Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala
26-year-old Jami-Lynn Hastings-Ginger found a way to gain experience in her field while helping Guatemalan kids to have access to education. Since the beginning of January, the Canmorite has been guiding hikes for a non-profit organization called Quetzaltrekkers.
If you try to look for her on a Saturday, she will be impossible to find. She is either hiking the highest peak of Central America, the volcano Tajumulco, which is 4222 meters above see level, or taking clients climbing in the Quetzaltenango area. Four to six days a week, this is what she does.
“Even after a month volunteering here, if I haven’t been trekking for a few days, it feels like forever and I’m like itching to go trekking”, she says with a smile. Sometimes she even offers to join her fellow guides on a hike, just to stretch her legs.
Quetzaltrekkers offers, on top of Tajumulco, a 43-kilometer-hike from a small town near the second biggest city of Guatemala, Quetzaltenango (also called Xela), to one of the country’s most visited tourist attractions, Lake Atitlan. The trail winds in valleys filled with corn fields and little towns (and kids with beautiful smiles). Quetzaltrekkers has a partnership with local communities, which means at night, hikers get to sleep on comfortable bamboo mats and eat traditional food.
Rendez-vous with the stars
On the third day, clients are awoken at 4 in the morning for a short hike up to a viewpoint where they can slide inside their sleeping bags and enjoy a hot drink while waiting for the sun to show up on Lake Atitlan. A moment to forever remember.
The trek itself not overly challenging, as you only gain about 680 metres of elevation, but on the other side of the coin, it gives time for Hastings-Ginger to connect with her clients and get to know them.
“Since we have three days to spend with the clients, it gives me time to chat with them. I always come back with more connections on my Lago Atitlan trips than on Tajumulco ones”, she says.
But beyond the scenic hike and the good company, there is a much greater reason to choose Quetzaltrekkers as a guiding agency: 60% of its revenue allows 150 kids to have access to education and to 20 orphans to have a roof over their heads and food on the table.
The remaining 40% goes to buying supplies for the hikes. When trekkers feel generous enough (most of them do since it’s an absolutely fantastic service) at the end of the trip, they leave some tips which sometimes also go back to kids in need. As a matter of fact, the weekend after our trip, volunteers at Quetzaltrekkers were going to bring them to another one of Guatemala’s famous attractions, Semuc Champey.
These are some of the reasons the Medicine Hat College’s Bachelor of Science in Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership alumni wants to spend as much time as she can volunteering for the organization. There is a minimum of three-month-commitment and she will end up spending a few extra days working for the organization, but she has to go back home at the beginning of April for a job interview with a cycling tour company based in Canada.
“This is giving me recent experience in guiding clients out hiking. Another thing I realized is that you have a lot of time to think when you’re hiking and I’ve been thinking of what my next stages will be and what I want to accomplish, but also what my short-term goals are and where do I see myself for 5 years”, she admits.
One of the things she plans to do when she gets back is to get her teaching certificate to potentially work in schools.
Those interested in supporting Quetzaltrekkers can volunteer as a guide or donate equipment and money.
