One of the things that makes San Pedro a special place is the atmosphere of its tour-istic side. Although the center of town is very typi-cal, not touristic at all, the roads and paths between the Pana docks and the Santiago dock is a tourists paradise. The traveler in you can go to town, enjoy the very typical market place, walk in the small al-leys and see the lifestyle of the local inhabitants.

When the need to share a cold drink with friends arises, the touristic area is the place to go. Business owners, from here and around the world are re-sponsible for this part of town that we call “Gringotenango”. Great food and drinks are easy to find, but what makes it special is the efforts to create an atmosphere that pleases the customers. Starting with a breakfast at Clover, La Puerta, or the Saturday brunch at Barrio. For lunch, there is so many options, just

pick one. To continue the day, how about a Bloody Mary by the pool at La Piscina, en-

joying the sun or the shade of the many banana trees that surround the pool. On the menu are sandwiches made with “Smokin’ Joes’ meat”.

When the sun goes down, just pick a good restau-rant for an excellent (and cheap) meal. D’Noz, Clo-ver, Ventana Blue, Mi-kaso, Le Jardin, Buddha and many more choices await. After that, don’t you dare go home and stare at your Facebook. Go direct-ly to Barrio for an early drink and exchange con-

versation with the usual suspects, mainly from the expat community or the long term tourists. When you’re ready for more action, hit The Buddha where the night life is an art. Mov-ie on the second floor, live music or D.J. on the first floor, a pool table and a lot to drink, will make your visit pleasurable.

Viva San Pedro !Good weekend in San Pedro

La PiscinaSan Pedro

Saturday’s Edition

Viva San Pedro

Although San Pedro has a great selection of restaurants serving great food, on a Sun-day afternoon, a hoard of tourists and locals gather at La Piscina for the Smokin’ Joes’ BBQ. Is it the smell of the wood smoker, or the various kinds of meat sizzling on the grill, that attracts the hungry mob or just the established reputation that makes people come, and then come back for more ?Since the BBQ is hosted at the pool, you can also bring your bathing suit and start losing those calories you’ve just gained by letting

the kid inside you get excited with the splash-es. You know there’s really no risk when you

don’t wait an hour before jumping in. But if you do get a cramp, just stand

up. Nestor, the man behind the Smokin’ Joes’s BBQ is in love with his meat. He pampers it, he ages it, he marinates it, and well, you get the point. What also makes the BBQ a good deal are the side dishes, your plate will be so full you won’t be sad that seconds aren’t in-cluded. There is also plenty of vegetarian options. So don’t be shy, join us at La Piscina from noon to 4pm, Sundays, rain or shine !

Sunday is Smokin’ Joes’ BBQ 2

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Trust us to organize your activities and all your transportation needs.

Agencia Maya Tzutujil (Also Postal Services)

While travelling, life can be tiering. New hotel every couple of days, long bus rides, weird connection waits in doggy terminals, etc. After a while, the pleasure of travelling can start to suffer. The energy level is go-ing down. Lots of travellers say that after 3 months changing town every couple of days, the magic start to wear out. Yeah, another temple, yeah, another ruins...

There is a solution for that problem. Its easy. When your travelling brings you to a place where you feel comfort-able, just stay there for a while and re-charge the batteries. One of those place is (and you’ve guessed it) San Pedro La Laguana.

The longer you stay in San Pedro, the harder it is to leave. The Pedranos are nice people and spending time in their

village is simple. But what makes it even better is that the gringo community is go-ing the extra mile to make your stay here comfortable. Great food at very cheap prices, hotel that cost less than a coffee in your home town Starbuck and friendly bar and restaurant owner that just want to know new people and tell them their stories over and over again.

So, when travelling Central America, make sure that you keep a couple of ex-tra days or even weeks to recharge the batteries in San Pedro La Laguna. If we had a dollar for every tourist who told us they were leaving San Pedro tomorrow and then met them again a couple of days later, we’ll all be retired. It’s the San Pedro effect. If you stay more than 4 days, you’ll feel it too. Don’t you deserve a break ?

Recharging the batteriesViva San Pedro 3

SUNDAY AT NOON

Smokin’ Joes’

BBQ

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Hardly anyone knows what’s going on be-hind the walls of Coco’s Bar, as it’s never open. The owners Cesar and Nickie, a young Guatemalan-Sri Lankan couple, are often too busy to open their own business, they say. Why’s that? The reason is called “Vision Guatemala”, a small locally based NGO which serves about 150 of the poor-est families around the lake Atitlan. Vision Guatemala offers micro- loans, training workshops, community develop-ment projects and scholarships to women and families in need. Founder Nickie strongly believes that her work contrib-utes to the fight against the persistence of extreme poverty. Every morning from Monday to Friday, she goes around for the usual members’ home visits. Open-ing the doors for an insight to their private life is an important part of the process to become and remain a successful borrow-er of Vision Guatemala. Nickie knows the story of every member. All of them live in

very impoverished environments, have 6 or more kids, often single mothers, most of them have never seen a school from the inside and therefore can’t read and write or even speak Spanish. Nevertheless, Vi-sion Guatemala has managed to convert them into small entrepreneurs. Thanks to an intensive weekly training and a small investment capital, some of the poorest families of San Pedro, San Juan and San Marcos are living and working indepen-dently today, earning enough money to feed their family, send their kids to school and even improve their living surround-ings. When Nickie gets back from her daily tour there’s not much time to hang out as there are at least three training sessions to complete each afternoon. It takes a lot of patience to teach a group of illiterate women, who are not used to even speak to people outside of their home, how to write down their household expenditures, cal-culate their small earnings and start sav-ing 1 or 2 Q daily in order to build a bet-ter home one day. Over the last three years, the number of members has grown signifi-cantly and Nickie, “la morenita” has be-come well known within the local com-munity. Almost every day one or two interested women knock on the doors of Coco’s Bar because they heard about Vi-

Vision Guatemala - Every little counts

Trust us to organize your activities and all your transportation needs.

Agencia Maya Tzutujil (Also Postal Services)

Gypsy’sBored of your travel clothes?

Second-hand clothes, hip and unique piecesWe also do alterations & repairs

sion Guatemala’s micro credits. So far, everyone has managed to pay their loans back; many women are able to work without further help of Vision Guatema-la. Cesar and Nickie believe that their suc-cess is based on the ongoing training and a well established relationship of mutual trust between Vision Guatemala and its members. Even though all of Vision Guatemala’s members are working very hard, there’s often not enough money to send all of the many kids to school. In order to overcome the ruling ignorance and step out of the circle of poverty, next generations’ formal education is crucial. This is why Vision Guatemala started its scholarship initiative last year. Thanks to the amazing work of eight very talented young painters who are part of Vision Guatemala’s partner-NGO “Ayudame Pintar mi Futuro”, Cesar and Nickie were able to create a beautiful chil-dren’s book named “el Cacheton” which was produced and published in three lan-guages (Spanish, English and German) in 2011. All earnings from the book sale go directly to Vision Guatemala’s scholarship fund. In 2012 the organization was able to provide a scholarship to 50 of the most successful members’ children. The organi-zation hopes to at least double the number of beneficiaries next year.

While Nickie is busy with the women’ groups and Cesar is in charge of the work related to the children there’s not much time left to run Coco’s Bar. So why is there a business at all? Cesar’s and Nick-ie’s work with Vision Guatemala is 100% volunteer which means they have to take care of their personal living expenses. The bar, while it’s open, helps them cover their costs. For all of you who got interested in Vision Guatemala’s work, there are many ways how to get involved. Growth wouldn’t have been possible without the support of many great volunteers throughout the last three years (thanks Rising Minds!). Get to know or members on home visits, help Cesar run the art workshop for borrowers’ children, teach our ladies, come and have a drink at the bar (if you’re lucky enough to find it open), buy and/or donate your clothes at the new “Coco’s Paca” down-stairs (profit goes to the scholarships or credits), or at last, work a shift at Coco’s Bar which will help to keep this great place open again.

Viva San Pedro 5

Health Care Center “Los Volcanes”San Pedro La Laguna at 100 metres of the Panajachel

Dock, next to Hotel Mansion Del Lago.

We offer the services of :Medical Laboratory

Dentist and Health Care Doctor 24 hours Emergency

7823-7656 — 4951-7330 — 4013-1967

RESTAURANTE15 years of

experience in serving you the best food

Happy Hour 5-8 pmGreat daily specialsFriday : Fish Night

Jenny’s ClosetSlightly Used Clothes,

Amazing Prices

# 5

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So many photo opportunities. Just walk around San Pedro and take some pictures. Then send them to Viva San Pedro and we’ll publish them.

Take a walk on the photo side !6

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Viva San Pedro 7

SUNDAY AT NOON

Smokin’ Joes’

BBQHotel Sak’cari El Amanecer

Beautiful Lakefront Eco-Hotel

www.hotel-sakcari.comE-Mail : hotelsakcari@yahoo.com

(502) 7721-8096

San Pedro La Laguna

You may have heard horror stories about the bank machines in Guatemala. Unfortunately, some of those are true. Here’s mine. I don’t remember exactly when and where I used my card for the last time, it could have been in Antigua or in Coban that I withdraw-al some money and ev-erything seem normal. I am of a suspicious na-ture, I wouldn’t put my card in a machine that looked tempered with. After my trip, I put my card back in its box, where I almost never use it. I have a business in San Pedro, therefore I have revenues and I don’t need to take money from my Canadian account, but six months after my trip, I had to finance modifications to my business be-cause of the rising water. I took my card to the San Pedro ATM but it refused to work. I tried to connect to my bank by internet, but my card was blocked. I called my bank to find out that they blocked my card 6 months

before because they felt it was cloned and someone was illegally making withdrawals. They were right, but the problem is that be-cause I didn’t notice it soon enough, they re-fused to do any investigations and refused to

refund me the $1500 that was stolen from my account. Appar-ently, I am supposed to check the move-ment on my account even if I know that I’m not using my card. So, if you use your

card in Guatemala, especially in Antiqua, make sure you check your balance regularly and contact your bank if you see your card was cloned. I don’t know if it’s true but I’ve been told that Belgium banks are forbidding the use of cards in Guatemala because they were tired of reimbursing there customers. The problem is real. Prensa Libre, the big-gest newspaper in Guatemala has done sto-ries about it. My personal opinion is that certain banks are part of the scam. So be careful, check your balance and con-tact your bank rapidly. Don’t be like me and trust the system and the banks when they say that we are never responsible in case of fraud. Apparently, there are exceptions to that rule and I was taught the hard way.

What about the bank machines ?8

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YoMama’s Casa

* Fire Pit / Hammocks* Kitchen / Pool Table* Free Coffee and Tea

# 26

on

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Flor del cafe The Best Burger in San Pedro Speciality : Big Sandwich #

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Viva San Pedro 9

Certified Legal Translator Traductora Jurada

English - Spanish / Spanish - English inglés - español / español - inglés

All forms of translation available. Se hacen traducciones Legales y Libres

(Police Records, Birth Certificates, etc... all Documents related to Residency)

(Documentos relacionados con el trámite de Residencia)

Cel: (502) 5487-7010 joanne.kemp06@gmail.com

Wednesday night, 7 pm

Pub Quiz with Great Prizes

-- Open every night at 5 pm --

While Antigua and Xela also have many Spanish schools, you should consider San Pedro as your primary source. You can study in a tropical garden with a view of the lake. (If you don’t like your teacher, don’t dislike the school, just ask for an-other teach-er. It’s your right)The school that offers the most ex-tra services is the San Pedro Spanish School. They offer conversation classes, dances classes and other activities. You can also partici-pate in their “Niños del Lago” project where you can teach English or something else to local kids. This is a different way

you can practice more Spanish without spending more money. Living with a family is also available. But be careful with that, if you are the kind of person that likes to meet with other tour-ists, join them for dinner and go out, then

the routine of living with a family can be a little con-straining. But if you want to practice more, living in a family will help.

If you prefer a smaller school, there are many schools with only a couple of teach-ers. Just go for a walk and ask question about what they have to offer. If you can, try to meet your future teacher. Good learning !

Studying Spanish in San Pedro

SP-WebStudio Web Site Production Hosting and Domain Name

SP-WebStudio.com5304-7357

I decided to go to Guatemala to study Spanish in August-September 2010. I compared the Spanish schools on the web and was completely charmed by the San Pedro Spanish School. It looked very organized on their website and it had very good reviews .My plan was to spend 3 weeks in San Pedro and then 1 week in Antigua.My time in San PedroI spent one night in Ciudad de Guatemala and went di-rectly to SP. I was completely enchanted, from the first day, by this amazingly beautiful little village! I felt completely safe as soon as I arrived. Of course, you should use your common sense (I would not recommend to wear expen-sive jeweler, carry laptop in an obvious way, go on a trail without asking the locals if it is safe) but you can walk without any fear during day AND night time (which is great for Central America and Guatemala).

I took four hours Spanish lessons/day. It was a little bit hard at the beginning but great! The sun was shining most of the time (even during the rainy season, in August-September). My les-sons (one-to-one) took place in the garden of the

school, on the verge of the Lake (so beautiful!). My teacher, Clemente, was super nice, and I had a very good time studying Spanish with him! It was a de-light to go to school every day in such amazing conditions! I was living with a local family, Pedro and Deborah. Pedro was a renown Mayan painter of the area (you can even find a little article on his work in the lonely planet!). Deborah was one the nicest person I have ever met and she really made me feel at

home! Staying with a host family gave me a real feeling of the place and helped me tremendously to improve my Spanish!

(Continued on page 11 ->)

My experience at San Pedro La Laguna10

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Jakuu’#

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SUNDAY AT NOON

Smokin’ Joes’

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There is a special atmosphere in San Pedro: this is probably due to the astonishing beauty of the place mixed with the kindness of its people. San Pedro was an excellent spot to have both a local experience and meet gringos from all around the world (US, Cana-da, Israel, Germany, Belgium, …), And to mix relaxing time with nature activities.

I did kayaking, hiking, biking (exhausting but I really recommend it, you have breakthrough views of the lake and the volcanoes!!), zi-plines, salsa classes, visits to other villages of the lake (Panajachel, San Marcos, Santiago-where you can see the local ‘God’ Machimon), day trip to Chichicastenango (the biggest mar-ket of Central America). I also went to swim daily to ‘la Piscina’-definitely the nicest place to swim to hang out and to meet people! You also have many opportunities for yoga classes, horse riding, get a cheap massage, a wonderful haircut at 2 dollars, go to very entraining quiz pub … ;)

When you arrive you might think you will be

bored easily, but when time to leave comes, you just de-cide to stay longer. There is always something to do or new great people to meet! In my case I finally spent only 2 days in Antigua without any regrets!

San Pedro is for you if:• You want to be in a super safe place in Guatemala• You want an unique experi-

ence of ‘peacefulness’- this works if you are ‘peace and love’ but also for ‘normal’ people (I am a law-yer!)• You want a place a little bit touristic but which keeps the authenticity of a typical Mayan village (more genuine than Panajachel)• You want to enjoy the outstanding beauty of the Lake Atitlan at every second• You want to meet nice people and in an easy way• You want to do be active but to relax too• You want an unforgettable experience in a mar-velous place.

Viva San Pedro 11

Saturday Brunch All you can eat for 40Q 10 am to 2 pm. -- Open every night at 5 pm --

Tacos : 3 x 12 qQuesadillas : 13 Q

Tortas : 17 Q

Good, cheap, fastOpen until 1 am every night

Abierto hasta la una de la mañana todo los dias

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Viva San Pedro !Info : vivasanpedroguatemala@gmail.com Production : Daniel BazinetCollaborators : Alex, Camille Photo : Daniel BazinetDistribution : AdrianInformation : 5304 7357www.vivasanpedro.net

Quality FoodAt Affordable Prices

Monday-Saturday : 8am-10pm. Sunday : 4pm-10pm

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