Rug hooking is an art where rugs are made by pulling loops of yarn or fabric through a stiff woven base such as burlap. The loops are pulled through the backing material by using a hook mounted in a handle (usually wood).

Rosa grew up in the small rural Guatemalan village of Patanatik in the department of Sololá. Shirley is from the US state of Wisconsin. In many ways, their lives couldn’t be more different. But as they sit side-by-side crafting a rug, they are weaving a common thread between them.  At one end of that thread is an extraordinary work of art; at the other end, an experience that will transform their lives.

Rosa and Shirley both participated in a unique rug-hooking workshop in February 2012, hosted by Oxlajuj B’atz’ or Thirteen Threads, a nonprofit women’s organization in Panajachel. The workshop paired 10 North American women with eight Mayan women who are mentors-in-training for their artisans’ cooperatives. The North American women traveled to Guatemala from Texas, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Canada. Some had up to 20 years of rug-hooking experience while others had never picked up a hook before, but virtually none had ever hooked rugs with strips of used clothing as the Guatemalan women do.

María with one of her completed rugs.

The Guatemalan women came from four different Mayan-language regions. They spoke no English, and some spoke very little Spanish. But despite the lack of a common language, the North American women and their Guatemalan mentors quickly began working in tandem, creating design templates and visiting the local pacas (used clothing markets) together to find the old t-shirts, pajamas, and other clothing that would be cut into strips and woven into their rugs.

“I was surprised at how open they were to someone who did not speak Spanish,” said Jean, a participant from Minnesota. Peg, also from Minnesota, explained that they used “a universal language.” Then she smiled and said, “And sometimes, we just pointed.”

Gaining New Perspectives
As part of the workshop, the North American women traveled to the villages of the Guatemalan women, learning first-hand about the daily lives of their mentors. “When visitors travel here as tourists, they see only the surface,” explained Oxlajuj B’atz’ Executive Director Ramona Kirschenman. “This way, they get to know more about the culture and the background.”

The visiting women spoke with tears in their eyes of the difficult lives of their mentors, many of whom had to overcome their families’ strong objections to attend the workshops. “You really see how far these women have come on their journey,” said Jean.

Learning to Teach
For the Mayan women, the workshop was the culmination of a multi-session training program offered by Oxlajuj B’atz’. Lifelong textile artist Mary Anne Wise has been teaching the women to hook rugs with a high level of design craftsmanship using recycled materials. She is also training them to be designers and teachers within their artisan cooperatives. By learning to be teachers and mentors, the women will be able to advise others within the community on issues such as scale, coordinating color combinations, and expressing their heritage and traditions through their artwork. Working with the North American visitors offered the women the chance to practice their mentoring skills with a particularly challenging group.

“It’s like a sisterhood,” said Jean (left), with Carmen (right).

“If they can teach us without speaking the language, imagine how great they will be when they return to their communities to teach!” said Shirley.

Wise and her colleague Jody Slocum began working with Oxlajuj B’atz’ four years ago, when they led their first introductory rug-hooking workshop for indigenous women. Rug hooking seemed a perfect choice for rural women because it requires few tools and allows women to create art from recycled, easily accessible materials. But it didn’t catch on immediately.

“When we started, we showed the Guatemalan women how we hook rugs and they politely listened,” said Wise. “I’m glad no one told me at the time, but I later learned that they had wondered who would buy a rug made of used clothes. But when the rugs started to sell, the women wanted to know more.”

These early workshops brought other surprises as well.  Many of the students only spoke their Mayan dialect—with several different dialects represented in the room—so Wise had to do all of her training through demonstrations. Teaching the women to create templates further opened her eyes: some of the women had no formal education due to extreme poverty, and she discovered that several had never held any kind of writing tool before.

“I had to rethink the tools I needed,” Wise said. She decided to focus on designs that the women were already familiar with in creating traje (traditional handmade clothing), which has also added a sense of the women’s culture and heritage to the work.

Four years later, four of the thirteen women’s cooperatives currently working with Oxlajuj B’atz’ have become involved in rug hooking, and more than fifty women are hooking rugs. They have not simply adopted the North American style; they have infused it with their own traditional designs and methods and have made it their own.

“It’s as if they’ve reinvented rug hooking,” said Wise. “Their energy, their vitality – they are absolutely phenomenal.”Unfolding a student’s rug to reveal striking colors and geometric patterns, Wise continued, “These women are amazing artists. After just a few years, the work of some of these women is at the level of the very best hooked rugs I’ve seen in the USA.”As the women expand their artistic skills, they also build their self-confidence. Wise spoke of Rosemary, a young mentor who never attended school because she started cleaning houses at age 5 to help her mother support their family.“She told me that she felt like she was a non-person in her community because she had no skills in embroidery or other handicrafts,” said Wise. But hooking rugs unleashed her talents, and her sense of pride. “Now that I sell my rugs, I am not a nonperson anymore,” she told Wise. Holding up one vibrantly colored rug, Wise said, “And just look at her work. It’s amazing!”

As in Wise’s early workshops, the new teachers—many of whom had had little contact with anyone outside of their own communities—faced unexpected challenges in working for the first time with students from another culture. Yolanda, a mentor from Sololá, initially doubted her ability to teach North American students. “My hands were trembling and I didn’t think I could do it,” she said.  “But Mary Anne helped me with her energy and patience, and now I’m a teacher!”

“Even for established rug-hookers in the USA, this is a totally different experience,” said Shirley (left), with Rosa (right).

Empowering Women
The rug-hooking workshop is one way Oxlajuj B’atz’ uses non-formal education to empower Maya women in Guatemala. For eight years, the organization has provided training and capacity-building skills to 27 Maya women’s artisan cooperatives, reaching more than 500 women in rural Guatemala, in the areas of artisan and product development, democracy and teambuilding, small business management, and health and well-being.

Each cooperative is formed around one or more income-producing activities, such as weaving, basketry, or candle making. When an artisan’s cooperative expresses an interest in the program, Oxlajuj B’atz’ performs an extensive needs assessment, then carefully tailors an educational program to meet the community’s specific needs. “Everything we do is very integrated and designed with the outcome of being an empowered woman,” said Kirschenman.

Kirschenman has plans to increase opportunities for workshops between the women artisans and visitors from outside of the region. “We want to develop more customized artisan classes—either group classes or private, one-on-one classes—to create real cultural exchange,” she said. Oxlajuj B’atz’ currently offers several community day tours and package tours, and the next rug-hooking tour is in February 2013.

For both the North American visitors and their Guatemalan mentors, the workshop provided rich new perspectives. “I have been teaching them and they have been teaching me,” said Glendy. “I’ve learned a lot. It has been a beautiful experience.”

For Wise, the beauty of the experience is the close connection made between the women. “You come to know the woman, her family, her daily challenges. I don’t think you can be the same after that. I actually think that is how the world changes, one by one.”

You can learn more about Oxlajuj B’atz’/Thirteen Threads – including information on upcoming workshops — on their website:  www.oxlajujbatz.org.

Photos: Phyllis Bretholtz 

Parque Ecológico SENDEROS DE ALUX

(1 mile). Open Tuesday to Sunday from 8 AM to 3 PM. Entrance is Q10 per person, only Q5 for kids, and there is a camping area available for only Q20 per night per person.

Photos: Fernando Meneses

Nora Demattio y Víctor Sales

Artist Nora Demattio noticed during her academic career that, today, when one speaks of gender equality, the emphasis is usually focused on women. But man should not be set-aside in reconciliation for past errors. He too deserves his place. And in his place one will find that there is great diversity to the male gender. With  the intent to transcend society’s definitions of what it is to be a man, Nora and her partner, Víctor Sales, reflect on the concept of masculinity through the camera’s lens and present to us their exhibit Hommenaje.

The title, Hommenaje, is a play on words from the Spanish word homenaje(tribute; a demonstration of respect, admiration, and esteem made to a person), and the French word homme (man).

Together Nora and Víctor express, respectively, two different but complementary concepts in Hommenaje:  The idea that man’s vulnerability is demonstrated when he is on display in his environment; and a rescue of man and his unobserved daily actions from oblivion, with the goal of restoring his place in his environment.

Nora’s work seeks to answer the question: What is man? While society often imparts the definition on the individual through his gender, Nora seeks to criticize the idea of an ideal man and looks for true diversity on and behind the scene. While the display of man “on stage” – under the spotlight – contrasts vivid colors and light and dark, the Lomographic style of man “off-stage” casually expresses the instant and highlights the beauty of imperfection, which is something she aims to display.

El Afilador by Víctor Sales

Víctor defines his photos in Hommenajeby using black and white, high-contrast, and elements of color, to show us man and his place in society, especially those men who have been forgotten. He focuses on everyday people; the men we often forget to look in the eye: the shoe shiner, the street vender, the garbage collector – the unsung heroes of the city – in an attempt to demonstrate the charm in every facet of man, and to reconnect with the wide variety of manifestations that have always been here.

Sin título by Nora Demattio

Alejandro Vásquez "El Compañero"

Where were you born?
I was born in La Antigua Guatemala, on the 28th of December in 1962 in a house on 3ª Calle Oriente. A tradition is celebrated here in Guatemala on December 28th (which is being lost little by little), which is to play practical jokes on people. It’s El Día de los Inocentes [The Day of the Innocents or All Fools’ Day]. As a child, I would often get pretty gift packages, but inside there were frozen jocotes [a small fruit]. [Laughs] Or sometimes there wouldn’t be anything at all or maybe just an orange. But back then there were more practical jokes played. Years later, on the night of December 28, 1991, at 3 AM my pregnant wife said, “My water has broken!” “Naaaaah,” I said, “You’re tricking me.” I went to my wife’s bed, and yes, it was true.

What was your first job?
My first job was as a teacher. I still teach, but only two afternoons a week nowadays. Being a teacher has always been very satisfying for me. I’ve taught for 30 years. I was lucky in that two weeks after I graduated, I already had a job. In 1983, I went to study pedagogy to stay on track and continue teaching. 1983 was my second year teaching primary school, and I don’t know why, but I focused on art. I always thought that there are many young artists, but their work is only seen by the teacher and by the parents at home. So I arranged exhibitions at school! Many kids didn’t continue in art but had an artist inside of them, and I always told them that if a person is endowed by nature with a talent, even one who has a trade or profession, it’s hard to fail at life. If you make art, but don’t think about the money, often art gives of itself to you. On the other hand, you start selling your art like a pound of tomatoes or onions. Today, there are people who can afford to live off their art, but the point is rather to find things to fill your soul.

Alex dressed as a Roman, Holy Week 2010.

How did you get along with the children?
Contact with young people energizes you. Being a teacher helps you stay young by paying attention to the kids. For example, many people go to a place and say hello to the adults, but not the kids. You have to give attention to each person. Something that annoys me is when people greet me while looking at something else. Better not to say hello, better not to say anything! It’s important to give those few seconds of attention when greeting people. I used to call my students mi estimado [my dear fellow]. Over time this changed to compañero [companion/comrade]. I didn’t want to be called “Prof.” I wanted to be a bit closer to them. And it started with compañero. Now, we use compañero even with customers at the bakery.

You said that you’re still a teacher. But during those 30 years of being a teacher, what other jobs have you had?
In 1997, I started with a coffee shop, the Tata Lapo Café. “Lapo” is the diminutive for the name Serapio. In the 1850s there was a general named Serapio Cruz who was on the side of the peasants and the people, and against the regime of President Rafael Carrera. The indigenous word for dad is tata. (At that time, fathers were a type of hero.) So, Serapio Cruz was called Tata Lapo, sort of saying that he’s our dad; he represents us! In 1870, his friend and comrade, General Solares, beheaded him to send a message to everyone that this is what happens to someone who goes against the government. This event was the beginning of a very violent period. Today when somebody wants to say that something is old, he says that it’s from Tata Lapo’s time. I used Tata Lapo’s name for the café because I decorated it with antiques and in an old-fashioned style. I have a habit of saying to the customers, “Everything here is old… except the food and me!” We had bad luck one day; we went to eat somewhere else, thieves broke in to Tata Lapo. They took everything, even the guitar!

Did you start the bakery just after closing the Tata Lapo Café?
No, I started it about five years later to help support my daughters so they could go to university. I knew that my being a teacher paid enough to eat and to live on, but economically there was a limit. I wanted to make a radical change. I’m not saying that I immediately thought of a bakery. It could have been a tortilla shop, a ceramics store or even an ice cream shop, but I couldn’t invest much. Whatever you do, however simple it appears, if you do it and take it seriously, even selling tortillas, if it’s well done, well prepared, you will have customers. I always go for quality.

My dad worked his entire life as a chef and a baker. With him, we made pirujos [a type of roll], French bread, and I even remember the first time I made sweet bread with him. You don’t forget the sensation of eating bread that you’ve made yourself. I had a baker friend who started with me, and above all I wanted to start the bakery before Christmas, the idea being that it would help the business a little. We began to buy the materials and to arrange things in November. But not until December 23, 2003, were we able to produce bread. After that, my dad started coming to the bakery on Mondays, his day off. He’d come to the bakery with herbs, basil, peppers, dried tomatoes, olives, seeds – that’s when we started to believe in our bread.

Italian braid, ham and cheese besito, and a little fish.

What are some of your creations?
Special breads, which we call gourmet breads. We experimented with baked, stuffed breads, because when the filling is baked, you get a totally different flavor. I like traditions. So for example, the parsley and hard cheese bread is inspired by the traditional tostadas with guacamol, refried beans and salsa, parsley and hard cheese. My inventions now include gusano de carne, eggplant- and mushroom-filled breads, and Da Vinci bread with Gouda cheese. We also have besitos [little kisses], which are cut in the shape of a kiss!

That became the joke of the bakery, didn’t it? When you ask the customer if he wants a hot kiss.
[Laughs] Yeah. In Guatemala, people like to use double entendres. You’ll always find someone who doesn’t like it, but the double meaning is very important. There are people who are very straight-faced when they ask for their “kiss.” There’s also a sweet bread that we have here, called empiernados [intertwined legs] which are two pieces of bread twisted together, and there are some people who don’t want to ask for it by name. “Give me some braids,” they say instead. Another is the pan de amor [love bread] – customers asked me, “Why is it called ‘love bread’?” I told them, “It’s called love bread because it has a whole chorizo sausage inside. Look!” [Laughs] Maybe it was a little bit too risqué, so we changed the name to pan con chorizo extremeño [bread with Extremadura sausage].

“The bakery gives me great satisfaction, moments of grace, of jokes, of joy.”

What, for you, is the most satisfying part of your job as a baker?
I like talking to people. The bakery gives me a lot of friends. And there are people on the street who say hello, and it’s because of the bakery. The most rewarding thing for me is to be able to meet more people. And after that, as the singer Ricardo Arjona says, to be able to go to the restaurant to eat and enjoy lunch without thinking about the bill. I don’t ask for a lot; I just want to have the necessities. Facundo Cabral said, “The conqueror, in taking care of his conquest, becomes a slave to that which he conquered.”

Do you know any bakers’ sayings?
Pan para tu matate [Bread for your knapsack]. This means that whatever happens, remember it and save it, because it may be useful someday. For example, if someone was mean to me today, then that’s pan para mi matate, meaning that I’m going to remember it.

“I want my life to be summarized by a belly laugh. I believe that a joyful heart is more productive than a heavy or bitter heart.”

What are your plans for the future?
It’s a little bit embarrassing, but also somewhat satisfying, to see that there are people who sometimes stay in their pickups outside in front of the bakery, having their coffee and some bread. So we have a project in mind, which is almost fully planned. I want to open another place, something that’s more comfortable for our customers, with tables so they can calmly enjoy their coffee. But we won’t serve the same things – we’re thinking of starting initially with pizzas. I’d also like to take the bakery to an educational level. Imagine it: this week we’re going to give a course in French. Not the language, but the bread!

What do you like most about La Antigua?
Overall, I like walking slowly at night in La Antigua. In the daytime, I’m always going here and there with the car buying supplies for the bakery. But at night, I leave the car behind and I go out without a sweater so that I can feel the chill, the serenity, and the quiet of the night. I really enjoy that. I like to walk on 6a Calle Poniente; I don’t know why. There’s not much movement there, but that’s my favorite street, all the way to the Tanque La Unión.

What would you like to change about La Antigua?
It’s a center for tourism, and obviously there are many people. I wish there were fewer vehicles. I would like for La Antigua to be more for pedestrians. I know, for certain people like me, we use our cars to carry boxes or whatever. But it could be arranged for cars to stay on the outskirts. Most of the time I agree with the Consejo [the National Council for the Protection of La Antigua] when they don’t allow you to build anything you want. If you don’t regulate things, you’ll lose the colonial city. If you go to Retaluleu and want to photograph the Church, which is a neo-classical beauty, you also have to shoot the hotdog carts, the snow cone carts, the fried chicken stands. You can’t just take a picture of the Church, or you have to use Photoshop. But that’s not the idea!

In a way, I know it’s necessary to protect the colonial architecture. Once I put a clock on the front of my house; a week later, I had an appointment with the Public Ministry. So I went to the Counsel, and the man told me, “The clock doesn’t go with the façade.” I replied, “But I saw a big one on the Arch of Santa Catalina.” [Laughs]

Good Friday 2012: Alex dressed as a Pharisee with his younger daughter Lissette, his wife Mayra, and his older daughter Mayra.

What would you like to say to foreigners who are discovering Guatemala?
It should be remembered that we are all children of God. We should treat each other as neighbors and brothers. There are people here who, unfortunately, think that it’s better to deal with foreigners by speaking in a way that not right: “Coffee – want – you?” Let’s speak normally, not with a mechanized language that has nothing to do with our Guatemalan identity. I always try to talk to foreigners like I do to the gentleman from around the corner: “Compañero, what can I get you?”

Panadería Santa Clara 2a Avenida Sur #24, La Antigua Guatemala.

Photos: Mika Rakol

Guatemala is full of adventures to be had, and if you’re interested in history, archeology, and the ancient Maya, then you should consider planning a trip to El Mirador. Whether you make the multi-day trek in or take a helicopter, a visit to this grand site will truly be a spectacular and unique Guatemalan adventure. Learn more about El Mirador on page 96.

This month, we are happily featuring an article on our staff photographer, Victor Sales, and his partner, Nora Demattio. Many of you may have seen Victor around town snapping photos for our Que Pasó photo collage. In addition to getting you to smile for his camera when you’re out on the town, Victor is a serious photographer, and together with Nora, they will be presenting the photo exhibition Hommenaje in early June. Turn to page 28 to learn more about their work.

Check out Qué Pasa’s La Antigua Calendar on page 42 for Semana Santa events.

La Antigua is world-famous for its very elaborate Catholic religious celebrations during the 40 days of Cuaresma (Lent), leading up to the culmination of the season with Semana Santa (Holy Week) and Pascua (Easter) which commemorate the Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The entire city participates in the event, and tens of thousands of visitors – both national and international – flock to La Antigua to witness the dramatic happenings.

Here is a basic guide to some of the sights, smells, and vocabulary of these captivating celebrations.

Velaciones (or Holy Vigils) ornament churches around La Antigua and the surrounding villages throughout Cuaresma (Lent). Each parish’s brotherhood, known as an hermandad, organizes its church’s velación, displaying their religious processional statue in front of or near the main altar. Usually a backdrop is made and a biblical or allegorical scene is created using the parish’s processional image of Jesus, other statues, and additional props. In recent years, many of the more elaborate velaciones have also employed soundtracks and timed lighting displays to add to the spectacle. At the foot of the display lies a vibrant handmade alfombra (carpet) made of brightly dyed sawdust, edged by a huerto (garden), an eye-catching display made of a beautiful combination of flowers, fruits, vegetables, bread, candles, and a large native seed pod with a unique odor that is traditionally evocative of Cuaresma – the corozo.

To find out how you can participate in a procession, see the interview “A Cucurucho for a Day” (from our April 2011 issue) on our website.

Each Sunday during Lent, and then during Holy Week itself, different local parishes sponsor procesiones (religious processions) through the streets of La Antigua. Each procession leaves its church and follows a pre-planned route before returning to the church several hours later.

Procesiones generally begin with men dressed as Roman Centurions leading the way (in a reference to Jesus’ crucifixion at the hands of the Romans), then come incense carriers and banner carriers. Behind them is the central attraction of the procession, the anda (a large wooden platform) bearing the parish’s religious processional sculpture of Jesus set amid lavish decoration. Many of these statues were made during the Spanish colonial period and can date back as far as the mid-17th century. The anda is carried on the shoulders of cucuruchos (carriers), who wear purple full-length tunics in the processions up until 3 PM on Viernes Santo (Good Friday), then black in the procesiones after that.

The largest of the andas can weigh as much as 7,000 pounds (3,150 kgs).

Each group of cucuruchos will carry the anda for a specific distance (a turno or turn) and then a new group will take over. The members of each turn are determined by the carriers’ shoulder height to ensure that the anda is level and balanced. This is important, as the largest of the andas can weigh as much as 7,000 pounds (3,150 kgs) and are carried by as many as 100 cucuruchos at a time.

In the past, the cucuruchos participated solely as a form of penance. Today there is some degree of social status involved, but the principal motivation is still a show of devotion by the carriers.

About a block behind the main anda, women carry a smaller anda with the figure of La Virgen María (The Virgin Mary). These female carriers are known as dolorosas or cargadoras. They also have turnos throughout the various hours of the procession. The women wear black skirts or dresses and also a mantilla (a head-covering, usually lace). Following behind the anda of the Virgin Mary are a funeral band and two additional, very small andas (usually carried by only 4 cucuruchos each) carrying the sculptures of San Juan (St. John) and María Magdalena (Mary Magdalene).

Elaborate and beautifully artistic alfombras (carpets) made of aserrín (sawdust) or viruta (wood shavings) dyed in bright colors, pine needles, flowers such as bougainvillea, chrysanthemums, carnations, and roses, and even fruits and vegetables are constructed during the hours prior to adorn the route of the procesiones. Sand or sawdust is generally used to level the cobblestone street, then the decorative elements are painstakingly arranged on top. The alfombras are made by residents along the route of the procession who invite friends and family to assist them in their construction.

As the procession passes over an alfombra, it is destroyed in the scuffle of feet, leaving nothing but a pile of debris which is quickly cleaned up by municipal cleaning crews that follow the procesión. The fact that the hours of labor and artistic talent that went into the making of the alfombra are wiped clean in a matter of minutes is a reminder that all beauty in the world is transient.

Photos:
Guillermo Gedé
Raúl Illescas

A sketch of the moon phases by the Italian astronomer, philosopher, physicist, and mathematician Galileo Galilei.

Here in Guatemala, each year during March and April, we begin to make preparations for Easter. Some buy their turns to carry in the procesión of their choice. Others are preparing to make pilgrimages through the streets and once again feel the fervor that stirs their souls. And, of course, there are those who start planning their next vacation.

Whatever decision we make, there is something that affects all of us: When is Holy Week and Easter this year? Of course, it’s easy to find the answer: look at a calendar, check the internet, or just ask someone. But the issue goes beyond that. Why is it that the date of this holiday varies from year to year? Why isn’t it on a specific day, like Christmas, Mayan New Year or Valentine’s Day? The answers can be found back in time, back in the very foundations of Christianity – when it was gaining strength in the Roman Empire and fought to distinguish itself from Judaism, when it was emerging from the obscurity in which it had been immersed due to persecution at the hands of the leaders of the time.

Christianity ceased to be a cult of only a few believers and became the official religion of the Roman Empire by decree of Emperor Constantine, and it was at the 1st Council of Nicaea in

AD 325 where agreements were reached about the future of this new form of religious consciousness. It is at this point that certain astronomical events, the commemoration of the Jews’ escape from Egypt, and the Resurrection of Jesus are merged into a new celebration, which over the years has become the tradition we know today as Holy Week and Easter.

In one corner of this triangle are two specific astronomical events, which directly affect this tradition, the spring equinox and the first full moon afterward. The first relates to the position of the earth in its orbit around the sun: the point at which both of earth’s hemispheres are the same distance from the sun, so that sunlight falls equally across the globe. On this day, the equinox, night and day are exactly the same – this means that, in the northern hemisphere, winter is over, snow melts, the cold diminishes, and the sun’s rays begin to warm the region, bringing new life and the renewal of nature. The cycle begins anew. In the southern hemisphere, the exact opposite begins to happen.

The illumination of earth by the sun on the day of the equinox.

The other astronomical event that affects the date of Easter is the first full moon after the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere. Since each moon cycle takes about 29½ days, the date of the full moon can vary from year to year. This full moon can occur as early as March 22 and as late as April 25. Remember, the calendar that we use is based on a solar count.

The Jews, the Chinese, and other cultures use a calendar based on a lunar system, which leads to the second point: Easter is a celebration based on the commemoration of the Jewish Exodus, the departure from Egyptian bondage of this people for their promised land. In other words, the Christian Easter is a celebration with Jewish roots, but was modified so as not to be confused with the celebration of Passover.

Finally we have the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is celebrated by the Christian world. Jesus was crucified and after three days rose from the dead, proving that he was the true Son of God. All this is known as the Passion, and is one of the most important foundations of Christianity.

Images depicting the Resurrection of Jesus.

So, to recap: there’s the spring equinox, which reminds us that even though everything ends, it will begin again and life always continues; the full moon gives us both the hope to see even in darkness and the certainty that there will always be light, even in the darkness of night; the Exodus of the Jews tells us that not all bondage is forever and there is always the chance to start anew; and finally there’s the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which shows that triumph over death is possible and that there is hope of life after death.

The conjunction of these events at Easter suggest that the true message remains from its beginning: when there is life, there are colors, there is light, there is a continuation from one stage of life to another; we are never tied to anything forever; everything flows like the waters of a river to meet the vast sea; if there are no flowers today, there will be tomorrow; if we‘re sad today, that too shall pass. Simply put, it is this cycle that gives us the possibility to start again. Make the most of the opportunity.

Photos by:
Wiki Commons

At Lake Atitlán, there is a place for everyone; each village has its own ambiance. Panajachel is a bustling little lakeside town, where you’ll find lots of places to buy beautiful handicrafts, plenty of restaurants and hotels for every budget as well as a thriving nightlife. At Santiago Atitlán many residents observe the traditions of their Maya ancestors: the men work as fisherman and farmers and the women weave and wear beautifully embroidered huipiles. The town is also famous for its shrine to the Mayan saint Maximón, which is well worth visiting. Perched on the north shore of the lake, Santa Cruz, Jaibalito and Tzunumá are three small villages clustered fairly close together.

There, you’ll find a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere and hotels and restaurants with amazing views of the south side of the lake and the volcanoes. San Marcos La Laguna is nestled next to the water’s edge and under the shade of trees. This little town is known for its spiritual retreats and enlightening vibe. It also had a variety of restaurants and hotels, and a famous cliff dive. San Pedro la Laguna is well known for its chill atmosphere and nightlife; it’s a great place to hang out, listen to music, and meet other travelers, and there are plenty of great places to stay and eat.

Once you’ve gotten settled in the town of your choice, you’ll find there are a lot of things to occupy your time with, if you think that lounging in a hammock and watching the boats and butterflies go by is not enough. If you like to hike or go horseback riding, Lake Atitlán offers some exceptional opportunities along trails that wind past farmland and traverse lakeside cliffs.

For amazing views of the lake, follow the trail of La Nariz, a lakeside ridge shaped like a Mayan profile. Or, for a rewarding challenge, make the 3,000-meter climb up Volcán San Pedro. If flying is more your style, both zip-lining and paragliding are availed at the lake. And of course, what would a lake be without water sports? Kayaking, windsurfing, swimming, snorkeling and even scuba diving can be enjoyed – just be sure to check water and wind conditions before you head out! For the linguistically inclined, lakeside language schools offer the opportunity to study not only Spanish, but also some Mayan dialects. (Your hotel or tour company can offer you more details about these activities, as well as important safety information.)

In 1934, British author Aldous Huxley compared Lake Atitlán to Italy’s Lake Como, which he said was, “the limit of the permissibly picturesque,” adding that, “Atitlán is Como with the additional embellishments of several impressive volcanoes.” Just from photos you can see this is true. But, what you can’t see is the spirit of the lake. For that, you must venture there, and once you do, you’ll find that, “It is really too much of a good thing.”

Photos:
Candice Peyton
Guillermo Gedé
Raúl Illescas

Foundation Los Niños: 10 Years of Building Bright Futures for the Poorest Children and their Families.

Founded in 2002 and based in La Antigua, Los Niños believes education is the key because it breaks the vicious cycle of poverty. Los Niños is a Dutch Foundation with a large network in Holland, but their real work is done in Guatemala where they care for their beneficiaries with their hearts and souls. With excellent planning they build, expand, and improve schools, providing everything for a quality education, including scholarships to talented young people. In addition to advancing education opportunities, they also work to improve the living conditions of their students, focusing on nutrition, hygiene, and medical care to help families achieve a better life. They accomplish this thanks to the support of many donors and organizations in Holland.

On the March 9th, Los Niños celebrated their 10th anniversary with more than 500 children! The children came from four different school projects in Alotenango, San Mateo Milpas Altas, Chimachoy and Santiago Zamora. For many of them, it was their first time in La Antigua. Happiness abounded at the celebration, where everyone received a t-shirt from Los Niños and enjoyed a nice lunch, lots of games, and performances by the children. The smiles on the faces of the children were the biggest reward for those who work so hard at Los Niños. When the festivities were over late in the afternoon, everyone went home tired but very satisfied. Expressing her gratitude to all the donors in Holland, the dedicated Guatemalans, and the hard working volunteers, Ana-Maria Ackermans said, “Nothing less than a miracle of profound change in the lives of hundreds of poor children has been accomplished thanks to all who have worked to support Los Niños during the past 10 years. We look forward to expanding even more in the future!”

Los Niños Team Guatemala, Christel Tinselboer and Ana-Maria Ackermans

Photos by: Victor González

Walter Fischer - “Often tourists don’t venture into the aldeas, but they have a lot to offer. They often have beautiful plazas and churches, and they’re surrounded by natural beauty. They often also have an untouched and preserved culture.”-

Walter Fischer talks about his life and work in La Antigua and what 2012 can mean for Guatemala.

Where are you from?
I was born in Guatemala City. But, when I came back to Guatemala, after living in Europe and getting my masters’ degree in tourism in Salzburg, I couldn’t stand Guatemala City. I had to look for a place with quality of life and a place where I could get away from the protocol of the city. La Antigua was perfect for that, and I already had business here, so I moved to La Antigua in 1998, and have been living here ever since.

When did you start working for INGUAT?
I started working for INGUAT, for the first time, in 2000. I had always been in the tourism business. My family had hotels and tourism operations, and I was qualified because I studied business administration and had a master’s degree in tourism product development.

In those days, I was a marketing manager for the country. I had that position for two years. I was really lucky because I was living in the most important tourist destination in Guatemala. It was wonderful because as a marketing manager for the country I got really great ideas all the time. I wasn’t at a desk; I was out in the field connected to the projects, the community, the destinations, and the tourists. It’s a great place to make strategies for the country. La Antigua has been really important for me in that sense – in my professional life.

Then, I was back on another project in 2006 for one year. And then, I returned a year and a half ago to work as Regional Director – that position ended in January. So I’ve been in INGUAT three times and out of INGUAT three times [laughter]. It depends very much on who the authorities are.

Tell me more about your last position as Regional Director.
I was chosen as a Regional Director of La Antigua because I lived here and they knew I was passionate about La Antigua. We started working with the community, and together we created a whole dynamic workforce that combined the Mayor’s office, the private sector, and INGUAT. In La Antigua we are really localistas – we prefer to have people from La Antigua working in La Antigua, not from outside. So, that was a special ingredient for me to have.

At the inauguration of an Archeological Convention at Posada de Don Rodrigo.

What exactly does INGUAT do? What are its responsibilities?
INGUAT’s main responsibility is promoting the country and promoting the country’s brand, which is Corazón del Mundo Maya (Heart of the Mayan World).

Does INGUAT also provide services for tourists once they’re in country?
INGUAT’s policy is that tourist services should be provided by the private sector. So the only real service is PROATUR, which is a program that assists tourists when, for example, they lose their passport, or have an insurance situation, or they’ve had something stolen. PROATUR will help them contact their embassies and take them to the different authorities, like the police or the Ministerio Público. So if a tourist has a problem, they can go to PROATUR for help.

Have you seen INGUAT change since you started working there?
Well, I think INGUAT has changed, but it hasn’t changed in a good sense. It has changed in that it doesn’t have a clear strategy anymore – they have changed it too many times. They haven’t focused on tourism. They spend the money, the taxes that they get from the hotels, on too many different projects. It has become more bureaucratic, bigger, and slower.

How do you think that can be fixed?
First, INGUAT needs to clean up its act. It has to take a lot of people out of the institution and make it more focused on tourism. It should have as its working plan what we call the Política Nacional de Turismo (National Tourism Policy) and that’s it.

Can you explain what that is?
Yes, the Política Nacional de Turismo is a document that was written twelve years ago. It’s specifically about product development, marketing and the decentralization of INGUAT, letting the destinations and municipalities make their own decisions and their own plans for the money that INGUAT gets from the hotels. The idea is that the tourist destinations know best, and the municipality should play a really important role.

So, what now for you after INGUAT?
Right now, I am part of a huge project called Celebre Guatemaya 2012 (Celebrate Guatemaya 2012). With this brand name, my partners and I want to develop an umbrella for all the different activities having to do with the Mayan culture in 2012. There are going to be different events that will be organized by different groups: tourism groups, cultural groups, Mayan groups, groups from La Antigua, groups from Petén. We are trying to make a strategic alliance that can promote all these different events on national and internal levels through multiple media outlets where people can easily find out about them because we want more tourists to come to Guatemala and really appreciate our Mayan culture and our Mayan ancestral history. And most importantly, to let Guatemalans know that we have a really beautiful cultural history – something we can be proud of.

“I think we have a great opportunity to promote the country, and we have a great opportunity as Guatemalans to feel proud of our Mayan history.”

What are your projections for Guatemala for this year?
The projections look really positive; tourism will probably grow five to eight percent. I think we have a great opportunity to let the world know we exist. Peru has indigenous cultures, and Mexico also has indigenous cultures, but the Mayan culture is in Guatemala and that is unique. I think we have a great opportunity to promote the country, and we have a great opportunity as Guatemalans to feel proud of our Mayan history. Unfortunately, INGUAT didn’t do much about 2012, and that’s why this group from the private sector developed Celebre Guatemaya 2012, and we are doing our best.

I wanted to ask you about that because I’ve had a bit of my own personal frustration with this. Being here, I know Guatemala is the center of the Mayan world – sure there are parts that extended up into Mexico and farther down south – but I haven’t received any publicity promoting Guatemala as a destination for 2012. I have received stuff from Honduras and Mexico with slogans like “Come to the center of the Mayan world.” But, nothing from Guatemala. Now, I don’t know if that’s because I’m not on the right mailing lists, or perhaps if I were in the States more often, I would be seeing publicity for Guatemala… I don’t know.

What’s your view on this?
Frustrating! Because I was in INGUAT! But, INGUAT has different departments and different groups working on different projects. I was working in La Antigua in the regional office. INGUAT as a whole didn’t get prepared for 2012. They should have started eight or ten years ago. It’s really frustrating. INGUAT does many things, but it should only do one or two projects. Period.

Would you go back to work for INGUAT?
Sure, it’s great working there. It has a lot of great resources to work with, and it’s really important for the tourist industry, but I’d also like to see some major changes.

How do you think 2012 will affect La Antigua?
I think we’re going to have more tourists. Maybe INGUAT didn’t do enough, but I know the private sector has. I know CAMTUR did its own promotion. I know Jades, S.A. has been doing a lot of work. I know Rosendo Morales Producciones has been doing a lot of work with the archeologists. Guatemala has been on NatGeo, the Discovery Channel, Travel and Living, and CNN so we should see something coming back.

Walter with his sons Nikolas and Lukas at Finca Filadelfia.

What’s something that you love about this town?
I chose to live here for the beautiful architecture, the beautiful surroundings with Acatenango, Fuego and Agua volcanoes and all these beautiful mountains with natural springs and places to go trekking, and of course its people. I love La Antigua because it’s a melting pot. It’s a cosmopolitan city. It’s really small, but we have people from around the world and from around Guatemala. It’s an explosion of different faces everyday – I love that. I love having conversations with people from around the world and from around Guatemala. We have good coffee, good restaurants, and there is a sense of security here. We also don’t have as much structure as a normal city; we don’t have to wear a tie here. I think La Antigua is the best place to live in Guatemala for its quality of life. That’s what I love about this place.

Do you have any advice for someone who has just arrived in La Antigua?
Yes, experience our coffee. Have a good coffee in a good coffee place. Guatemala is known for many things, but we are world famous for our coffee. So, I would recommend enjoying a good coffee – every day! I also like the market. Go inside and see the colors of the fruits and vegetables and the different clothes, smell the aromas, see all the different faces from the different parts of the country. That is Guatemala.

What would you change if you could change something?
OK… Well, what I’d like to change is the traffic. Traffic is something that has gotten out of control in the past twelve years that I’ve been here. And I say this because it can be changed, and it’s an easy change. I think in the next four years we’ll see a lot more parking lots around La Antigua and we’re going to see a walking city, finally.

What other changes have you seen in La Antigua since you moved here?
La Antigua has become more organized; everyone is trying to work together nowadays because we want to keep La Antigua as it is: a beautiful colonial city with beautiful surroundings. That’s something about us Guatemalans: we’re not good at teamwork. But in La Antigua, we’ve been able to work together, probably because we’ve been influenced by foreign cultures, and we’ve learned from people who have come from the US and Europe. So, I’ve seen that now when there is a project on the table, everyone pushes for the project, and the important thing is that the project is pushed, not who pushed the project. I like that. And it’s something new; ten years ago, it wasn’t like that.

What are your hopes for La Antigua’s future?
That we conserve this live museum and that we control the development around La Antigua so that we preserve this jewel.