A family business

About 45 minutes from Xela is the town of Momostenango and just before you get to Momos there is a bend in the road and one crazy set of stairs down from the road is the house of Dona Thelma and her husband Louis.

The house, which includes a living quarters, a courtyard and a small work space (oh and of course a space for the chickens and turkeys). The family has been on the property for 150 years (although a portion of the house was destroyed by Hurricane Stan in 2006) and for 150 years they family has created works of art from local wools and fabrics and sold them.

The whole family works in the business of making blankets, scarves and other handicrafts. As soon as a child in the family turns eight, they begin working. An interesting lesson to say the least for many of our Hoops students. 

Each year Dona Thelma and her husband open up their home and hearts to Hoops Sagrado and show us the work that they do and most importantly (to some of us anyway) feed us THE BEST tortillas in all of Guatemala.

The students are encouraged to participate in the day from learning how to make the yarn that is then dyed and used in their many products...

To joining Dona Thelma at her wood-fired stove to try their hand at making tortillas.

After the lessons and the eating, the students often spend some time viewing the families wares and for the folks back home, if you are lucky, they buy stuff.

Hoops Sagrado has worked with Louis and Dona Thelma for more than a decade and they are and will always be one of the greatest parts of our time in Guatemala.