Ecco-tourism

One of the reasons Nikki and I wanted to be in Guatemala with our family a before the rest of the team is because we've been sitting on an ecco-tourism idea for a couple decades. 

Tourism is one of the big industries in the developing world, but one of the things Nikki and I witnessed during our time in Asia is that a lot of tourism, even while bringing in considerable money, doesn't actually end up helping the local people.

One of the things we've seen happen is that many major attractions and accommodations are owned by expats who then siphon most of the money out of the country. 

Our thought is that it would be amazing to find an organization (like Impact Ministries) that is doing Jesus' work in the developing world, and partner with them by creating a tourist location that would give back instead of take. 

But before we could ever be part of something like this we felt it would be important to experience tourism on site ourselves first. 

So... Right now we are being tourists, with the goal of discerning what Jesus is up to here and how we might participate at some point in the future. 

And it's been an adventure! The tourism industry in Guatemala is considerable less developed than it is in a place like Mexico. 

So for example, right from the beginning we found booking accommodation to be a challenge. Then when we arrived we had to navigate by ourselves to our accommodation.

This proved to be pretty intense. One of our kids ended up losing their carry on bag in a crowded location. Another kid lost their cookies in the 3hr van ride around twisted mountain roads... twice. And a final kid lost their marbles when she found several 3" diameter 8-legged friends sharing her room. On top of all this I lost my internet connection last night after writing this post and had to start over in the morning (the trials... I know ;)

All this to say there is certainly room to make the experience easier but so far we are really enjoying ourselves so far at a place called Lake Atitlan. 

Thank you for your prayers. We feel you partnering with us. 

Dan