Jill
Repogle and Emma Cott
Greetings
from Lake Atitlán!
Emma Cott and I (Jill Replogle), both students at
the Graduate School of Journalism, have been
living split lives in San Marcos la Laguna
as we study the effects of "spiritual
tourism" on this idyllic,
lakeside village and its Kakchiquel Maya people.
For breakfast: tofu scramble, organic coffee
and a Tarot reading. For dinner: tortillas, black
beans and eggs, Gallo (the local beer) and mood
music provided by the town's numerous Evangelical
churches and their off-key devotees.
While we became conscious of the sometimes-negative
effects that rich tourists
and expats can have on a small community
like San Marcos, the "tofu temptation" got
us nearly every day. The thing is, it's hard
to patronize wholly
local businesses in San Marcos because there
aren't very many. On the other hand, at least
as far as restaurants go, the ones run jointly
by local-foreign couples tend to be the best.
Moonfish is one them. It's a shack right
on the lakeshore with gorgeous views of the
three volcanoes across the lake and, on a
really clear day, of fire-spewing Volcán
del Fuego in the distance. Moonfish serves
up great black beans AND a scrumptious tofu
scramble, all served with strong, freshly
ground, local, organic coffee and whole wheat
bread or tortillas.
Only
caution—somewhere, somehow a few
kinds of parasites made their way into my
digestive system and now must be eliminated.
And I have to lay off the Gallo
for ten days until Flagil does its
job.
