Laguna Chikobal

This morning bright and early (6am) 10 students and one Guatemalan gathered outside our school to begin an adventure to Laguna Chikobal. All I knew was that we had to leave early so that we could get there before the clouds moved in and covered the lake. So we boarded a microbus, traveled to the bus terminal... and then onto a chicken bus for a 45 minute drive to the stop for Chikobal. It cost 5Q instead of the usual 3Q because so many of us looked American. 8Q= $1 We got off the bus and started our climb. It was steep and at a high altitude (Xela is 8000ft already and this was an additional 600 meters up). We really struggled to hike up this mountain... meanwhile were being passed by 5 year old boys, machettes in hand going to work for the day... school is not a reality for most of the indigenous children here, a big problem. As the boys walk by they say uno quetzala... the price for a picture of them... they know the drill of internationals coming through.
The area of the mountain is protected environmentally and enforced by the municipality... so when we had to pay our 15Q to enter the last 1600meter trek, the money went to the local not the national government which was nice. They have done a good job cleaning up since the war... which had been very active in the area of this mountain.
The view was phenominal and probably worth the hike and now the headache from the altitude switch. The Laguna is considered a sacred place for the Mayan and so you see circles of burn by the lake where rituals were preformed and flowers stuck in the water during ceremonies. It was a strange mix for me because a few members of my group have asked me questions about Christianity and why it is responsible for so much violence and distruction of culture etc. Some very good conversations have resulted.
My hour is up at the internet cafe so... more later.