"We must love one another or die..."

We woke up at 5:30 this morning so that we could go climb a volcano! So fun. We were originally supposed to climb Volcano Santa Maria, however the weather here has been really unusual (cold and rainy!). So instead we went to see La Laguna Chicabal. The lagoon is located at the top of the Chicabal Volcano which is about 2,700 meters above see level. The hike up the volcano took a little over 2 hours and to get there we walked through the town of San Martin which is inhabited primarily by indigenous people from the Mam tribe. The lagoon is now a sacred site for Mayan rituals and other religious groups also use the beautiful space for meditation or worship. Here are some pictures from our trip:

Just made it to the top!

The lagoon from above.

So scenic. The other mountains and volcanoes were so beautiful!

We walked down 600 steps to the lagoon where we got to spend time learning from ex-guerrillas about what it was like to live in the mountains during the war and about the current education system in Guatemala. 

On our way back down, while walking back through San Martin, we saw a crowd of people in the street with this dead cow. We found out that the community has been working together for years to raise enough money and gather the necessary resources to install a clean water system. Tomorrow they finally get to have that installed! To celebrate, everyone in the community pitched in some money so that they could buy a cow for their party! It was gross. But I think there's a lot our communities in the States could learn from the people of San Martin.

Reflecting on what I saw and learned from that community, I thought of an excerpt from a poem by W.H. Auden which reads:

...All I have is a voice

To undo the folded lie,

The romantic lie in the brain

Of the sensual man-in-the-street

And the lie of Authority

Whose buildings grope the sky:

There is no such thing as the State

And no one exists alone;

Hunger allows no choice

To the citizen or the police;

We must love one another or die...