 4 extra months into the dry season causing pestilence and molds in their corn - the staple food.







 It is hard to get an idea of the size of this palm but it was truly the size of a house!








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