Revue Magazine 2010-11 (November)

Guatemala city » Dining
36 » revuemag.com
Open Mon-Sat 12pm - 5pm
The only authentic
Italian restaurant in the
Centro Histórico
11 calle 6-83, zona 1, Guatemala City
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taught me that happiness cannot be bought
with money; happiness is a quality of the spirit.”
Janson continued around the world, sailing
to the most remote islands of Polynesia,
working in New Zealand, trekking across Africa
and Asia and finally returning to California.
“I knew within minutes of stepping on
American soil that I would not stay there. It
was just too civilized. I guess I had gone native
somewhere in the jungles of Mesoamerica.
But where would I go? I remembered the
happy times I had spent with the Maya in
Guatemala and was determined to return.”
It was February of 1976 and Janson was
working in Chicago to get some traveling
money together when the news of the
devastating earthquake in Guatemala came
over the wire. As soon as he could, he returned
to the land of the Maya to assist in
the reconstruction.
That fall he met and became friends with
Professor Mario Dary, Director of San Carlos
University’s School of Biology, who invited
him to join the faculty, where Janson
instigated a project to study and protect the
endangered manatee. Janson’s project led to
the establishment of the Chocón-Machacas
Manatee Reserve at Río Dulce, where he
was to be the park director.
In 1982, Janson established his own conservation
group, Defensores de la Naturaleza,
where he remained as director until 1987.
Dissatisfied with the government’s handling
of forest conservation, he spearheaded an
innovative program to open the way for a
private organization to manage wild lands
with private-sector funding.
His project resulted in the establishment of
the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve,
which is managed by Defensores. At present,
Janson is focused on protecting the quetzal
and its habitat and is director of the Cloud
Forest Defense Project.