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| Lake Atitlan |
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| San Lucas Tolimán is a town of about 17.000 people situated on the southeast corner of Lake Atitlán. The town dates from the colonial era and its Catholic church has been in use for over 500 years. The population is 90% Maya and 10% Spanish/ladino. The population is about 50% Roman Catholic and 50% evangelical Christian. There is no industry. Most "Luqueños" are subsistence farmers with coffee as the principal product.
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GUATEMALA is rightly called "the land of eternal springtime." San Lucas sits at 5,000 elevation where the weather is always temperate. Luqueños refer to two seasons: "winter" the wet season from late June through November and "summer" the dry season from November on. The temperature ranges from 50 - 80°.
San Lucas is not a tourist destination and has retained a good deal of its traditional culture. Cak'chiquel is the Maya dialect of this region. Further clockwise are the lake Tzutujil is the language of the area around Santiago Atitlán. On the northern rim of the lake and further up in the highlands Quiché is the dialect.
Spanish is the official language of Guatemala. In San Lucas, children are bilingual, learning Spanish in school while speaking Cak'chiquel in the home. For us gringos speaking Spanish in Guatemala is easier: it is second language for them, too, and is more grammatical, less idiomatic, clearer and spoken more slowly.
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If you wish to contact us by e-mail, fax, phone or letter please contact us at:
San Lucas Health Project
65A Yorkshire St
,
Providence
RI
,
US
,
02908-1722
Fax:
401-725-8064
Call:
401-244-5321
Email:
Steven_McCloy@brown.edu
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