http://www.futureofpeten.com Firsthand reports on ecotourism, logging and political change in northern Guatemala Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:39:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en On July 16, when Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom presented the Cuatro Balam plan for increased tourism and environmental protection within the Maya Biosphere Reserve, he showed the following video: The video invokes the wisdom of the ancient Maya, their superior knowledge of the heavens and the natural world. It goes on ... http://www.futureofpeten.com/2008/09/25/are-evictions-the-future-of-the-maya-biosphere-reserve/ Richard Hansen, Director of the Mirador Basin Project and head archaeologist at El Mirador archaeological site was named Environmentalist of the Year by Latin Trade magazine. Latin Trade today announced the winners of the Latin Trade Bravo Business Awards intended to "honor government and business leaders for their contributions to progress ... http://www.futureofpeten.com/2008/09/25/richard-hansen-to-receive-environmental-award/ SAN FRANCISCO — One of the strangest things about Guatemala is how close it is to the US. And how easy to leave. In our plane, we effortlessly crossed the border where Mexico tries to keep the Guatemalans out, then cleared the wall the US is building to keep ... http://www.futureofpeten.com/2008/07/25/concessions-and-their-challenges/ LAGUNA DEL TIGRE NATIONAL PARK, Guatemala -- The sign announcing the entrance to Laguna del Tigre National Park is large and impressive. The problem is, that's about the only visible sign that you're entering a "core protected area" of a massive national wilderness preserve. We traveled about five hours by four-wheel-drive ... http://www.futureofpeten.com/2008/07/25/a-visit-to-beef-national-park/ LA PASADITA, Guatemala — The signs were all there: tree stumps, hastily constructed barbed-wire fences and stray cattle. All that was missing was the perpetrator — or perpetrators — of this all too common environmental crime. About 45 hectares of forestland had been burned, replaced by corn plots and tall grasses, ... http://www.futureofpeten.com/2008/07/23/on-patrol-with-environment-officials-and-guatemalan-soldiers/ It's the last leg of our journey back from Guatemala and I marvel at the difference in the landscape from above — houses neatly dotted against the foothill ridges and valleys of California's sloping red terrain inching all the way from Los Angeles in random sproutings of civilization. It's the ... http://www.futureofpeten.com/2008/07/21/almost-back-to-oakland-for-the-mirador-four-2/ I finally got to see more of Guatemala by land yesterday. I left Flores, Petén, with Kara and Nadia at 6 a.m. Hector, our friend and driver, was behind the wheel and we headed south for hours on straight roads passing more treeless land than I had seen my entire ... http://www.futureofpeten.com/2008/07/21/overland-to-the-capital/ As the sun emerges from the gray-brown smog that hangs over Guatemala City's wet streets, we board our plane and are inundated by the sounds of English words, and babies crying — for the most part a universal language of frustration. Our time here is ended ... http://www.futureofpeten.com/2008/07/21/guatemala-city-rain-and-welcoming/ UAXACTÚN, Guatemala — Everyone in this village down a muddy, rutted road, 23 km past the world-famous Maya archaeological site of Tikal, knows how to "xatear." The verb, which would stump most Guatemalans, means "to cut xate," a decorative plant used in floral arrangements in the United States and elsewhere. But ... http://www.futureofpeten.com/2008/07/20/sustainable-forest-agriculture-spawns-its-own-verb/ Our Future of Petén multimedia team has been searching the Flores, Guatemala area for lumber workers to tell us their story. Today we found a few and broke that Flores lassitude fade into the distance. http://www.futureofpeten.com/2008/07/17/stories-in-wood/