one more from Atilan

Last weekend my roomate and I took off to Lake Atilan. We stayed in one of the villages on the lake thats known for still having the men dress in traditional indigious dress. usually we just see the woman dressed like that. Of course I didnt get a picture of the men though...
The indigenous people don{t like you to take their pictures because they think its stealing their soul...although they will happily sell you a piece of their souls for $0.40.

I paid the little girl for her soul in the previous entry, but stole this old womans.

Pictures from Lake Atilan...again

This lake is surrounded by volcanos and is quite an impressive sight. Theres a couple pictures of the view from the lakeside jacuzzi of our Inn we stayed aty for the high price of $9 a night. actually that is quite hight here, but we figured we were on vacation! theres also a pciture of the local woman doing their laudry in the morning in Santiago, where Britt and I stayed. (Shes my roomate from Denmark - a very cool girl, but unfortunantly she{s leaving to go to the galapogos islands shortly)

Thoughts on here...

As I'm starting to have a very small amount of confidence in my spanish, i've been getting to know more of the locals, who all have their own ideas of what is the route of the problems in Guatemala. It's interesting to hear things from their point of view. Many people say is the machismo culture, (I've even had some of the more educated men tell me this). For example, my spanish teacher wanted to get her tubes tied so she wouldn't have any more kids (because her husband refused to use condoms). So she saved up money to go to the hospital, but once she got there they told her she needed her husbands permission to get the operation (which, of course, he would not give). She tells me this isn't the policy anymore -woman can get operations without their husbands concent now, but that attitude is still prevelant in many rural areas. However, there was recently a study about societal views on woman by one of the Guatemalan Universities, and reading it was like going back in time 30-50 years (I would assume, as I don't remember much from my pre-nascent years).

I've been told that policies are modernizing and education is increasing regarding birthcontrol and the economic benefits of smaller families. However, it seems that the price of everything is increasing so fast that any improvements in the economies of the smaller families are completely negated by the upward pressure on prices that the tourist industry brings in. (here I'm talking purly Antigua, not Guatemala as a whole - although the same very well may be tru) Now, I'm no economist and I dont' know if the benefits of tourism are outweighing the drawbacks in aggregate...but I can see that with such poor education here, many locals dont' have the knowledge to take advantage of the money that's being brought in by tourists so it's mostly gringos with the successful restaurants, hotels, etc.

The terrible quality of education in public schools really smacks me in the face. I've heard it's not uncommon for someone to graduate and still be illiterate. i think they're more like a place for parents to drop off the kids for the day than a place to get educated. i can see very clearly that there is no middle class. so far, the people i've met who are my age, dressed in nice clothes and can speak english, have also been quite well educated. As soon as the conversations turn to family life, i've found that their parents work for a large corporation and are often only half guatemalan.

On the other hand, in the families that have both parents working in a local business as well as any adult children working, still live in a cement block with a tin roof that makes up a house here. In the US a family like this would be fairly middle class - but it's easy to see that the possibility of upward economic mobility doesn't exist in real tangible terms.

This is in no way an official study on the Guatemalan micro-economic situation...purely how the situation seems on the surface.

Mi casa nueva

So i changed houses this weekend. My guatemalan family was very nice, but it was too constricting of an environment for me. By chance, I happened upon a great place because it began to downpour and i jumped into the nearest cafe for a brief respite from the rain. There I met this guy, Victor, who's housemate just jumped town without notice. Since the house doesn't have any mildew - a rarity in Guatemala!, I jumped at the chance to move in. I now live with Victor, who owns an adventure sports company (given how hardcore I am, you can imagine my delight!) and Britt, a great girl from Denmark. The 'smallest world' part of the move is that Victor's girlfriend, Michelle, not only works in small business development, but one of her best friends from home (Prosser, WA) is one of my good friends in Seattle - Chad O'Brien. Of course I couldn't go long remaining annoymous in my new world...

Pictures around Antigua

constant state of confusion

Yesterday is a prime example of how I have no idea whats going on here. I thought I was participating in the parade with my school down in the center of Antigua. Imagine my surprise when I was shuffled onto a bus and driven an hour outside of Antigua to Lago de Amatilan. I figured it out pretty quickly, but it just makes me wonder - what else am i missing in these conversations with the locals? But we were still in a parade of sorts, so i had that part right. I had the honor of lighting and carrying the first torch for our group. This also means I had to speak into a microphone is spanish in front a huge crowd of locals. - but with the glory of being the torch holder as came the responsibility of running with the torch through the streets. This is tricky because 1. the torch is heavy. 2. the torch is very much so on fire. 3. i had to run (in and of itself would have been difficult enough). The main danger I saw of this activity was catching my hair on fire, or giving second degree burns to the person behind me - both l very real possibilities in my mind. But alas I think i won the hearts of my fellow students and teachers with my realistic, vive Guatemal!s The festivals continue through the weekend, but my days of being a torch holder are done. Im off to study mas español. hasta luego.

Vive Guatemala

It seems I´ve arrived at quite a festive time in Antigua, although I get the impression that they are big festival people here in general. This weekend is La Independecia! and I´ve wasted no time prentending I´m a Guatemalan...I´m running in the parade this afternoon holding torches and chanting Guatemala!, Guatemala! I just hope when they say ´run´they mean meander through the streets at a relaxed pace.

I´ve been here for two day and things are going great. The family I live with is awesome...I was a bit worried that the situation would be more like a hotel, but I think i´m getting quite an authentic experience. The house itself is muy interestante. It´s more like a few rooms connected by a pathway..or like the halls of the house have no ceilings. kindof a commune of sorts. I have my own room and a bathroom which is quite luxurious. I´m positive I´ve kicked someone out of their room, but for the price I´m paying ($80, which is more than a hostel would be) they seem more than willing to give it up.

I´m the only student in a house of 12 guatemalans...2 parents, who have 8 children and a few grandchildren running around. as far as I can tell almost all the kids live there except for one son who is in school somewhere. The father works in real estate, and is a very jolly man, one daughter is a teacher, and another works in a cafe.... of course, i´m getting this information through my limited spanish, so we may have very well been discussing the weather outside and I think we were talking about their careers.

Everyone is super super friendly towards me and are encouraging me to talk a lot. This leads to some interesting conversations...I´m living in a constant state of confusion, but I´m beginning to like it. I had expected to see more tourists here, but apparently this is not tourist season. It´s much more authentic than I thought. I´ve only seen a handle of ´gringos´since I´ve arrived - mostly the city is bustling with young school kids running through the streets.

Thier are 3 daughters in the house who are in their 20´s and they seem really sweet and accomdating. i think tomorrow we´re going to go out...i couldnt´understand what we´re doing but I´m looking forward to it...I don´t go out at night because we are a bit outside of the main square, and they advised me not to go out alone (although they assure me is perfectly safe if I´m with them). So since I´m not sure how to meet people since I sound like a two year old, I´m go out in the mornings to cafes, to school in the afternoons, and studying at night. it´s good for now. I may try to get a place close to the central parque in a couple weeks so that I can go out at night, but we´ll see how it goes. The family situation is definetely the best for learning spanish now.

And that´s too much english for me now! i´ll try to post pictures later this week. Adios!