Quando asen los mejores botas echo a mano, se siente la historias de los paises que se asen y te los pones en moda por vida. When you make a pair of boots by hand, you feel the history of the countries that they’re made from, and your fashion will last a lifetime. On arrival in Guatemala from a wickedly cold NYC winter and really never saw spring, my travel style has increasing become a uniform of comfortability and flexibility. I’m seriously thinking of dumping all the stuff I brought to only three outfits just so I can buy all the beautiful shoes I see here. Walking on cobblestone makes a traveler realize theres no sense in wearing cute kitten heels. An enormous part of my journey to get my project proteKt off the ground is accurately depicting a culture while in search of my roots, but the evolution of this adventure has also become an understanding the varient degrees of needs each community has for each style of living within a culture. I strap on my Greek sandals each day so I can feel the air between my toes while I trek through the day without worrying if i will get too hot or maybe get rained on slip and fall. They are stylish, and have lasted me since I first purchased them in 1989 during my first backpacking voyage through Europe. Here in Central America I am acutely aware that baring too much skin causes stares. A t-shirt with jeans is all you need to bring. (And Def not slinky shorty shorts). And while the background of my time here isn’t for fashion purposes, I’m increasingly researching the glyphs for stories that led me to discover that costume was a big part of the rituals and that style originated from the Maya Ancient Civilizations more than 4000 years ago. Their cultural identities in dress dates back to 300 AD in early pre-classic Maya Civilization. So goes my adapted nomad life now is growing into bringing awareness to some of the resources and people I’m meeting for a few reasons…to share cultural perspectives about my Guatemalan heritage and hope to help redefine misunderstood central America for its beauty rather than for its crime. Being useful to this amazing people, thus along the others hoping to do the same while taking residence here, I found great zapateros from the boarder town of Guatemala near El Salvador to find gems of cowboy boot makers El Rancho Alegre and Botas Y Sobreros El Charro. Moving on to Antigua and an early morning chicken bus ride to Pastores so I could chat with the founders of Teysha ( a sustainable zapateria design company ). These expats that stayed after falling in love with the weather and embracing the beauty of its rich resources, Social Entrepreneurs Travis Breihan Sophie Ekrich partners journeys are similar to my own. It is to be part of a solution to bridge the gap between a lost cultural identity and build a brand that stands for service. They aren’t just mere shoe makers hiring locals, they design boots and shoes that will last a lifetime while offering g a sustainable lifestyle to the women weavers from all of the Guatemalan indigenous Maya groups as well as in Panama. They come from Nebajquiche and Aguas Calientes, are from Mam or K'iche Mayan tribes and Teysha the shoes are all made to order. Beautiful Guipils are both repurposed and sometimes just one off designed into small squares so tejadoras (women weavers) using backstrap looms don’t spend seven months making an entire dress design only to cut out necessary portion for the shoes. The guipil tells a story of the specific community and it can be identified as place of origin in Guatemala, but it also has evolved over the centuries to a modern Maya woman’s taste level. Although their technology has stayed the same, many try to design to individual taste levels. Textiles here in Central America are beautiful but shoes are a perfect way to marry the needs of North America along a shared economy.
