These photos were taken by Olly Quayle. One day we were walking down a road in  and we stopped by a door over which hung a sign saying "Weaving School" in English. A young man, who turned out to be Canadian was seated on the floor weaving - Guatemalan style - with a back-strap loom. He explained he had an arrangement with the woman nearby who ran the school.  She taught him how to weave and in exchange he greeted the tourists, negotiated the sale of the items and conducted business. When the tourists left he would clean the hard packed dirt floor of the liter that had been carelessly discarded there. He had been there a month and was leaving soon. Any chance would I like to take over his job and learn to weave? My answer was of course - YES! 


My teacher spoke no English or spanish but rather her Mayan language. I learned this "school" was also her home and that of her daughter and her daughter's children.