Guatemala: The Future of Petén
The two-day trek to El Mirador and the three-day stay was our introduction as a group to Petén, Guatemala.
Photos by David M. Barreda
I knew things were bad when Paulino dipped his empty plastic water bottle into a shallow, muddy swamp puddle.
Buried beneath deep jungle growth in Guatemala's northern reaches, the ancient Maya metropolis of El Mirador is worth the walking. And walking, and walking some more.
Go now for the rare chance to...
Nadia Sussman, for the Pulitzer Center
San Francisco, California
Michael Stoll, for the Pulitzer Center
Laguna Del Tigre National Park, Guatemala
Michael Stoll, for the Pulitzer Center
La Pasadita, Guatemala
It's the last leg of our journey back from Guatemala and I marvel at the difference in the landscape from above — houses neatly dotted against the foothill ridges and valleys of California's slopi
I finally got to see more of Guatemala by land yesterday. I left Flores, Petén, with Kara and Nadia at 6 a.m.
As the sun emerges from the gray brown smog that hangs over Guatemala City's wet streets, we board our plane and are inundated by the sounds of English words, and babies crying — for the most
Michael Stoll, for the Pulitzer Center
Uaxactun, Guatemala
Michael Stoll, for the Pulitzer Center
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Michael Stoll, for the Pulitzer Center
Flores, Guatemala
Yesterday we completed our two-day return hike from El Mirador to Carmelita. The bajos again felt muddy and endless, but with the help of an early start and a mule ride, we made it out.
We came to northern Guatemala, and slogged through the mud for two days straight, to find out whether there was anything to the claims that archaeology could help save a Rhode Island-size chunk of
This is an area that, someday, must accommodate thousands of tourists a year if it is to realize its potential as an economic engine for the Peten region.
We've been in Guatemala City for four days, running around nonstop. I slept for 45 minutes after our red-eye Tuesday night and managed to motor through the following day.
Grantee
Born in Perú and raised in Vermont, David Barreda studied Geography and Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and journalism at the University of Missouri. He currently is a staff...
Grantee
Kara graduated from the University of California, Berkeley School of Journalism with a Master’s in Journalism. She received her B.A. in Literature from New College of Florida and has six years of...
Grantee
Michael Stoll is an environmental journalist, college journalism teacher and director of a nonprofit media-reform project in San Francisco. He first learned about the conflicting visions of the fate...
Grantee
Nadia worked three years as an investigator for death row habeas corpus appeals. She is currently producing a documentary short about two formerly incarcerated youth.
Her interest in international...