{"id":2597,"date":"2016-04-27T14:45:25","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T22:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/?p=2597&lang=en"},"modified":"2016-04-27T14:53:16","modified_gmt":"2016-04-27T22:53:16","slug":"the-enormous-waterfalls-of-san-marcos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/culture\/the-enormous-waterfalls-of-san-marcos\/","title":{"rendered":"The enormous hidden waterfalls of San Marcos"},"content":{"rendered":"

A community ecotourism adventure.<\/h3>\n

By Yessika Calder\u00f3n – Travel & Health Guatemala<\/p>\n

Too much of Guatemala\u2019s natural beauty has remained hidden from its citizens and the world. Fortunately, intrepid Guatemalan and foreign travelers have been helping to rediscover the country\u2019s beautiful places, many of which have been preserved for thousands of years. One fine example are the remote waterfalls at La Igualdad.<\/p>\n

The community of Tocache in the area of La Igualdad is tucked in the foothills of Tajumulco, Central America\u2019s tallest volcano, and surrounded by a dense and little-explored forest that features a beautiful climate and unique local flora and fauna that make the trek to the waterfalls a mystical experience. The waterfalls themselves reach approximately 187 meters \u2013 over 600 feet \u2013 into the sky, which puts\u00a0them among the tallest waterfalls not only in Guatemala but in all of Central America.<\/p>\n

\"Cataratas<\/a>
The waterfalls of La Igualdad. Photo by\u00a0Yessika Calder\u00f3n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All of Tocache\u2019s land was once private property, the plantation of a wealthy landowner. The community won the right to land, however, so that all its members instead of just a single family could benefit from its natural resources. The community\u2019s main source of income is its coffee cultivation, which requires a demanding, labor-intensive commitment from community members, and which is becoming ever more difficult.<\/p>\n

\"la<\/a><\/p>\n

The waterfalls of La Igualdad. Photo by\u00a0Yessika Calder\u00f3n<\/p>\n

Middle men who collect coffee for wholesale business often underpay coffee growers, and climate change is causing longer, hotter summers that are intensifying the effects of coffee rust, a fungus that destroys coffee harvests (called la roya <\/em>in Spanish). Many communities have only three choices to augment their income: migrate to the US, migrate to Guatemalan cities to try to find odd jobs, or migrate seasonally to coffee, banana, or African palm plantations that pay a paltry minimum wage.<\/p>\n

\"Aguas<\/a>
Hot springs\u00a0on the way to the waterfalls. Photo by\u00a0Yessika Calder\u00f3n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fortunately, Tocache community members realized they had access to a natural jewel that, with hard work and creativity, could help them reduce their dependence on coffee and make a better living. The community decided to clear a small path for visitors to access the waterfalls. As they did this, they found several volcanically-heated streams. They built small pools to create hot springs of the naturally heated and mineral-rich waters, and recommitted themselves to the preservation of the area, hoping that eco-tourism would make this preservation sustainable.<\/p>\n

Community tourism projects like this Tocache\u2019s have been developing all over Guatemala and many share similar stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A community ecotourism adventure. By Yessika Calder\u00f3n – Travel & Health Guatemala Too much of Guatemala\u2019s natural beauty has remained hidden from its citizens and the world. Fortunately, intrepid Guatemalan and foreign travelers have been helping to rediscover the country\u2019s beautiful places, many of which have been preserved for thousands of years. One fine example […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2589,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[499,503,65,504,500,502,497,501],"class_list":["post-2597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-community-tourism","tag-ecotourism","tag-guatemala","tag-hiking","tag-san-marcos","tag-tourism","tag-turismo-comunitario","tag-waterfalls"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2597"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2599,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2597\/revisions\/2599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}