A Skateboarding Dispatch From Guatemala
The following is a dispatch from a recent trip to Guatemala by Nestor Judkins, professional skateboarder and founder of Salad Days of Skateboarding, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit whose mission is to foster skateboarding in underdeveloped and underserved nations by visiting those communities, partnering with local community leaders to donate equipment, build infrastructure, and collaborate on mentorship programming, and investing in the development of those communities long term.
Guatemala March 21-31, 2025
Local Antigua skater, Jose Pablo Paiz, and I have been talking for a few years. He first sent me a message over instagram that was more than just “we need free boards” or “we need a skatepark”. He led by saying how he’d always dreamed of connecting with and supporting the skaters in the Mayan community of Guatemala, who live mostly in the highlands. He shared that the capital, Guatemala city and neighboring Antigua had a good skate scene, with shops, parks and street spots, and local rippers. But the Mayan population had a lack of resources in general, and for the skaters in those regions, minimal access to spaces or equipment.
Like many places, it's not all or nothing but rather a disparity that hits certain areas and communities harder than most (demographics of Guatemala 50/50 Latino / Mayan). Jose himself had never visited Quiche before. Brutal recent history of severe oppression toward the Mayans (thirty six year long genocidal civil war ended in 1996).
For this trip we planned to visit Jose in Antigua (Jocotenango) where we would hold skate workshops at four local schools- one all girls (PE teacher kept a board to allow skating on the courtyard), one elementary, one progressive NGO school for underserved students, and one high school. We held a municipality sanctioned skate jam in Jocotenango.
We would also visit majority Mayan regions Quiche and Lake Atitlán to hold two skate jams granted by the municipalities.
In Quiche we connected with local skater, Job, who is building a skateshop in the space below his apartment where he lives with his wife and one and a half year old daughter. And in Lake Atitán, we connected with Jose Mora who relocated from Guatemala City four years prior to a small village on the lake, Tzinuna, where he holds regular skate workshops for local youth.
Locations and outreach was planned by Jose. Along with a PE class allowing skateboarding, there is also a municipal sanctioned weekly skate class in the central plaza of Jocotenango run by Jose, Kevin, and local skater Danielo. Our local skate crew on the trip was Locals: Jose Paiz, Kevin Carmichael, Luis Rosales, and us visiting - myself, Chris Colbourn, Ash Martinez, Keegan Guizard, and Daniel Hare.
Next steps for Guatemala- short film documentary from the trip / skate scene; revisit biannually to travel with Jose Paiz and Kevin to reach new communities where skaters are active; assist Job in distribution connections for skateshop; approach the city in Lake Atitlan and Quiche to grant accessible public land for construction of a skatepark.
Get involved with Salad Days, here.
