Pascal is a baker from Switzerland who first came to San Marcos la Laguna in 1995 to visit friends. Like so many others, he fell in love with the place and decided to stay. After a quick trip back to Switzerland to sell his business and close up shop, he returned to San Marcos and started searching for the perfect piece of land. It didn’t take long before he found it—a small terrain just on the outskirts of the growing tourist area. Soon after, construction began on the Swiss-style chalet. One year later, Hotel Quetzal was opened to the public.

     Over the last ten years, as the town has grown, the hotel has grown with it. Nowadays, Hotel Quetzal finds itself very much at the centre of the town’s activities; it’s a successful commercial enterprise and an increasingly popular gathering place for both tourists and locals. Pascal himself is an important member of the community and, having married into a local family, is also the proud father of five children.

     After the landslides caused by Hurricane Stan, Hotel Quetzal became one of San Marcos’s main centres of operations. The hotel possesses one of the area’s few generators, allowing much-needed phone service to be up and running just hours after the disaster. In the following weeks, many people gathered at Hotel Quetzal for shelter, food, and a place to reorganize their lives.