The grandmother lake
Conservation and colonialism in Guatemala
On Central America’s deepest lake, Indigenous communities battle against a $215m wastewater project proposed by environmentalists.
Some time in 1958, though no one is sure of the exact date, fish quite literally dropped out of the sky into Lake Atitlan in Guatemala.
Raining down from seaplanes, the black bass proceeded to eat the local crabs, snails, fish and even duck chicks. They were part of a plan by Pan Am, the American international airline, to encourage more tourism to Central America’s deepest lake by populating it with a popular sport fishing species.