Several women's cooperatives in San Pedro La Laguna offer hands-on backstrap loom workshops where you sit with a weaver and try the technique yourself. The backstrap loom — a simple but remarkably versatile tool that ties at one end to a fixed point and at the other around the weaver's waist — has been used in this region for over a thousand years. The fabric produced here is some of the most technically sophisticated textile work made anywhere in Guatemala.
Classes typically last one to two hours and end with the textile piece you started (usually a bracelet or small panel). Buying directly from cooperatives also means the money goes to the weavers rather than intermediaries. The huipiles (blouses) woven and worn in San Pedro have their own distinctive patterns and colours — worth learning to distinguish from the designs of neighbouring towns before you buy.