From building houses out of cardboard boxes in his parents’ electrical store when he was a child, to designing candy stores at the university, Franklin Contreras was always destined to be an architect.

The talented Guatemalan now owns his own firm, which employs over 200 people, and their designs stand out as pieces of art, especially along the streets of La Antigua Guatemala.

Having grown up in the historic city, the architect long ago fell in love with its distinctive Spanish Colonial style.

“It still surprises me every time I go inside a house here; each door hides something new,” says Contreras. “It’s a privilege to work in such a beautiful place: There’s no stress and no problem with traffic slowing down construction.”

Within his work, the Guatemalan architect draws upon Moorish motifs, such as Moroccan brickwork, domed cupolas and water features, to soften the Spanish Colonial style.

After graduating from Francisco Marroquín University, Guatemala City, in the late 1980s, Contreras’ first project was to build a furniture workshop on a plot of land his father had bought him in Antigua. However, it soon became apparent that the young architect had bigger plans: He constructed an elegant two-story building with a central patio and interior gardens, where his company still resides, and from there his career took off.

First he built for foreigners and then for locals, with many clients moving into their homes before they were even completed. Each of his designs is unique and intended to surpass the customers’ expectations. “I like the challenging clients; when people agree with me too often, it’s boring. I like it when people have their own ideas, and I have to find ways to fulfil them,” says Contreras.

Contreras acknowledges his style has changed since he first became an architect over 20 years ago. “I think that over time you’re exposed to different sources of inspiration. I like to travel and that has definitely changed my way of designing spaces and architectural details.”

The designer remains unaware of what makes his style of architecture unique to him. “I don’t know whether it’s the curved ceilings, the materials we work with, or the use of axis that remains a constant, but people often tell me they recognize my designs—I hope that’s a good thing!” he laughs.

Even his modern designs retain their traditional roots and the architect is able to perfect the balance between preserving the traditional and evolving with the fashions.

“Before, kitchens were closed areas for the cook, but now cooking’s become a family activity so I like to design open kitchens and eating areas, which become the heart of the house.”

Contreras believes in maximizing one’s surroundings—he uses roofs as places to entertain friends while enjoying the mountains and volcanoes of Antigua, and internationally, glass walls to provide a contemporary feel while showing off beautiful views in Mexico City.

However, working in a World Heritage site such as Antigua, does come with a few difficulties, and failure to abide by the rules can have costly consequences. CONSEJO, an institution established in 1969 to preserve the city’s heritage, imposes strict limitations on construction within the historic center. For example, there are height limitations, second floors are forbidden and restoration projects are closely monitored.

“It’s complicated working in the center, but if we didn’t have these rules we would have lost the city years ago,” states Contreras. He admits he used to prefer the freedom of working outside the historic center, but now enjoys the challenge of restoring buildings inside it.

In the past, he has designed houses and hotels, many of them in Antigua, but he now wants to do something to benefit the whole community. “We have a special treasure in our country as people still know how to work with their hands,” states Contreras. He hopes that an upcoming project will help artisans to promote their crafts and goods around Antigua.

A candid chat with INGUAT’s Walter Fischer

Imagine a place with volcanoes and mountains, jungles and deserts, white sands and black beaches … but while you and I have already discovered the beauty of Guatemala, the majority of the world remains oblivious.

INGUAT, the country’s tourism board, has embarked on a 10-year campaign to increase tourism in the country at both a national and international level.

“Guatemala has a lot of unique products on offer like its selva (jungle) and Mayan archaeology,” says Walter Fischer, senior advisor at INGUAT. “It’s cultural tourism that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world, and we want to put it at everyone’s fingertips.”

The organization’s latest strategy promotes Guatemala as El Corazon del Mundo Maya (The Heart of the Mayan World) and, coupled with increased advertising of the nation’s attractions, aims to help the country achieve its potential in the travel industry by 2020.

“Costa Rica has 25% of what Guatemala has,” says Fischer. However, since it has promoted itself better, Costa Rica remains a more obvious holiday destination for vacationing foreigners.

INGUAT’s emphasis is on increasing tourism but with customer satisfaction over customer sales–so that visitors leave planning their return trip. It also wants to capitalize on upcoming events to draw in tourists, such as the year of the Mayan Prophecy in 2012.

Guatemala… has cultural tourism that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world, and we want to put it at everyone’s fingertips. —Walter Fischer, INGUAT

This year has already seen an increase in tourism compared with last year and it’s hoped the numbers will keep rising. Promotional television advertisements for Guatemala have started appearing in various nations around the world as well as on popular channels like CNN and National Geographic.

In addition to pushing the country in places far afield like Germany, Spain and the UK, INGUAT is also canvassing at a more local level and encouraging neighbors to visit.

Central America has Guatemala at its fingertips; residents of these countries don’t require a visa to visit and many unique destinations are just a bus ride away.

With the recent increase in air travel across the region, INGUAT hopes tourists will be persuaded to extend their vacation and visit a chain of popular attractions throughout the area.

“Rather than someone coming just to visit Mexico, why not go from Palenque to Tikal, on to Antigua and fly back?” asks Fischer.

Internal tourism is also very important to INGUAT. Viaja a Guatemala sin salir de Guatemala (Travel to Guatemala without leaving Guatemala) is a new project that encourages residents to go beyond the tourist hot spots of Antigua and Panajachel and visit lesser-known archaeological towns around the country like Uaxactun.

While Fischer admits the level of in-country violence is a challenge to the country’s tourism industry, he insists the international perception of Guatemala remains its biggest barrier to development.

“There’s a lot of negative publicity about Guatemala,” he says. “But there’s also a lot of positive things to say about the country, which rarely gets mentioned.”

Budding artists Geovany Flores and José Luis López Godoy honored their former elementary school, Escuela Mariano Navarrete, with the gift of a vast, colorful mural.

What does the mural depict?
José Luis López Godoy: The central idea behind the mural is that it was created for primary children. It is focused upon Maya icons and iconography, mixing a lot of trends—from a little cubism, naive art and pop art—so that the children have a little art history.

Geovany Flores: The making of the mural was inspired by the Popol Vuh. The Popol Vuh is a sacred book of the K’iche’ Maya and narrates the creation of vegetation, animals, the first man made from corn, and, afterwards, the origin of the K’iche’ Maya. The Popol Vuh is like the Bible for the Maya … the perfect, human-divine creation for the gods are the men of corn. You can see in the central part of the mural a tree with corncobs. This narrates the creation of the first men. The tree also signifies the central axis of the universe and narrates the three planes that make up the terrestrial world.

What inspired you to make the mural?
Flores: José took the initiative and contributed the first ideas … he went to the school and spoke with the director. The director said, yes, we could make the mural.

Godoy: The kids gave us the inspiration. We did a quiz where we summoned all the kids to make a drawing of what worried or bothered them the most. In the drawings we found, with much surprise, that they were most affected by the violence in their lives. So we wanted to relate in the mural something more, showing different alternatives.

What do you hope the work accomplished?
Godoy: That the children see a little light through all these drawings, that they see a little hope through these stories related through the mural. That, yes, one can: one can accomplish things through little means.

Flores: The mural also has other messages, including the importance of voluntary work as part of developing a community. We began without money, we began without anything, only with the idea… The work was purely voluntary. I believe that this is the message as well: the importance of voluntary work and that it is possible to do things if one really wants to.

How long have you been creating art?
Flores: Fifteen years researching art and making art; studying the techniques of art.

Godoy: Honestly, I have devoted 10 years to art. But, you bring something from when you are a kid. You have this restlessness. Yet, I became 100 percent devoted to expressing myself through a canvas 10 years ago.

Will you create more murals?
Flores: We have already started another mural in a school in Jocotenango (Rafael Rosales). We are on a break for many reasons, including economic reasons. But we are going to continue with this project… We have intentions to continue making projects in public spaces in our city.

Godoy: First and foremost, the idea was to make a mural in order to reach out to the people with our work. Not to maintain this idea of elitism that one only keeps their art inside a gallery when art can be created in public spaces so that it reaches the entire population. It is a way to make people aware through art. And this is wonderful.

photos by Geovany Flores

A chat with Vida Amor De Paz, Guatemala’s crusader for protecting the planet

Her smile is electric. Her energy is vibrant. Her achievements … inspiring. My brief interview with Vida Amor De Paz has certainly left me with a powerfully affecting impression. I am new to Guatemala and can claim no more than five months of exploring the country and its people of influence. I’m certainly no expert on De Paz and her prominent social repute. But learning about some of her most recent adventures and listening to her life’s mission not only moved me, but encouraged me to continue chasing after my own dreams. After spending time with her I felt rewarded—rewarded with renewed inspiration and motivation. And, as she recounted, that is exactly what she is after:

“I believe more in telling people: ‘Hey, you can be a good person. I trust you.’ What’s going to happen when I tell you that? That’s going to empower you. And you’re going to feel a responsibility to be able to live up to that. So that’s the way I think. That’s my philosophy of life.”

In just two hours, I quickly came to understand that De Paz is a true go-getter. As a former TV personality, a children’s songwriter, a regular columnist in the Guatemalan newspaper the Prensa Libre and the founder of two environmental organizations—one based in Guatemala and a sister foundation based in the United States—it is apparent she is a very difficult woman to “sum up,” let alone try to define or describe. Yet, in her own words, she is simply young at heart.

“I still think like a child … because I trust people. And I want to continue trusting people. Of course, I have two little antennas when something tells me, ‘Hey! Watch out!’ But I think we are missing the trust. When we grow up we lose the trust that we should continue having in others.”

And not just trust in others. De Paz has that rare and admirable quality of truly trusting herself. When the woman was first faced with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of traveling to the North Pole in 2007, it was essentially an opportunity for a “free ride” with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). But that chance to spin her lifelong message to protect the environment in a new, unique way quickly fizzled into a “no ride” when Russia rocked the boat of opportunity (pun-intended), claiming the North Pole as its own in July of that same year. Thus, world politics unraveled De Paz’s opportunity to go—at least with NOAA. Once the idea for such an adventure weaseled its way into her agenda, there was no stopping her. With persistence she tracked down a smaller expedition that was already conducting research in the North Pole. Though the TARA crew reportedly would not even host the likes of National Geographic, De Paz’s distinctive Mayan angle proved to be intrigue enough for the TARA scientists to invite her.

“Everybody was telling me I was crazy, that I was insane trying to get there. Some people didn’t even think that I was going to make it. … Honestly, I really wanted to know how it all converged. What the Maya were trying to tell us. What the scientists are trying to tell us. How that all converged. What was the parallel. And that’s what really took me.”

That and some expert fundraising. De Paz managed to secure €17,000 of funding from beauty brand Paul Mitchell as well as another €12,000 from the Guatemalan phone provider TIGO.

“Some people asked me if I was scared before we landed. And to tell you the truth, the landing could have been catastrophic. We could have died. But I was just not thinking about that. I was just not thinking negatively. I was thinking, ‘Wow! We’re landing at the North Pole.’ … I think the only other time I have experienced such excitement is when I gave birth to my kids.”

Such perseverance not only earned De Paz the adventure of a lifetime, but also the chance to share her message of environmental care worldwide, through a documentary of her trip. De Paz reports that her film, From the Maya to the North Pole, has already been featured in Poland and Barcelona and is scheduled to appear in Italy, Egypt, the U.S., Copenhagen and Argentina.

De Paz’s adventure and resulting film already make her stand-out. But the mission could very well have earned her an achievement of a true pioneer. The Guatemalan personality just could be the very first Latin American to reach the North Pole. Currently, a woman from Vera Cruz, Mexico, is making the claim. But her trip was completed one year later than De Paz’s.

“Still, I don’t know. I guess I should look into that,” De Paz remarked.

But for the moment she is too busy looking into transforming her documentary into a book as well as writing a science-fiction novel based on Mayan history. De Paz reports that she is also considering a television show and adds that she has every intention of continuing to develop more film projects. She is also helping organize a new campaign that aggressively urges Guatemalans to become more directly involved in protecting their natural habitat. De Paz asked me to keep the details “hush-hush” for now, but the project is scheduled to go live in about a month.

Still, all these plans are not enough. When asked, “what’s next?” The non-stop “grandmother” quickly asserted: The South Pole.

You can find a 10-minute preview of De Paz’s documentary on Youtube by searching for: From the Maya to the North Pole.