Hi from Guatemala. My keyboard is terrible, but I will try to make this good English. We?ll see.
Saturday we got a little bit of a look at the city, and spent part of the evening in the Cultural Zone of the city with some Goshen grads, and had a blast.
Sunday morning we drove around the city, getting variety of shots showing the wealth and poverty of Guatemala City. We then went out?to the north side of Lago Atitlan, to a town whose name I can?t really pronounce, but it is really touristy.? So that was a fun evening.
Today was incredibly long. We took a boat across the lake, and got some shots of the surronding mountains? and volcanos. Beautiful.Got to Santiago, Atitlan, and rode on the back of a pickup to a small town outside. Most people speak Mayan language, so?interviewing was fun. I asked a question in English, which someone translated to? Spanish, which someone else?translated to the?Mayan language, and then back again.
I also got footage of a woman weaving and the? results of a landslide.Tomorrow morning comes the sunrise shot- 5:30 it should rise, between two volcanos.
A bit on? who I am traveling with:
- Jordan S.- my assistant,?also from Goshen.
- Nate H.- our ?Supreme Commander?. He works in Guatemala with MCC and knows the communities and people where we are filming.
- Rebecca B.- MCC Latin America Advocacy person. She has?a?great? knowledge of?a lot of things that I?ve been thinking about.
- Juan Carlos- for last year?s spanish students at Goshen, he is now working in Atitlan in the community? where we were today.
- Fredy- our?assigned assistant from Zoom? Technologies.?A stipulation of renting their gear was that he come along. It actually is working out well. Theories that he would be constantly running to the bar?or carrying a gun seem to be unfounded. He?s pretty fun, and seeming to be?getting the hang of??our crazy group.
Until the next Ciber- seeya!
In 4 minutes, I will be off to the wonderful world of Guatemala, land of volcanos, Mayan ruins, and let’s see what else. Next post from a place that hopefully is warmer!
When I came back from Honduras, I was so psyched to stay in
the same place for more than 3 months at a time. Evidently, I can’t do
it.
Next Saturday, I’m heading to Guatemala. I’ll be there from October 13-22.
I’ll be making a promotional video for a donor to Mennonite Central Committee, on a food security program. I’ll get to see a couple
different sites around the country, some of which I’ve heard are really
beautiful. (I’ll take pictures, I promise.) I’ll be going with a friend
of mine from the college, so at least I won’t be traveling alone.
Maybe I’ll even see a Quetzal. (Doubtful)
I had my exit interview for the Service Inquiry Program (who gave me a scholarship for going to Honduras) today. It was interesting to try to process my experience a month and a half later. The whole experience is fading fast, it feels. I’m not sure I like that.
It’s already harder to articulate my views on neoliberal capitalism, on globalization, and things like that.
So did the experience change me? Probably, but hopefully more so in a subconscious way than in a conscious way, perhaps.
This is about 2 months later than it should be, but I’ve bene having some annoying camera/computer problems that kept me from posting.
Before I left for the DR, my brother convinced me to get a pair of Skechers that are basically leather sneakers. Great idea. I so enjoyed getting my shoes shined. Now that I’m back in the U.S., I am faced with the decision between paying $10 at an airport for a shoe shine or having dull, lifeless shoes.
In the DR, shoe shines were 15 pesos, about 50 cents. Cheap. But still quality. I walked up to a shoe shiner at “Nueve,” a big intersection on the north west side of Santo Domingo, and they would jump out of their seat, and I would sit down. I was impressed that they went over each shoe twice, ending with a snap shine that impressed the other people in my group.
But nothing prepared me for the Honduran shoe shine. I paid 20 lempiras, about a dollar. I felt slightly ripped off, until the shoe shiner got working. My shoe laces were out in seconds, and I had sock guards protecting my socks from the 13 different liquids being thrown at my shoes. I just sat there, reading a newspaper, and when I looked down, my shoes absolutely gleamed.
I really wish there were some 7 year old shoe shiners hanging around the park here…
Photos: Shoe before, Shoe after, and the shoe shining booths in San Pedro Sula
So I made the 10 hour trip out to college today. Thought I’d try my hand at “liveblogging,” kind of. In other words, I was bored. And thought I’d share it with you. I called my new favorite toy, Jott, and had my voice magically trancribed and waiting in my email when I got home. Here it is, only slightly edited.
- 07:58- I leave my house. 3/4 tank of gas. Put tape over “Air Bag” light. (Learned that trick from Car Talk)
- 10:02- Liberian TPS status is suddenly about to run out in October, according to NPR.
- 10:05- A Christian radio station is advocating that parents watch their kids on MySpace, but not too tight. Started out with example of “Susie not getting the job because of something she posted on her second MySpace profile her parents didn’t know about.”
- 10:08- NPR reports that Dean missed the resorts in Mexico, only wiping out some Mayan villages. Strikes me that probably the resorts could cope better.
- 10:11- American Idol auditions in Miami are major news on ABC News.
- 10:23- Listening to talk radio, and I hear: “I believe there are terrorist cells in Canada.”
- 10:26- Still listening to talk radio: “Have you ever had a cheesesteak on crack?”
- 10:45- Man on talk show asking for advice because his grandson told him he wanted to kill him.
- 10:46- Swerved to miss large part of tire strewn across entire lane on I-80.
- 10:47- A Congressman on Fox Talk Radio to talk about his experience on Fox. Says that its
probably not good television when people always shout.
- 10:49- “Fox News- We report. You decide.” Must I say more?
- 10:58- Just got off the phone. I was on Fox Talk Radio,
Dennis something and I was talking about how NAFTA causes immigration. (I got cut off)
- 11:13- Gas light comes on.
- 11:18- Get off at exit 120, and promptly turn the wrong way.
- 11:23-
“
So I’ve heard about cultural shock, coming back from a time outside of the U.S. But what hit me kind of suprised me.
So I was done visiting my brother, who just moved in with his new wife to a house in the middle of tourist/Amish Country. He’s a braver man than I. I got some omelet toppings at a road side stand, and was returning home when I got stuck behind a SUV with Florida plates doing 35 in a 55. The driver realized I wasn’t happy with this state of affairs, but didn’t speed up. Instead, he did something by most standards up north here is bizarre.
He pulled onto the ample shoulder and maintained speed, allowing me to pass.
It’s amazing, really. It works amazing. I’ve seen this done in Honduras, the DR, South Africa, Honduras, and, yes, even Texas. There is room for three cars abreast, easily, on most two laned roads. Two cars pull slightly over, and one passes in the middle. No crashes.
Wouldn’t that be safer than swerving around buggies, bicyclists, and babies, because the the oncoming Beamer is in its rightful lane?
It would work here, too. But how does something like that become the cultural norm? Otherwise, if only a handful of people do it, it’s just a dangerous and stupid thing to do that will likely kill you.
And let’s not have that.
Guatemala 2007, old blog | James | 
October 15, 2007 10:19 pm | 
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