Bootmaking with Marcial

We had the privilege of watching and learning from Paso a Paso’s longtime friend, boot maker, Marcial.  Jenni wanted some boots to take home to her daughter, nephew and niece, so Marcial let us help with the process of making their boots.  First we had to learn to work with the leather… “you have to understand your material, before you can cut it.”  Before cutting the leather around his template, Marical reminded us multiple times not to “cut my paper” (his template for the boot size). You can see he looks a little worried in the picture of Jenni cutting the leather.  After Stephanie began cutting, he added, as a side note, “and don’t cut your finger.”

Marcial had several deadlines on the day that we got to “help,” so we didn’t do as much as we might of liked, but we got a dose of his enthusiasm and good natured humor.  He is always smiling, although he only makes about 20Q or $2.80 per pair of boots.  A pair of boots take about 8 hours to make.  He often outsources the soling and/ or embroidery, which increases the cost of his production, but gives jobs to other people in the community.  You can see a picture of a piece of leather embroidered for the side of a boot below.

This last picture shows Marical delivering the boots to us in the market of Antigua.  We wondered if he slept, but what a joy to take home to my kiddos, especially my nephew who is battling neuroblastoma cancer.

Marcial is saving to open his own boot shop.  He is the perfect example of someone that we would like to be able to give a microloan to someday, as Paso a Paso grows.

Look for some pictures of the kids in their boots in the coming updates.

1. Carolyn Wing says:

   November 18, 2008 at 6:16 am

   The boots are beautiful. Does your nephew have a website? I would like to have him on my prayer list. Thank you. Carolyn Wing grandma to Laura Stage IV neuroblastoma carepages.com page name LauraVDB thegrannyblog.blogspot.com
2. admin says:

   November 18, 2008 at 12:25 pm

   Yes! Thank you for asking! It is http://www.cadenwhite.com