The Future of Petén

OAKLAND, Calif. — I am going back to Guatemala, but this time to the jungle. My family marvels at it — a return to a place crawling with desperate thieves and ex-paramilitary types? AK47s, snakes, overgrown Mayan ruins and a two-and-a-half-day hike into a place where even the Google Street Team dares not to go. ¿Pero porqué mija? It’s not every day you are presented with the opportunity to return to your own country to report on the incredibly divisive issue of ecotourism and local sustainable farmers. We will be talking about some of these issues and getting more community dialogue going in the coming weeks as we plan, report and file dispatches from the field (yes even from “Mirador Basin“).

While our illustrious multimedia team has a great deal of experience working independently, the typical SoJo, it’s the first time we’ve worked together as a team outside of our newsrooms or independent projects. It’s an interesting course in team building, much like the Mt. Everest case study, as we plan things during endless conference calls and sessions at the local WiFi-enriched cafes. We’re learning very quickly what our separate needs, styles of reporting and structural needs are. More importantly we’re learning how to trust each other with each other and with a story that needs to be reported with a community-focus.