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Michelle Eve Wuthrich worked as an acrobat for some of the greatest circus shows on the globe. Her skillset is so versatile that for a while she worked as a house troupe member for the aquatic show The House of Dancing Water in Macau. There she did everything from dance choreographies to aerial to high diving. Then, about 4 years ago, Michelle decided to leave the world onstage. Now she is building an outdoor adventure business together with her husband in Guatemala. In this interview, Michelle tells us about her new home, her motivations and vision.
I left The House of Dancing Water in Macau about eight years ago. Then, I joined Cirque du Soleil and performed for Toruk. After that, I joined the creation of Cirque’s Volta. But, early on during creation, I decided to leave the circus world.
I certainly have a passion for movement, circus arts, and acrobatics. But when it came to the daily grind, I missed a certain part of expression and creativity in those big shows. There was no self-expression anymore.
I felt my creativity dying. And I kept feeling there’s got to be more out there.
So, then I went on vacation to Guatemala. It was just a short break to experience nature. I stayed for 8 days total and met lots of solo travelers. It was very inspiring.
Afterwards, I had my eye on San Marcos La Laguna in particular. It was a seed that was planted when I was leaving.
As I got back to the circus, I came to a decision. I made sure to not burn any bridges and set off to Guatemala for a year. Once I arrived in the La Laguna community at Lake Atitlan, I started my yoga teacher training.
I had all the physical experience with acrobatics. But the theoretical part was brand new to me. Understanding the biomechanics on a mental level was new territory.
I started my own practice. Then, shortly after, I found out I was pregnant.
In the end, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I immersed myself in becoming a mother and giving birth to my son Bodhi.
Meanwhile, my husband Jonas was taking care of building the house. We were a great team. A certain survival mechanism set in.
We were not part of a system anymore. With everything we did and do here we have to find a way to support ourselves.
Jonas is from Germany. At first, we left Guatemala and went to Germany. But we felt it is not the right place for us. Then, we went to my home country Australia and felt the same way. Jonas and I met in Guatemala, and we thought, “Let’s try. It feels like the best destination for right now, so let’s go.”
Thus, we returned to Guatemala yet again. Shortly after, we purchased a piece of land and started building. Our vision has slowly been developing since we’ve started settling here.
As I mentioned earlier, first we started with building our house. Then Jonas bought some standup paddle boards. And said, “We are going to start doing standup paddle tours on the lake.”
We live in a crater and are surrounded by beautiful volcanic rocks. It was only logical to also begin offering hiking and rock-climbing tours.
We staked out fifteen different climbing routes in the Valley of San Marcos. And we also started teaching people how to climb.
Our outdoor adventure business Venga Atitlan kept developing.
At first, we could only offer climbing during high season. It gets too wet during rainy season. Then, we went to Europe on vacation and went to one of those bouldering gyms. Straight away Jonas said, “We’re going to build that, too.”
Our bouldering gym is now open since November 2020. It was our Covid project so to speak and now we can offer climbing all year around.
The amazing Atitlan Lake and volcanic cliff faces are also inviting for high diving and cliff diving.
And we built a little guest house.
This February, our second son, Charlie, was born.
We are now at the point where we can see the entire vision of our life and work here coming together.
What we would love to start offering is a place for people to get away and relax yet find themselves active with a mix of daily yoga classes, standup paddling, and rock climbing.
I am also teaching aerials. We want to offer a package where people can get into their bodies, surrounded by nature, supported by us in every way that they need.
Thus far, we seem to be attracting a lot of families. As we continue to build and grow, we’d love to set up a place for all age groups. Everyone is taken care of and can take a rejuvenating, healthy break.
Hopefully, we can even inspire and motivate people to make healthier choices.
San Marcos La Laguna is really built on spiritual development. There are many retreat centers. Many people offering things to dive deeper within yourself. Astrologists, ayurvedic doctors, herbalists, etc.
You can find lots of permaculture here. Sustainable, regenerative living.
There is abundant produce in this one area, like dairy and vegetables.
We are creating a sort of ecosystem here in which we are supporting ourselves.
We’re all learning how to live in harmony with our surroundings. Of course, it’s not perfect and there is always much to do.
It’s been a massive integration process for us and the locals as well. We have migrated to an indigenous community. Finding the balance of not being too invasive, but at the same time having a social impact isn’t easy.
Overall, I think the intentions of everyone are pure and forward thinking.
We are the first adventure business that has opened in San Marcos La Laguna.
The lake and crater are breathtakingly beautiful. There are waterfalls all around.
Concerning our children, we wonder what will be when they are a bit older. Our village is essentially in a developmental stage. Kids aged 8 and older can get a bit bored. Although, having said that, the Covid pandemic has forced parents to stay here and get more proactive in offering activities for the older kids.
Before now it wasn’t really a possibility to stay longer term with children. The education system just wasn’t high enough. A lot of parents went back to the first world to give their children a proper education.
But now more people are migrating, and we are getting people with PHDs who are setting up a better education system for everyone.
Our neighbors set up a world school program, for example. They’re inviting people from all around the world and offering classes through their platform.
People are building an exchange ecosystem of sorts, with their businesses and projects.
Instead of just running away when it got tough, they asked, “What can we do?” And it seems to be taking off.
During the Covid pandemic, we were one of the fortunate places in the world where it didn’t really have an impact. In the Guatemalan cities yes. But in the lower populated areas everything remained kind of normal. No restrictions, no masks. We didn’t find ourselves with any cases.
We were living in our own little micro bubble. If you turned on the internet you saw what was happening everywhere. And we were counting our lucky stars that here we weren’t really impacted so hard.
This whole area is a place that is built on tourism. So, of course in the beginning stages of the pandemic we were worried this was going to be it. And the economy was going to crash. But it didn’t happen.
Last year, we built our bouldering gym during low season. We opened in November and had no idea if we would have any clients. But we did.
For now, eighty percent of our clientele are residents. Nevertheless, the demand is going up and up for our offerings. It goes to show we are not only relying on tourism. There are enough of us who live here so that we can all support each other.
As for tourists, we are growing organically. For now, the people who have come to stay with us at Venga Atitlan are bringing the next clients.
I can see our outdoor adventure program and guest house also becoming a platform for performers to come, recharge, or make a transition. It is something I looked for when I came out of the circus world as well. And I found it here.
Now, I have so much knowledge within I’d love to share all that. Within our community, I am hustled by all the mothers to teach their kids.
Bodhi is 3 1/2 years old now. Charlie will soon turn 6 months old.
I had my hands full with being a mother for them. Thus, so far, I’ve mostly said no. But since this last month I feel it is now time. It is my time to step into what we have built with the knowledge I have. Add the icing on the cake so to speak.
Our project can go in a few directions. That’s the exciting part. Not knowing exactly in which direction it can go and grow.
Maybe, we can even have performers come for extended periods of time. And they can do a work exchange. We can give them a platform to teach.
Overall, I can say I am immensely happy that life led me onto this path. I feel now I have the best of all worlds and can combine my love for movement and the circus arts with building something meaningful for my life and the lives of others. I can be creative, grow, support, and give something back.
And my family and I get to live in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.
Venga Atitlan Outdoor Adventures on Trip Advisor
Venga Atitlan on Instagram
Venga Atitlan on Facebook
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Liam Klenk was born in Central Europe and has since lived on four continents. Liam has always been engaged in creative pursuits, ranging from photography and graphic design, to writing short stories and poetry, to working in theatre and shows. In 2016, Liam published his first book and memoir, 'Paralian'.
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