It's Friday!

     It's hard to believe that we only have four days left in San Lucas Toliman! We woke up to another clear morning and a beautiful view of the volcanoes.

    
     After a quick breakfast of-you guessed it, oatmeal and black beans!- we headed off on a hike, accompanied by six engineering students from Rice University (Texas). You may have read about last week's hike when we were mapping out locations for a new potable water project; today we were continuing that project farther into the mountains. The project's final location is hoped to be Chanan, the saddle between volcanoes Toliman and Atitlan, where the land needs to be used for crops, but is uninhabitable because of the lack of water. We walked up a trail high into the mountains, entering way points into three GPS systems in order to minimize the error and make a thorough map of the potential pipe system. After walking awhile, we stopped for a picnic lunch in a beautiful open area that is part of a biological reserve. In this area was one of Bruce's favorite objects- a latrine, just like the ones we use every day! Next year, the Modern Languages and Business/Accounting departments pledge to upgrade the course's bathroom facilities! ;) We had earlier determined that 40% of the world's people do not even have a latrine to use, leading to serious public health issues.

Latrine

     Getting out into the woods and away from the noise of the city was a nice change; this really is a beautiful country with an incredible variety of life. I will really miss waking up to the mountains every day. Until next time!

-Rebecca McDaniel