PHOTO DIARY: A Day In Guatemala Visiting Our Artisan Partners

 8:00 AM: Yoga on the lake

  Then head back to the hotel to get ready for the day!

Seen above: Frida Kahlo Keychain

10:00 AM: Breakfast & a cup (or two) of the best coffee in the world

 

11:00 AM: We head over to our first official stop of the day: to see our master beaders!

These women can make ANYTHING out of beads, it's pretty incredible. They don't even need instructions! When asked, many of them say they don't know how they know how to bead they just know. The group of beaders we work with mainly work from home to create our beautiful Beaded Collection.

She is working on a secret project (hint: it involves Frida Kahlo) and we're so excited about it. We can't wait to share this new product with you in a few months but for now we have a brand new line of Frida jewelry! Check it out here if you haven't already.

Shown above: Sugar Skull Bracelet (top left) 

3:00 PM: Lunch time

But first, we snap a few selfies with our artisan partner's kids! One of the most rewarding parts of doing this work is being able to watch the kids grow. We're so grateful to have the privilege of knowing some of these families for 10 years now. We've watched some children go from babies to pre-teens and other families go from two to four!

It is such a special experience to be a part of our artisan partner's journey and hopefully you feel like you are a part of their story now too!

Seen above: Hoop Earrings- Pearl (bottom right)

4:00 PM: Time to go visit more of our amazing partners- yay!

On our way to visit Laura, we ran into Juana Maria, an expert textile weaver, on the street and spent a few minutes catching up. She has such an infectious energy, we couldn't help but snap a picture!

We met up with Laura to go over new designs and to have some girl time. We've become like family over the past 10 years and sometimes you just need to put work to the side and enjoy each other's company!

Laura is a master at sourcing fabrics and organizing her team in a way that's truly impressive. Her and her team create all of our Maya bags, Hacienda Collection, Worry Doll Collection, and many of our Guatemala pillows.

7:00 PM: Dinner time

Most nights we're so tired that we have a quick bite at our favorite street stand but this night we were lucky enough to be invited over to Laura's house for dinner! Her daughter, Wendy, even taught my cousin, Marijose, how to make a traditional Guatemalan dish called rellenitos! It was the perfect way to end a perfect day in Guatemala.

9:00 PM: Back to the hotel to catch up on computer work, watch a few episodes of Grey's Anatomy (we're hooked!) and sleep.

Thanks so much for following along on a typical day in Guatemala when we're visiting our artisan partners! Hope you enjoyed it. :)