David LaMotte

Speaker • Author • Musician

Guatemala

You’re gonna need a bigger stocking…

Dec 11, 2023
…if you’re trying to put Wyoming in there, or Montreat, or Guatemala, or Scotland. If you need things that really do fit in stockings, I can hook you up on bookmarks, guitar pick tins full of guitar picks, or bumper stickers, CDs, books, etc., but, as someone once wrote in a song, “there’s no present […]

You’re gonna need a bigger stocking…

by David LaMotte

…if you’re trying to put Wyoming in there, or Montreat, or Guatemala, or Scotland. If you need things that really do fit in stockings, I can hook you up on bookmarks, guitar pick tins full of guitar picks, or bumper stickers, CDs, books, etc., but, as someone once wrote in a song, “there’s no present […]

With a little help from my friends…

Oct 20, 2015
I’m feeling the need to pinch myself from time to time these days. Music has given me so many gifts, and some of the best ones involve relationships. The truth is that it’s pretty cool to hang out with people I like and admire, and kind of mind blowing when they are also great, and […]

With a little help from my friends…

by David LaMotte

I’m feeling the need to pinch myself from time to time these days. Music has given me so many gifts, and some of the best ones involve relationships. The truth is that it’s pretty cool to hang out with people I like and admire, and kind of mind blowing when they are also great, and […]

News from Guatemala

Feb 11, 2013
Antigua, Guatemala  8AM Monday, Feb. 11, 2013 I’m waking up this morning in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala (also known as Xela), realizing that it has suddenly been a week since I arrived. The time is going quickly, and it has been a whirlwind. Here are a handful of highlights from the last week: Camino Seguro — After […]

News from Guatemala

by David LaMotte

Antigua, Guatemala  8AM Monday, Feb. 11, 2013 I’m waking up this morning in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala (also known as Xela), realizing that it has suddenly been a week since I arrived. The time is going quickly, and it has been a whirlwind. Here are a handful of highlights from the last week: Camino Seguro — After […]

A new song being born: Angelita

Feb 10, 2013
Antigua, Guatemala  8AM Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013 I wrote a song lyric yesterday that captures a bit of what I’m thinking and feeling on this particular trip to Guatemala, which must be about my tenth time here. I’m thinking about how the places we encounter literally become a part of us (and yes, I really […]

A new song being born: Angelita

by David LaMotte

Antigua, Guatemala  8AM Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013 I wrote a song lyric yesterday that captures a bit of what I’m thinking and feeling on this particular trip to Guatemala, which must be about my tenth time here. I’m thinking about how the places we encounter literally become a part of us (and yes, I really […]

Very More Awesome

Nov 14, 2012
It has now been three weeks since my Guatemalan friends returned to El Tejar, and I’m just beginning to gain the perspective that a bit of distance provides. Our time together in North Carolina was rich, dense and fulfilling, and I know that I am not the only one who was deeply moved by it. […]

Very More Awesome

by David LaMotte

It has now been three weeks since my Guatemalan friends returned to El Tejar, and I’m just beginning to gain the perspective that a bit of distance provides. Our time together in North Carolina was rich, dense and fulfilling, and I know that I am not the only one who was deeply moved by it. […]

Guatemala visits North Carolina

Oct 4, 2012
In 2004 David LaMotte and his wife Deanna visited Guatemala  for their honeymoon, not looking for a project, other than to study Spanish and explore that beautiful country a bit. They ended up founding a non-profit organization, PEG Partners. Since then, David has collected donations at his concerts for Guatemalan school and library projects in […]

Guatemala visits North Carolina

by David LaMotte

In 2004 David LaMotte and his wife Deanna visited Guatemala  for their honeymoon, not looking for a project, other than to study Spanish and explore that beautiful country a bit. They ended up founding a non-profit organization, PEG Partners. Since then, David has collected donations at his concerts for Guatemalan school and library projects in […]

What you did in Guatemala in 2011

Feb 5, 2012
This is the year-end letter to PEG donors telling them where their money went. I thought I'd share it with the rest of you, too. At the end of the year, it's powerful to look back and see what has happened.... Read More →

What you did in Guatemala in 2011

by David LaMotte

This is the year-end letter to PEG donors telling them where their money went. I thought I’d share it with the rest of you, too. At the end of the year, it’s powerful to look back and see what has happened…. Read More →

Update from Guatemala

Oct 22, 2011
I have been in or on a pretty amazing array of motorized vehicles in the last 24 hours, from public buses (a.k.a. ‘chicken buses,’ retired school buses from the US, often painted up in classic Latin style, but sometimes with the names of American counties still painted on the side) to a taxi with half […]

Update from Guatemala

by David LaMotte

I have been in or on a pretty amazing array of motorized vehicles in the last 24 hours, from public buses (a.k.a. ‘chicken buses,’ retired school buses from the US, often painted up in classic Latin style, but sometimes with the names of American counties still painted on the side) to a taxi with half […]

Harmony for Humanity Interview

Sep 8, 2011
This is a recent interview and article published by Harmony for Humanity, please click the link below to read the rest of it. David LaMotte: Making a Difference From the Heart David LaMotte is being the change in so many ways that it’s almost impossible to keep up. LaMotte is an award-winning songwriter and peace […]

Harmony for Humanity Interview

by David LaMotte

This is a recent interview and article published by Harmony for Humanity, please click the link below to read the rest of it. David LaMotte: Making a Difference From the Heart David LaMotte is being the change in so many ways that it’s almost impossible to keep up. LaMotte is an award-winning songwriter and peace […]

More pictures and news from Guatemala

Feb 1, 2011
More photos and stories from Guatemala, where I will be for the next few days, visiting schools and libraries which are supported by PEG Partners, the non-profit Deanna and I founded in 2004.... Read More →

More pictures and news from Guatemala

by David LaMotte

More photos and stories from Guatemala, where I will be for the next few days, visiting schools and libraries which are supported by PEG Partners, the non-profit Deanna and I founded in 2004…. Read More →

Back in Guatemala, Day 1

Jan 27, 2011
11:00 AM, January 26, 2011 In spite of dire warnings of another ice storm, the heavy weather did not materialize, and I woke at 3:15 this morning to find nothing more threatening than a light drizzle falling from the sky. I made it to the airport by 4:15, and left on time at 6 for […]

Back in Guatemala, Day 1

by David LaMotte

11:00 AM, January 26, 2011 In spite of dire warnings of another ice storm, the heavy weather did not materialize, and I woke at 3:15 this morning to find nothing more threatening than a light drizzle falling from the sky. I made it to the airport by 4:15, and left on time at 6 for […]

Back to Guatemala

Dec 18, 2010
I woke up early this morning — very early. I think it was due to too much caffeine yesterday. 4 AM was a good time to work on a few things with no chance of interruption, though, so I spent some time looking for plane tickets to Guatemala. I’ll be going back down to visit […]

Back to Guatemala

by David LaMotte

I woke up early this morning — very early. I think it was due to too much caffeine yesterday. 4 AM was a good time to work on a few things with no chance of interruption, though, so I spent some time looking for plane tickets to Guatemala. I’ll be going back down to visit […]

My Baby Is All Grown Up

Dec 14, 2008
No, not that one. Mason is unquestionably still an infant, as proven by the fact that I’m sitting in the dark typing up a blog at 4:30 AM while the Squirmy Wormy sits beside me and the two of us try to leverage a bit of sleep for his mom. He had his six-week birthday […]

My Baby Is All Grown Up

by David LaMotte

No, not that one. Mason is unquestionably still an infant, as proven by the fact that I’m sitting in the dark typing up a blog at 4:30 AM while the Squirmy Wormy sits beside me and the two of us try to leverage a bit of sleep for his mom. He had his six-week birthday […]

Guate trip I

Oct 20, 2008
Da Guate It’s always good to be here, and renewing, even at a time like this when my heart is pulled strongly toward the US. With my dad in the hospital and my baby boy getting ready to make his grand appearance, there’s a lot to feel and think about these days. Hugs and songs […]

Guate trip I

by David LaMotte

Da Guate It’s always good to be here, and renewing, even at a time like this when my heart is pulled strongly toward the US. With my dad in the hospital and my baby boy getting ready to make his grand appearance, there’s a lot to feel and think about these days. Hugs and songs […]

Fathers and Sons and Guatemala

Oct 16, 2008
US Airways Flight 1831, Charlotte to Miami Da Guate 081016 Touching down in Miami It’s extraordinary to realize that I woke up in Missouri yesterday, in Black Mountain, North Carolina today, and will wake up in Santiago, Atitlan, Guatemala tomorrow, after spending brief moments in Asheville, Charlotte, Miami and Guatemala City. Even for me, that’s […]

Fathers and Sons and Guatemala

by David LaMotte

US Airways Flight 1831, Charlotte to Miami Da Guate 081016 Touching down in Miami It’s extraordinary to realize that I woke up in Missouri yesterday, in Black Mountain, North Carolina today, and will wake up in Santiago, Atitlan, Guatemala tomorrow, after spending brief moments in Asheville, Charlotte, Miami and Guatemala City. Even for me, that’s […]

Guate V: Chacaya

Jun 23, 2008
So THIS is exciting… It’s not often that you get to visit “before” and “after” in the same day. On Thursday Caroline, Alan and I caught a boat across the lake to visit the village of Chacaya, where the public school has been holding classes in makeshift rooms on rented land for the 135 students […]

Guate V: Chacaya

by David LaMotte

So THIS is exciting… It’s not often that you get to visit “before” and “after” in the same day. On Thursday Caroline, Alan and I caught a boat across the lake to visit the village of Chacaya, where the public school has been holding classes in makeshift rooms on rented land for the 135 students […]

Guate IV: Escuelita David LaMotte

Jun 20, 2008
After a couple of hours’ ride on an unusually empty public bus (known affectionately by the ex-pat community as a “chicken bus”), Alan, Caroline and I caught a boat across the lake to get to Santiago, checked into our hotel and crashed. Wednesday morning we caught a tuc tuc (motorcycle taxi) up to Tzanchaj to […]

Guate IV: Escuelita David LaMotte

by David LaMotte

After a couple of hours’ ride on an unusually empty public bus (known affectionately by the ex-pat community as a “chicken bus”), Alan, Caroline and I caught a boat across the lake to get to Santiago, checked into our hotel and crashed. Wednesday morning we caught a tuc tuc (motorcycle taxi) up to Tzanchaj to […]

Guatemala II: El Tejar Music Program

Jun 18, 2008
And now the updates about the actual work… On Tuesday we met up with John Van Keppel in Antigua and headed to the pueblo of El Tejar, where the CEDIN school has a music program that PEG funded in cooperation with LEAF International. John works for an organization called Child Aid, which supports this school. […]

Guatemala II: El Tejar Music Program

by David LaMotte

And now the updates about the actual work… On Tuesday we met up with John Van Keppel in Antigua and headed to the pueblo of El Tejar, where the CEDIN school has a music program that PEG funded in cooperation with LEAF International. John works for an organization called Child Aid, which supports this school. […]

Back in Guatemala

Jun 17, 2008
I woke this morning to the familiar sound of a long string of fireworks going off below my window. It was about 6:30, and it’s interesting that it no longer startled or surprised me. Guatemalans love fireworks and in Antigua they celebrate by setting them off first thing in the morning most mornings. Four years […]

Back in Guatemala

by David LaMotte

I woke this morning to the familiar sound of a long string of fireworks going off below my window. It was about 6:30, and it’s interesting that it no longer startled or surprised me. Guatemalans love fireworks and in Antigua they celebrate by setting them off first thing in the morning most mornings. Four years […]