Welcome to our final episode. Today we continue talking to Eric, Elias and Barbara. Together we'll discuss immigration, the impacts it has on the family members remaining in Huehuetenango as well as the impacts it has on the communities that lose their most valuable resource, its people. Our guests:Eric Galvez: Program Coordinator for the Ixtatan Foundation in HuehuetenangoElias Alonso: Director of Development for the Ixtatan Foundation. He was born and raised in San Mateo Ixtatan, a tow...

In our second to last episode, we’ve brought 4 guests to the table to help us Explore Huehuetenango’s work force / employment field, to understand what makes up its commerce, to discover what kind of help and guide are available to those entering the work field or wanting to become entrepreneurs, and finally to learn about family structures and finances. Our guests:Eric Galvez: Program Coordinator for the Ixtatan Foundation in HuehuetenangoElias Alonso: Director of Development for the Ix...

Welcome back!Today we present Edyth Santiago, a young and vibrant musician from Huehuetenango. She was the recipient of the English Access Microscholarhip Program sponsored by the US Embassy in Guatemala and studied English for four years. She dreams to become a music producer and be able to give back to her community. Today we hear her experience as she has navigated this field in her hometown, but we also hear her plea for more support to the artistic community of Huehuetenango. For m...

We’re 3 out of 6 episodes in this journey of Exploring Huehuetenango. Today, Monica Lopez, an English teacher and a Huehuetenango native explores her city from the outside. You may ask how? Well, when she traveled to Charlottesville in 2016, she didn’t travel alone; she traveled with everything Huehuetenango had prepared her with. While being there, she compared her hometown to the Virginian city, and although she embraced everything about it and was amazed by the entire experience...

In the second episode to the six-part series of Exploring Huehuetenango, we hear from Fredy Ramirez Palma, the founder of Natucultura, an authorized agency located in Huehuetenango offering tour guides and information regarding the city and the department’s culture. In this episode we learn about Huehuetenango’s history dating back to the BC era. Fredy follows a chronological order when presenting Huehuetenango as not only a territory, a settlement, and a premature city, but also as what it i...

A helpful guide to understanding the playlist. Each track represents one of the 22 states that make up Guatemala. In bold you’ll find the name of the department (state). These are organized geographically. With the help of a map, you can follow along. 1. Flores Peteneras: In honor of the island of Flores, the capitol of Peten2. Cobanerita: Coban is the capitol of Alta Verapaz; the demonym for the people from Coban is cobanero/cobanera. 3. Puerto Barrios: The title is the name of th...

Charlottesville, Virginia is not new to sister city relationships. It embarked on this curious and incredible journey close to five decades ago with Poggio a Caiano, Italy, and since then it’s been working with other cities across the world to connect its residents. In this podcast, you’ll learn of its newest and first relationship with a Latin American municipality: Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Although they are currently in the friendship city process, they are actively working on becoming its...

This six-part series will explore Huehuetenango from different perspectives and different voices.Edward Herring, a systems engineer and currently a language teacher for the Charlottesville City Schools, shares his observations on his recent trip to Huehuetenango as a member of the Charlottesville Sister City Commission. His vast experience and technical eye give insight to where the relationship between the two cities has begun. Jordan Lindbeck is a grad student at the University of Texa...

Migración: Los Que Se Fueron y Los Que Se QuedaronHoy, irregular o no, la migración de miles de guatemaltecos tiene varias causas, pero en la década de los ochenta la migración tenía una variante mas: el conflicto armado interno. Miles de personas salieron de Guatemala en busca de refugio en diferentes países, entre los que se encuentra Estados Unidos. Algunas personas regresaron y otras se quedaron en los lugares donde encontraron protección y una oportunidad de comenzar de nuevo. ¿Qué ha si...

Migración: Los Que Se Fueron y Los Que Se QuedaronCuando se habla de la migración, y mas cuando es de la migración externa, quizá con frecuencia se piensa en el hombre. Muchas veces es él quien emigra, dejando atrás a la familia, esposa e hijos. Se admira la valentía y el coraje del migrante. Toma la decisión de empezar de cero en otro lugar, y en varios casos guatemaltecos su enfoque principal es aportar a la familia que quedó. Pero ¿que del rol de las mujeres? en particular de las madres. M...