Everything we do here at Quetzaltrekkers is about helping the kids at EDELAC’s school and safe house, but most of the hikers we guide through the highlands never get to meet any of them.

But now when they visit our office before their treks, they can see their influence in the form of painted handprints. 

Part of the core philosophy of Quetzaltrekkers is to ensure there’s a human connection between our fundraising hikes and the people we’re raising money for: the 160 kids at the school and the 25 to 30 of them who live in the Hogar, our safe house.

That manifests itself in the children occasionally joining our guided treks, mostly on the Lake Atitlan hike but also, for the older kids, climbing Volcan Zunil and even the highest peak in Central America, Volcan Tajumulco.

Every week the guides join the Hogar kids for dinner, alternating between going to the safe house and hosting them here at the Quetzaltrekkers office.

And on the most recent time we hosted them, we had a surprise: blank MDF sheets on which they could put their painted handprints to decorate some of the gear storage units for our hiking gear.

Anytime you get kids and paint involved, laughter is sure to follow — and so it was here. 

The current group of guides also got the chance to make their mark before the finished results were screwed into place.