After a two-year break due to the Covid pandemic, Guadalajara NGO Conectando Culturas, A.C. was able to resume an exchange program with university students in Germany this summer.
The group of 17 students from Hamburg associated with the International Youth Association Europe-Latin America (IJEL) arrived July 19 to meet their Mexican counterparts, sharing a busy schedule of activities focused on cultural and environmental themes.
On Friday, August 5, the exchange group toured the Chapala area for a first-hand look at Mexico’s largest lake and an introduction to its history, characteristics and environmental issues provided by staff at the University of Guadalajara Instituto de Limnología headquartered in Ajijic.
Institute Director Eduardo Juárez Carrillo and his assistant schooled the visitors on the lake’s origins and evolution through time, oscillating water levels, pollution and residual water treatment matters, native wildlife, endemic and introduced fish species, and fishing practices. The students from Hamburg, a thriving seaport city, were intrigued by the concerns related to the sustainability of lake habitats as differing from more familiar ocean environments.
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