Change
've made it a favorite pastime to have
adventures in cooler climates during the
115+ degree days that are all too com-
mon in Phoenix, Arizona during the sum-
mer months. Like many people, I have a
bucket list of places I want to visit and things I
want to do. Guatemala has been on that list for
many years.
Mexico and Central America have always
intrigued me. I love the history, the ruins, the
people and the simplicity of day to day living.
My last trip to Costa Rica five years ago was
amazing, so when a friend told me at brunch
that she had some friends with a vacation rental
house on Lake Atitlán in Guatemala, I was
hooked. Serendipity.
We booked the trip within several days of talk-
ing about it, and planned a dinner with Earl and
Suzanne, the owners of the house who split
their time between Phoenix and Antigua, Gua-
temala. I was even more drawn to this house
and these people because Earl and Suzanne
have a non-profit in Guatemala called Seeds
for a Future (http://bit.ly/1mbG9FO).
Guatemala is home to 13 million people, ap-
proximately 75% of whom live in poverty. The
country has the highest malnutrition rate in Lat-
in America and the fourth highest in the world.
Ironic, as much of the produce we consume
in the U.S., as well as the coffee we drink, is
grown and harvested in Guatemala. (On a side
note, I was reading a sign while in Guatemala
about coffee, and it said by the time the coffee
is grown, harvested, processed, shipped and
consumed as a $5 latte in the U.S., only about
3 cents makes its way back to Guatemala.
Even more reason to pay attention to buying
fair trade (http://bit.ly/1rc78Zq).)
PBS recently did a segment (http://to.pbs.
org/1sg3EFL) on the child malnutrition problem
in Guatemala.
"In the Americas, the situation is most dire in
Guatemala, where roughly 50 percent of the
children are so malnourished they're stunted,
I
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