Working in San Pedro

Many people arrive in San Pedro to have a few days of rest while traveling around Central America. Many of them stay for a couple o' days more, and realize after a few weeks they' ll need to find some source of income to survive. Working in San Pedro isn' t just about the money though; as a waiter or receptionist you get a lot of opportunities to make friends or just have fun while sipping your free drinks behind the bar.

Restaurant and bar owners face the problem of unreliable staff, irregular shifts and huge seasonal staff turnover. For this reason they' ll want to make sure that you' ll stay in San Pedro for more than a few months. Since travelers occasionally promise long stays to get the job, employers will likely ask you where you plan to stay. A place that rents for the month will make you more credible than staying at a Q20/night hostel. Many locals don' t even care about what you tell them; they will only consider hiring you after seeing you around the place for a few weeks.

Just like anywhere else in the world, landing a job in San Pedro is all about personal contacts. There' s not much we can help with there, so let' s check out the facts. Hourly wages range from Q6 for rookies to Q12 for long-term bartenders with a handsome shave or deep cleavage. While that won' t buy you much, the benefits aren' t bad. Most places will let you have a meal of your choice and free drinks during the shift, and tips are considerably generous than other places in Guatemala. Some places might even help you find cheap accommodation or a placement at another bar or restaurant. Restaurant Jarachik is famous throughout the community as a long-established " training camp" for seasonal workers in San Pedro. Another restaurant frequently hiring staff is Le Jardin, a laid-back garden establishment owned by a helpful and friendly French couple, bosses anyone could wish for. Other places like Nuevo Sol (best breakfast in town), Zoola (top quality falafels) and Nick' s Place (great lakeside panorama) occasionally hire travelers to help out during high season.

If you have more experience mixing mojitos in the dark than balancing plates of pizza on your arm, bars and nightclubs on the trail are your target Freedom and Buddha, market leaders in the nightlife scene, frequently exhibit new faces running up and down with handfuls of cubas. Places like the Flying Dog or El Suave are also great options for enhancing your cocktail-mixing skills. While seasonal jobs typically involve restaurants and bars in San Pedro, you can always find a partner or friend for just about any idea or enterprise you may have. This will probably involve a lot of brainstorming over beer 'n' cigarettes, but in the end you even might end up renting kayaks, making jewelry or selling freshly-baked brownies on the corner.

Our intrepid San Pedro correspondent, Aron Bedouin, will be hiking trails, crashing parties and drinking until the wee hours of the night to bring you the scoop on all things San Pedro. For more of his writing and fantastic photography, check out his blog here.