XelaWho: We’ve never heard of you and we pretty much run this town. What do you do and how’d you get started?
Hike + Help: Two years ago, several young Guatemalans from Xela founded an NGO – Fomento para el Desarrollo Integral (FDI) – in order to improve development in their country. To facilitate the self-sustainability of FDI, one of the founders donated his established travel agency, Cross Country Tours, to the NGO in January 2008. Now called Hike + Help, the agency donates all of its profits to FDI. When you enjoy your adventures with us, you will receive top-notch service from Guatemalan guides and you can be sure that every centavo of the profits goes to fund the important work of FDI.

XelaWho: What kind of services do you offer?
Hike + Help: We offer hikes, tours and shuttles. Our hikes include treks to Tajumulco, Santiaguito and Lake Atitlan as well as lots of lesser known trails and volcanoes around Xela. Our tours bring you to the ruins of Tikal, magic of Rio Dulce, turtles of Monterrico, San Simon of Zunil, thermal baths of Fuentes Georginas, and local colonial churches. We run shuttles to Antigua, Coban, Guatemala City, Panajachel, San Cristóbal de las Casas and beyond.

XelaWho: Where does the money go? Don't lie to us.
Hike + Help: We've installed a library in San Martin Sacatepéquez for six surrounding schools and their communities as part of our Rural Libraries Program. In an area where books and general access to educational and recreational materials is almost non-existent, and discrimination against people with a rural education high, the library – more of a community center – aims to breed a culture of personal, academic and social development. We work very much WITH the communities, finding out from the families, teachers and children which resources would be most valuable to them.

To book a trek, tour or shuttle, or if you're interested in volunteering at the library, schools or office, call Hike + Help at 7765-0883 or email them at hikeandhelp@gmail.com. Additionally, they offer a free paper recycling
service. Just bring it by their office at 15 Avenida 7-41, Zona 1, Xela.

XelaWho: What is AIDG's mission?
AIDG: The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) helps individuals and communities get affordable and environmentally friendly access to electricity, sanitation and clean water. Through a combination of business incubation, education and outreach, we help connect people with technology that will better their health and improve their lives—as well as provide access to basic services we think are crucial to breaking the cycle of poverty in the developing world. 

X: What kind of projects do you have going on right now and what initiatives are you planning for the future?
AIDG: The last few months have seen a lot of dynamic projects coming to fruition! We are really excited about the 'rocket box', an efficient portable wood stove that XelaTeco has just put on the market. We are working with the community of La Florida on a biodigester install that will provide methane cooking gas from animal waste, and this week we are also installing a ram pump in another worker-owned co-operative that will pump water to homes without the use of fuel or electricity. This summer we will be working on another large-scale micro-hydro project with the help of Engineers Without Borders. Additionally, we will be developing and installing new low cost small-scale wind turbines. We are always looking for new communities and local NGOs to collaborate with us on projects, so if you have any contacts that may be interested please contact us at guatemala@aidg.org.

X: What kind of volunteer opportunities are available?
AIDG: We're always looking for enthusiastic and passionate people to get involved with AIDG through our TecoTour programs. Next month, we'll be offering a tour program that will give participants the chance to travel with us to the communities we work in, see our work first-hand and get their hands dirty while providing some much-needed help. For more information on these tours email us at tours@aidg.org.

XelaWho: Rugby? In Guatemala? How'd this all get started?
Josh: Some of my Guatemalan friends and I were in a bar one night talking and we decided that Xela needed a different sport. A sport someone could play even if they weigh more than 120 pounds. The next day, we decided to go for it, practicing on a papifutbol field one half cement and broken glass and the other half dying grass. Xela Rugby F.C. was born.

X: Who comprises the team? Is it only for Guatemalans? Do you have to have played rugby in the past to make the team?
Josh: The team is mostly Guatemalans with a peppering of foreigners (The United States, Holland, Canada and England are represented). The idea is to develop Guatemalan rugby players, but foreigners and travelers are
welcome because they can add experience and help the people who play and live here year round. Anyone (from anywhere) is welcome at practice, and no experience is necessary - only a desire to have fun and play hard.

X: How many matches have you played so far? How'd you do?
Josh: So far we’ve lost our lone home match against Guatemala City, 24-7. Our rematch is scheduled for late November in Guatemala City. We match up well with them athletically, but they have size and experience on their side. We’re all looking forward to furthering the newest facet of the epic Xela/Guate rivalry. Man I hate Guate. Terrible traffic, mareros, and the stupid Rojos.

X:  What's on tap next for the team?
Josh: We’re looking to increase our recruiting in the coming months, as well as grow our sponsorship base. Also, selected players will be combining with the team in Guate to represent Guatemala in December to compete for the Central American Cup in Costa Rica against teams from Costa Rica and Panama.

If you’re interested in playing rugby in Xela, contact Josh at 5346-3454 or stop by the Inter-American school for practice on Wednesdays at 4pm or Sundays at 10am.

SUSSAN VILLAGRAN

XelaWho: Does your work have a theme?
Sussan: There’s a few that run through this show - it’s pretty diverse, really. There are landscapes and streetscapes, events and people. Some are black and white, others are in color. While I was walking the streets, I started to focus on old door knockers and doors, so there are quite a few like that.

X: The name of the show is Justo a Tiempo. Can you tell us a little about that?
SV: A lot of things happened at the last moment. For example, I took all my photos for the exhibition on film and then put them in to be developed, but then the developers ruined the film, so I had three days to take all the photos again. Also, I was sitting looking at a doorway trying to figure out which angle to shoot and a woman came out of the house and got suspicious. She told me she was going to call the police, then went back inside. I took the photo and walked off and a few seconds later she came out again to check on me, I guess.

X: Do you have a favorite photo in the collection?
SV: There’s one of an old man asleep on a street corner near my house - I love the expression on his face. For another, we climbed to the top of the bell tower in the Cathedral to photograph the bells. We were supposed to ask permission, but couldn’t find anybody so we went up. Then an old man who was selling candles told us to get out or we’d get in trouble, so we took the photo and left - another example of just in time.

X: You work in digital and on film?
SV: I like them both for different reasons. With film, you have the excitement of not really knowing how the photo is going to turn out - you have to wait for it to be developed. With digital there’s none of that, but you do have a lot more options and you can do a lot more things.

X: This is your first solo show. Are you nervous?
SV: I’ve been in group shows before, but yeah, of course. More than that, though, I’m curious to see how people will react and what they’ll think of my work.

Justo a Tiempo will be showing at El Cuartito (13 Av 7-09, Z1) from May 7 to June 7

ARTZENICO

XelaWho: So who’s in the group?
Bonifaz: It’s a mixture of North Americans, Guatemalans and Europeans. We all come from different backgrounds in music and theater.
X: What exactly is absurdist theater?
Jordi: It’s a wide term, but what we do is take things from real life and put them into an absurd context, to highlight the reality.
B: We try to break the bounds of conventional theater and go against logic and reason.
X: What’s the show called that you’re performing at the moment?
B: It doesn’t have a name because it always changes. No two performances are the same.
X: But you have themes that you work on?
J: Mostly they deal with bureaucracy, politics and confrontation. They lend themselves easily to the absurd... we also just have ridiculous ideas that come from nowhere.
B: Our performances are like a mix between theater and poetry, accompanied by violin.
X: And what is the creative process like? Does everybody write?
B: Mostly. Someone comes with an idea and we work it through. We never have a text as such.
X: How have the audience reactions been?
J: Overall, pretty positive - most people seem to be open to new things and what we’re trying to do.
B: Sometimes you can see the reactions in the crowd - first, it’s confusion, then they think it’s funny, then they kind of get uncomfortable, then they tend to get it.
J: Sometimes people are disappointed. They expect a logical sequence to a performance and they get confused when they can’t find it.
X: Where have you been performing?
B: We’ve performed at El Cuartito. We’re going to keep playing cafés and maybe Spanish schools, but eventually we’d like to play more for locals, maybe go on tour...