The Mesoamerican Institute of Permaculture in Guatemala- IMAP

June 14, 2024

The Mesoamerican Institute of Permaculture

I boarded a bus to the towns of Lake Atitlan and, while the first half was a quick drive on the highway, the second half was a windy journey through countryside and mountains where we started to feel very dizzy! The bus took us to a city called Panajachel on the Lake Atitlan and from there I took a boat ride to San Lucas Toliman. It was a quick boat ride-- just 15 minutes.

When I arrived to San Lucas Toliman, I took a tuk-tuk or mototaxi to the house I would be staying at for the weekend. I stayed with a family who works at The Mesoamerican Institute of Permaculture (IMAP), where I will be volunteering. I was received by a family member who could let me into the house, and I fell asleep until I woke up to knocks on the doors. The director of IMAP, Inés, was waiting for me downstairs with a hot chocolate and bread. Inés greeted me with a big smile, and we sat down at her kitchen table to drink her hot chocolate and chat.

Inés has worked at IMAP for 16 years and she is a firm believer in “la lucha de la soberanía alimentaria” or the fight for food sovereignty. (Food sovereignty is defined as the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods). This has been the labor of her life, and you can quickly see her passion for this movement.

I accompanied Inés to the market on Sunday morning where almost everyone said hello to her and knew her. She stopped at a market stall that sells coconuts and asked the seller if she could buy the coconut shells that they had collected in waste bags behind the table. The seller shrugged and said, “Sure, it’s just trash.” Inés explained that she could use it to make fertilizer and that she would like to pay him to collect it for her. She is always looking for ways to reduce waste and reuse local materials for farming and gardening. I love spending time with her :)

The coconut shells and a rainy day at the market with Ines

These days have been extremely rainy. It’s the first hard rain of the year which is strange because the rainy season usually starts in May but we are already in mid June. Everyone has been commenting that the rain should have come much earlier.