Course
Content

Additional
Activities

Practical
Arrangements

Further Information
and Links

Your
Instructors

Additional Activities

A wide variety of activities and excursions are possible in San Marcos La Laguna, including Spanish classes, guided hikes, volunteering in La Cambalacha’s art classes, massages, saunas, therapies, courses in alternative therapies, yoga classes, dance classes, and climbing, diving or kayaking in the lake.

Of course you can simply enjoy the lake whenever you like – it’s only eight minutes’ walk from the centre.

At the end of the course we may organise a visit to a bamboo farm and eco-lodge.

Guatemala has many other spectacular places to visit – checkout the links section towards the end of this page.

Insurance & Medical

We recommend a comprehensive travel insurance for the duration of your trip.

Although San Marcos La Laguna lies in the tropics, you will not need any vaccinations because its altitude (1600m) keeps temperatures down, and so most of the bugs out! It is thankfully free of serious tropical diseases such as Dengue Fever, Malaria, Cholera and the like. However, you may choose to vaccinate yourself if you plan to visit lower altitude regions of Guatemala and Central America (e.g. Rio Dulce, Livingstone, Petén and Honduras).

We keep a well-stocked medicine cabinet for any ailments, and there are several nearby clinics and doctors in case further treatment is needed, including a private clinic a half hour’s boatride away. In an emergency, helicopter ambulances can get to the city’s private hospitals within 20 minutes. We are lucky to live right next door to a natural health clinic.

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Further Information and Links

For more information on the course,
please contact us via our message form

Or email:

Check out the website of our host project La Cambalacha:
www.lacambalacha.org

Instructors

Juan Orellana
Guatemalan-born engineer in alternative technologies and gardener for some of the finest gardens in Latin America, Juan, our Bamboo “guru”, is pioneering and promoting bamboo as an ecological construction material and has been investigating and developing bamboo building techniques for four years now. He is currently involved in the construction of several bamboo buildings in San Marcos La Laguna and is a fount of information on alternative technologies.

Ito Morales
Multi-talented community builder and massage therapist from Costa Rica, Ito began his building career at 18 with 400 wooden houses for low-income families, before moving on to boat-building, and then landscaping, agriculture, horticulture and house-building for an alternative community in Virginia, USA. Drawn back to Central America by the magic of Lake Atitlán, he gained further experience in adobe and bamboo. Ito will be available to give massages to interested course participants when the course is finished!

Charlie Rendall
Originally from London, England, Charlie holds a Masters in Social Anthropology, and has studied Buddhism, Yoga, business and social development in India. He has taught at a London high school and Postgraduate Skills Development at University College London. For the last four years he's been the technical director of La Cambalacha, during which he built most of the project’s buildings. He spends most of his time fixing things, gardening and working with the project’s volunteers on the latest construction project. He is a qualified First Aider and he designed this website.