Guatemala Reflections

So much going on…It’s hard to summarize 12 days in three pictures, but this is my effort to do so.

To take this picture involved a lot of planning. We bought a tour package that had us picked up from our lodging (a private home) at 5:00 AM and we started a hike at a little after 6:00. We were told guides were needed due to attacks on tourists by robbers, though it seemed safe enough. My city of Golden hat was fun to sport around, though no one asked about it. Behind us is a lagoon filled caldera from a collapsed volcano. The country has both active and dormant volcanoes. Our hike was a little over 7 miles round trip and on roads among the steepest I’ve ever been on.

A typical home in Xela, Guatemala. Most of the living space is behind walls that you can’t see behind or through. Razor wire is used to deter climbing in. While we were there in the dry season (basically they have two seasons, wet and dry, and otherwise it is springlike year-round), there were many rooftop gardens as seen here. I never saw a building permit sign or any indication of building codes. That said, most buildings were concrete and block due to the need for protection from earthquakes. The spider web of electrical and cable wires was extremely common too. I did see electrical meters but I don’t know how they were charged. To heat water a wire was run to the shower head that had a very small resistant heater in it. If you controlled the water to a very low flow, and heard the heater “buzzing” you could get a decent shower.

Typical

So much going on here:

Steel gate on the left allowed for private driveway access to a house, or even a series of houses invisible from the street.

Bars on the windows on the ground floor.

Cobble stone streets were more common than asphalt, which was only on major roads and highways.

Un-usable sidewalks with curb cuts every few feet.

Walking in the street because sidewalks were jinky and depending on the time of day, there were few cars. Even when there were cars, they went very slowly through intersections that mostly had no controls (no stops, no yields, just common courtesy).

I found the town somewhat charming and enjoyed the old architecture and especially the carved doors, but it is not for everyone.

La primara recion por nuestro viaje era por ensenar Espanol mas Bien. Este teclado no tiene letters espanoles, pero creo que mi Espanol is mucho mejor despues del viaje. (or as cleaned up by Google Translate, “ El motivo principal de nuestro viaje era mejorar nuestro español. Este teclado no tiene letras españolas, pero creo que mi español ha mejorado mucho después del viaje.) Clearly I have a long way to go.