I, Brittany Burton: An American Woman in Guatemala

I spent the weekend exploring San Pedro La Laguna, which is located about 20-minutes via boat from Santiago. A really interesting aspect of Lake Atitlán is that each town seems to have it’s own unique alma. San Pedro is close to Santiago, and while much of the local community is indigenous, to outsiders the town portrays itself as a hippie haven for expats and backpackers. A small winding cobblestone street that is only wide enough for pedestrian traffic connects the town’s two main docks. Once you are following the path between the docks, you suddenly are inside a world of yoga studios and thermal bath pools, health food stores and smoothie shacks, and bars that feature nightly performances of acrobats and fire dancers.

Great hang out spot

The Santiago dock. Rising water levels --> several underwater restaurants

I arrived on Friday afternoon, and checked into Casa Santa Elena on the main road. For less than $5 a night, I got my own private bedroom with queen size bed and a balcony with a view of the lake. Over the course of the weekend I had my fair share of falafel and $0.50 cuba libres, watched a movie screening of The Hangover with subtitles in Japanese, ate some of Guatemala’s best barbeque and hung out at the pool, and enjoyed a live performance from a group that called themselves “Nomads United: The International Horse Circus Caravan”.

Typical San Pedro bar activity

"Acroyoga" fire dancer performance at Buddha Bar

Lunch spot at Shanti Shanti

Like any good solo vacation, I had an excellent balance of meeting a lot of interesting people paired with time for self-reflection. On Saturday night at the bar, I spent several hours chatting with a young Guatemalan named Manuel about the hardships of growing up in Guatemala and his dreams to move to Miami. I also had a chance to read for pleasure (which is a luxury for a grad student). I read the book I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala which is a biographical account of an indigenous Guatemalan peace activist. Her brutally violent history was kind of excruciating to read at times. Also, Menchu speaks a lot about how her Christian faith got her through her painful past and is what keeps her fighting against the ladino establishment, but to be honest, this refrain left me confused. Wasn’t it the Spaniards and ladinos who brought Christianity to the region, and replaced traditional indigenous faiths, in the first place? Fighting to maintain traditional values by defending her Christian faith seems kind of paradoxical to me. Either way, it was a really great read for someone who is here living in an indigenous town, and it also gave a bit of insight into the systemic marginalization and segregation that indigenous people have been suffering for centuries.

I must say that the biggest highlight of my weekend was the climb up Volcan San Pedro. The 5-hour hike was by no means easy, but the views of the lake were absolutely spectacular from the top. It was especially cool to be able to look down on Santiago and Chuk Muk. I found the main cathedral in Santiago and traced my way to approximately the location of my home. In Chuk Muk (the village that was built by the government for displaced victims of a 2005 mudslide) you could see that every single home was the exact same size and color, which is apparent by land but even more strikingly visible from the sky looking down. And of course, the lake was framed by several volcanoes and glisteningly blue and beautiful. I’m still sore two days later, but it was worth the trek!

At the summit, finally!

Busting out the new hiking boots

Panorama shot

This week I’m working on the launch of our online marketplace and grant proposal work, as we’ve almost collected all of the finished products from the first round of the Just Apparel project. Also, I’ll be traveling to Chiapas, Mexico at the end of this week to examine how our projects in San Cristobal have maintained sustainability and hopefully learn a thing or two from them. Stay tuned… hasta pronto!