Quetzaltenango calling

I’ve noticed that when I arrive in a new country I spend the first afternoon or so skulking around the new destination in not the best of moods.  I think it reflects that I just get comfortable with a country and / or a city, and then, as for the past few weeks, off I go again.  So it was when I arrived in Antigua, Guatemala via Guatemala City from Colombia, as I wandered around town thinking that Cartagena and Cusco were far superior Spanish colonial towns.

As I adjusted my new surroundings I wasn’t sure they were, but obviously it’s subjective and depends on what you apply as the international metric of latin American Spanish colonial town superiority. If that measure was proportion of US exchange students in town to learn Spanish, vis-à-vis the percentage of locals, then Antigua would dominate the field.

Katie con chicken buses

After a few days in Antigua, taking in a volcano, I caught a bus to the western highlands of the country and the Melbourne of Guatemala, Quetzaltenango. Here I rendezvoused with a colleagues mentors daughter, otherwise known as Katie and her partner Nick.  Katie’s been travelling Central America for about 18 months and learning of my desire to document positive sustainability stories, suggested a nature reserve 20 minutes outside of Reu on the Pacific Coast, Patricinio Nature Reserve.


With Katie’s guidance I caught my first chicken bus to Reu.  Chicken buses are the shinook salmon of the bus world, rejected US school buses past their prime that find their way to Guatemala, are then pimped out on the outside and the orignal engine replaced with a more powerful and dirty version. There are no emission standards in Guatemala so it’s pretty common to be covered in a plume of diesel fumes when walking along.

Patricinio is a world away and Katie and I were picked up by the reserve owner Mario, a debonair Guatemalan who obviously has a range of commercial interests.  Mario was gracious with his time and through a ranging interview explained how he had acquired the reserve as a farm 25 years ago when it specialized in cardamom.  Branching into coffee and then a host of other crops over the years, avocado, mangostein, rambutan and even Australian Macadamia’s he’s survived and prospered through numerous years of price fluctuations. He also noted it’s bizarre role in the Bay of Pigs invasion in the 1960’s when the US army constructed a road across the farm as part of the preparations for a potential conflict with the USSR and Cuba.

Mmm, coffee

The real story however is not so much this diversification, but his approach to sustainability principles, in the preservation and rehabilitation of 35% of the property as a nature reserve, his symbiotic methods of crop rotation and integration with native vegetation, and his approach to forming lasting relationships with the eight families and 28 people who live on the property.  His philosophy of ensuring that both employer and employee support the common goal of operating a successful farm has enabled him to in turn provide health and education to the families.

Paulino, Katie and I (not in that order)

Following the discussion Katie and I spent the next two days walking the farm and nature reserve with Paulino, who’s been in the property for 15 years and has, with the establishment of the nature reserve and associated increase in fauna developed a keen interest in bird watching, and eating earthworms. Having spent a significant portion of my time in cities it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience to be in the countryside.  As Paulino commented, each time he heads into Reu he appreciates Patricinio even more.  

A recently introduced bin

Mario’s latest mission is to introduce the concept of the rubbish bin to the families on his estate. As the chicken bus journey testified, Guatemala is a Gutemalan’s bin and plastic bottles and all sorts are thrown out of the bus window as you travel along.

Arriving back in Xela I headed to my new accommodation, a Guatemalan family for the week while I take much needed Spanish lessons for the week. My host Sandra lead me uphill to the end of a vaguely sinister alley where a security door opens to a rambling house.

Morning over Xela

Sandra is housing a range of peeps, including an American university volunteer medical student and several school age children, hence my room is replete with Winnie the Pooh blanket and sheets. 


There also seems to be no defined approach to providing hot water in Guatemala, so water is heated with electrical contraptions incorporated into the shower head, with the exposed electrical wiring running all over the place. The electrical heating device cuts in and out depending on its whim and it's always an interesting battle between I and it each morning, with my desire for hot water overriding my concern regarding electrical safety.

I also found out the first morning that the room overlooks a turkey and chicken farm. I’ve grown quite fond of the poultry and like to check their progress on putting on the pounds each morning as I look over the Xela skyline and stare into the distance trying to work out how to conjugate Spanish verbos.