AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

Like many developing countries, Guatemala is getting hit hard by the delta variant. And within Guatemala, rural and Indigenous communities are feeling it the hardest. Maria Martin traveled to some Indigenous Mayan communities in Guatemala and found people using methods both ancient and modern to try to make it through the pandemic.

DOLORES RATZAN PABLO: (Non-English language spoken).

MARIA MARTIN, BYLINE: Mayan priestess Dolores Ratzan Pablo makes offerings of flowers, liquor and multicolored candles to the sacred fire.

RATZAN PABLO: (Non-English language spoken).

MARTIN: Ratzan Pablo asks for protection for her Mayan community of Santiago Atitlan from the effects of the pandemic and from the diseases and deaths that the virus has brought.

RATZAN PABLO: I pray for the village. I asked all the creator, the goddess, Mother Lake, all nature for protection and also for strength.

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