Back to Guatemala Nov.6th for Spanish study

If you only have a moment, perhaps scroll down to two of my favorites from Guatemala in August.

• Guatemala Family Visits me from their Pueblo near Quetzaltanango.
• Soccer (Futbol) Balls for Pueblo Kids

AND, Check out my friend Servando M. Junior on his Facebook page, A high school student I met on my last visit to Lake Attilan. I'll get to see him while in San Pedro la Laguna.

AND! Check out NGO http://amigosdesantacruz.org

Leaving Antigua

This is the rainy season & it rains off & on most afternoons. Beginning around 8 or 9 p.m. it rains almost all night.

My room is in a simple addition to the main house. The addition has a wood roof covered by tin; the rain sounds like it does when you're camping. The walls are painted, as in white washed, in soft yellow.

One does not hand wash clothing as it would take days to dry. Often at night I've lain awake listening to the rain; occasionally going outside in the vernada to watch it late at night. Often after dinner & homework I lie in bed reading as there is little else to do. It's best to be in my around 9 p.m. You might recall that when I was in San Juan de Heredia in Costa Rica, one did not go out every alone. Ever!

Though I have not minded it, I started to feel last night like I'm ready to be done with camping in the rain - if you´ve had that experience.

The city itself is safe. There are tourist police with rifles on most corners. The tourist police go home around 9 or 9:30 p.m. All banks have their own guards with similar rifles. The guards on my way to school & I have developed a warm daily greeting. The federal or national police ride around in black jeeps. Creepy as it may sound, you get used to it. Everyone goes about their business. Sidewalks are very narrow. Surprisingly even though each street is cobblestone, it's fairly easy to negotiate.

Terms like banana republic seem insensitive, but on my hour walk around the city this morning, it occured to me that it refers more to the structure of a country: economic & political. People are people & actually the poor are most often gracious, helpful and giving.

So to me Mexico is perhaps a 3rd world country. Guatemala also, but in some senses a banana republic, keeping in mind the importance of being sensitive to the people & a wonderful culture.

I met a journalist who is working here for 6 months on a special project. He told me the government is like a Mafia monarchy.

¡Pobre Guatemaltecos!

Vahalla Experimental Station: Fighting Poverty & Global Warming

A school sponsored afternoon trip took us to a macadamia agribusiness. Below I provide some details, but the web site has much more on it. It is worth a visit. http://www.exvalhalla.net

We were met by Lorenzo (the magnificent?) the American Dueno who came here from San Francisco in 1978. Lorenzo is an amiable gentleman of 70 who talks with you easily. Part of the tour included getting a facial with macadamia nut oil!

Some highlights:

• Each macadmaia nut tree removes 30 pounds of carbon monoxide a year from the atmosphere.
• Lorenzo has donated & continues to plant many trees in the Department (simlar to state) of Sacatepequez, Guatemala.
• Pancakes are served daily: 30% macadamia flower, macadmaia nuts inside & macadamia nut syrup!
• Voluteers help on the farm. The two we met were building sustainable homes.
• Lorenzo's work has received international recognition, yet he is a regular guy exhibiting no self-importance

At the Outdoor Market in Antigua

In the western end of Antigua (a small city about 10-12 blocks square) there is an outdoor market that rivals any I've seen. It has almost everything - well except large applicances like washing machines!

You can purchase: T shirts, soccer shirts, sports shirts, pants, blouses, dresses, socks, underwear (a nice pairt of socks goes for 63 cents. no you do not bargiain that!) shoes, umbrellas, nails, hardware, tools, watches, alarm clocks, fresh fruits, vegetables, freshly slaughtered chickens - no salted grasshoppers though as in Oaxaca, Mexico!

There is a constant buzz. Kids, older ladies & men walking with heavy bundles roving to sell - calling out. Individual booths line each aisle.

You are struck with how every available inch is used. If you've been to Lexington Market in Baltimore, you know the size of the aisles - well except some here are narrower.

Turning one corner, I stood next to neatly stacked home items: sponges, huggies :-) cleaners, & much more. It all was packed tightly & reached to about 6 feet in height.

Imagine 4 phone booths arranged to make a square. Within that space (taking the phone booths away!) there are chairs with people happily sitting enjoying a freshly made fruit drink.

You can sit many places & enjoy freshly cooked food. It's best for us not to do so as food is likely not prepared with purified water.

The price of fresh food, nails & similar items is not negotiable, but ALL else is. You quickly learn how to negotiate. If a camisa (sports shirt) is selling for 95 Q almost $ 12, you begin with say 35 or 40Q = $4.50 - $5.00. Now some may refuse to pay more than one half the asking price. To me that's a tad greedy as these are not rich people, not even close. So perhaps a 95Q asking price for say from 55 - 65 depending. Negotiations are done in good faith - be prepared to walk away saying, no gracias. You'll always get another lower price. Oh yes, it is most important that you know well - how to say & understand spoken Spanish for numerals from 30 - 120 !

Local Buses - reality & corruption

Today conversing totally in Spanish as always (total immersion) my teacher explained how the camionetas (buses) work.

All buses are privately owned. So I could purchase say 3 buses & obtain permission to run them on a specific route.

• The fare is 3Q or 38 cents.
• Buses legally have a capacity of 40 people.
• For one day the driver is expected to return 300Q = $37.50 to the owner at night. Hopefully the driver will make about 50Q = $6.25.

That is the arrangement. The 300Q is not negotiable. So how then does a driver earn more money? ¡Mirele!

• Drivers pack the bus three to a seat. These are school buses. When all seats are full, the drivers pack the aisles. Ellen & I had to get off a stop after ours because it took minutes to get through the mass of people in the aisle!
• Drivers drive VERY fast trying to get to a stop before another bus.
• At transfer points, buses often sit until enough people from other buses arrive.
• The national police collect about 5-6Q per bus per day. This amounts to about 500Q which is turned into the chief. In turn the laws regarding capacity are not enforced.

This is a main reason why these buses continue to be referred to as chicken buses. Our version of people being treated as cattle.

An added bonus for us :-) There are callers who yell out (gritar) Guati, Guati, Guati (pronounced Whati) beginning at 5 a.m. This is done so people a block away will know the bus for Guatemala City has arrived.

So each morning you are greeted with a chorus of Guati, Guati, Guati!

Guatemalan Family Visits me from their Pueblo

Yesterday, Santiago's family came 5 hours to meet me in Antigua. Santiago, Davi(d), is a 12 year old Guatemalan I assist through CFCA. His family of 12 lives on $70 a month.

Upon meeting we went to my homestay so we could exchange gifts. The mother helps earn some money by making by hand beautiful clothes, scarves, table coverings, bags etc. She gave me a bag Latino men ususally carry plus a lovely small square table cover. Both she made.

When you sponsor a kid in Latin America, it is not possible to send anything that is more than one inch thick. If you do it will be stolen. So coming in person is an opportunity to bring larger items.

First of all it makes sense to bring a young person a soccer ball. They cost $ 10 or 80Q here, a lot of money for a poor family. Soccer shirts, esp. of Gautemalan teams, are reasonably priced. Plus it is customary to bargain - surprisingly I've become good at that. Not my favorite thing to do, but possibly because I'm using another language, it provides some distance - seems a tad less intense, possibly.

Davi immediately put his soccer shirt on! Of course I had other items for him. Fortunately my daughter had a large suitcase she no longer needed, so I could bring items & the family could take it with them.

Being a tad of a ham (!), I gave the gifts in 3 parts with lots of comraderie. All had a lot of fun. Many pictures were taken.

I offered to take them to McDonald's or Burger King as I'm told the kids like it. BUT the family has never had a hamburger. They preferred to eat in a local Guatemalan chain restuarant. In reality they never go out to eat.

While at the restaurant, the father spoke with me at length, inviting me to their home. That is not an easy thing to do as I know it has a dirt floor, mud walls and a tin roof. He was very thankful for the support & spoke movingly. It was of course a tad difficult as one does not want lots of thanks, but given their life, it's important for them.

I was also quite happy that I could understand him as we were talking alone. I could also speak so that he understood me - definitely improvement in my Spanish!

It is difficult, possibly impossbile to express how moving & wonderful the day was. It is so easy to help someone. Chou!

Soccer Balls for Pueblo Kids

On Thursday, I went with the McLaughlin family to a pueblo to distribute soccer balls (pelotas de futbol). Mom & dad collect used footballs from various clubs in Conneticut. They brought about 140. The 4 teens make daily sojourns into poor pueblos to inflate & distribute the soccer balls.

It's really quite simple. The 4 teens are quite sensitive to the kids & readily incorporate me into their work. We climb high off roads onto paths to reach kids. Word spreads fast & soon we have to suggest that perhaps one ball per family or pair of friends will have to suffice.

A man comes over to me asking for a ball. I reply: "Senior, no eres un chico." Sir, you're not a kid. Behind me a whole row of kids break into laughter. It is a very good feeling that I am finally beginning to speak Spanish in a manner that locals can readily understand. Believe me, in prior trips, even a "Como estas?" was met with a puzzled look!

The afternoon ends with a discussion among the 5 of us about what it means to give & to look beyond any acquisitiveness they experience from the poor youth here. After all, doesn't everyone want to receive their own? Seamus, Aislyn, Joey, and Jordan are wonderful young people to spend the afternoon with in a poor Guatemalan pueblo.