Working as a guide at Latin American ruins...

Hi,
This is just an idle thought, but....how hard is it to work as a guide
for tourists at archaeological sites, ie Tikal, Chichen Itza, Copan,
etc.? I assume you need some kind of a permit from the local
authorities, or maybe not. Does anyone do this?

It just occurred to me that I could do it fairly well- native English,
of course, and good Spanish, and one of my two majors was Anthropology,
which included lots of archaeology classes, and I know a *lot* about
the Maya, Aztecs, Zapotecs, etc. Probably a good deal more than the
guide we ended up with at Palenque, who seemed to know more about UFOs
and aliens than about the actual ruins.

Yeah, I'm sure its not a good way to make big dough, but all I'm
thinking is enough to get by in say, Guatemala...

"Bill Johnston" ha scritto nel messaggio
oups.com...
Hi,
This is just an idle thought, but....how hard is it to work as a guide
for tourists at archaeological sites, ie Tikal, Chichen Itza, Copan,
etc.? I assume you need some kind of a permit from the local
authorities, or maybe not. Does anyone do this?

It just occurred to me that I could do it fairly well- native English,
of course, and good Spanish, and one of my two majors was Anthropology,
which included lots of archaeology classes, and I know a *lot* about
the Maya, Aztecs, Zapotecs, etc. Probably a good deal more than the
guide we ended up with at Palenque, who seemed to know more about UFOs
and aliens than about the actual ruins.

Yeah, I'm sure its not a good way to make big dough, but all I'm
thinking is enough to get by in say, Guatemala...


when i Was in Mexico and guatemala I realized they had a lot of european
tourists.. and almost nobody could speak
German french or italian
I tried to find out how much a job would give me as a guide that speaks all
these languages

they told me 500 dollars a month would be a dream..
300 dollars would be a normal salary

I do not know whether this amount of money would be enough to live at
european standards.

tile wrote:
"Bill Johnston" ha scritto nel messaggio
oups.com...
Hi,
This is just an idle thought, but....how hard is it to work as a guide
for tourists at archaeological sites, ie Tikal, Chichen Itza, Copan,
etc.? I assume you need some kind of a permit from the local
authorities, or maybe not. Does anyone do this?

It just occurred to me that I could do it fairly well- native English,
of course, and good Spanish, and one of my two majors was Anthropology,
which included lots of archaeology classes, and I know a *lot* about
the Maya, Aztecs, Zapotecs, etc. Probably a good deal more than the
guide we ended up with at Palenque, who seemed to know more about UFOs
and aliens than about the actual ruins.

Yeah, I'm sure its not a good way to make big dough, but all I'm
thinking is enough to get by in say, Guatemala...


when i Was in Mexico and guatemala I realized they had a lot of european
tourists.. and almost nobody could speak
German french or italian
I tried to find out how much a job would give me as a guide that speaks all
these languages

they told me 500 dollars a month would be a dream..
300 dollars would be a normal salary

I do not know whether this amount of money would be enough to live at
european standards.

Hmm, very interesting.

I did live in southern Mexico for a while, and rented a pretty decent
furnished apartment for $70 a month (no A/C though), and was under the
impression that that was considered pretty high locally- I saw one
newish 3-bedroom house with a really nice interior renting for $100/mo.
And Guatemala is much cheaper than Mexico, IIRC. So one could
probably live on that, probably not with full western amenities, but
decently comfortably. Maybe wouldn't want it for a career, but it would
I imagine be fun for a year or two. Although maybe English-speakers
are not in as high a demand as the languages you mention?

"Bill Johnston" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,
This is just an idle thought, but....how hard is it to work as a guide
for tourists at archaeological sites, ie Tikal, Chichen Itza, Copan,
etc.? I assume you need some kind of a permit from the local
authorities, or maybe not. Does anyone do this?

In Mexico just about all of the guides working at the individual ruins
appear to be Mexican nationals. The few exceptions that I've seen were
people who spoke European languages. Regardless of their nationality the
site guides seem to spend most of their time hustling for customers. Most of
the foreign nationals that I've seen working at the ruins were guides
working for tour companies, which is probably where you have the best chance
to make something you could actually live on. Of all the tour companies
working in Mexico I've always thought that Trek America was the most
interesting job opportunity. http://www.trekamerica.com/ They run passenger
vans on regular routes. Most of their customers are Europeans travelling on
a budget. The driver/guides are pretty much all Americans. They mostly
campout and cook their own food. I think most of their tours are 2 or 3
weeks. Travelling with an RV I bump into them regularly at the various
campgrounds in southern Mexico, including spots near Palenque and Tonina.

In Mexico you would need a work permit. Generally your employer would
take care of the paperwork.

I don't generally hire guides, but wandering around the ruins I hear
them talking a lot. While your experience at Palenque was particularly bad,
a good deal of the information used by the site guides is of dubious
quality. They mostly seem to depend on lore handed down from one guide to
another for their spiel.

TB