In countries like Guatemala, tourism greatly benefits some regions, while leaving others at a distinct disadvantage. Towns along the travel circuit boast thriving restaurants, beautiful hotels, and comfortable hostels. Their bustling artisan markets feature handmade crafts with famously cheap prices that can be haggled even lower. Vendors at these markets can afford to slash prices if it helps them move more products. But where do these products come from? 

Often, these crafts are made by artisans who live in remote areas with unreliable transportation, far from the crowded markets and tourist destinations. The hours it takes to travel to the market to sell their products would leave little time for the creation of their art. On top of that, rural areas suffer from poverty and people struggle to buy food to feed their families. Selling or purchasing artisan goods in their own community is a luxury they can’t afford. With virtually no other way to sell their products, artisans from rural communities resort to selling their goods to intermediary vendors, who mark up the prices as soon as they reach the market. Cecilia, a weaver and artisan from San Juan explains, “a vendor might buy a vest for Q50 from an artisan, and then sell it for a price of Q200 or Q250. Imagine how much the artisan would have made if she could have sold her own products.”

Cecilia weaves on a backstrap loom, a Mayan weaving technique that has been passed down through her family for generations. The vest she mentioned? It would take an artisan 5 days to weave such a product. “We put in so much effort, and if we bring it to the vendors, they hardly pay us,” she laments, “They don’t value the work we do.” She urges travelers to inquire about who made the artisan product they’re purchasing. The first step toward traveling responsibly is considering where your money is truly going.