(^^^ Above; painting I bought in Panjachel)
Just noticed that I have reached 100 posts on this blog!
I have written way less on this trip than the other projects from past years (see “about us” for links), but I feel like the quality of the posts have improved a lot. That makes me very,very happy!
Now, about [...]

Still no news from El Doctore. Ugh.
Here is an ad from the Prense Libre from Guate.
Hmm, thought it was kinda funny at the time, and now I just relate.
Esp after spending all morning at Jury Duty. A minus on the “staying in one place” experiment. You cant “miss” jury duty summons if you are at [...]

 
No posts due to lingering sickness from travels.
After a week back home I broke down and made a trip to the doctor last week. Underwent various tests and nothing serious found just yet. Minor things so far, and have been taking some meds. But awaiting the most telling test results today. Sitting on pins and [...]

(^^^ Above: My fuzzy, our of focus photo of a comfy Adrenalina shuttle bus)
I stumbed onto this company completely by accident, but really like them, so I ended up using their shuttle bus service a few times while I was in Guatemala. Their shuttles are usually very timely, fairly priced and have decent drivers who [...]

(^^^ Above; my first art purchase, woo-hoo)
I have subletted apartments in Noe Valley, a cute yuppyish (even though I am told this category is so pase) section of San Francisco, a couple of times in the past few years. And the place I lived was 1 block parallel to 24th Street, the main drag. I [...]

(^^^ Above: Market day in Chichicastenengo)
I grew in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. There is a large Amish population in this county. And having spent my first 8.5 years of existence in New York, I thought the Amish vacations that people drove long distances for were odd at best. I saw these Amish farmers everyday, so they didnt [...]

 
(^^ Above; our study area for 4 hours of instruction per day)
Word on the road about learning Spanish in a native Spanish speaking country is that Guatemala was top for a a few main reasons:
1. low housing and general cost of living
2. locals (generally) have one if not the flatest, most easily understandable, slower spoken Spanish
3. [...]

Cudos to the tourist board in Huehuetenango!

This is one of those surreal moments I wont soon forget about my travels in Guate.
I booked a shuttle bus from Panajachel to Huehue and was told from there I needed to take a local bus, a chicken bus. No problem.I could have paid for a private shuttle the whole way, [...]

 
(^^^ Above; dining and living room of hostel, facing front door.) 
Spoiled me for my first 3 days in the country! Ana, the woman that runs the joint is super nice, helpful, and speaks English well.
When I checked in there were a Canadian couple taking off for another destination and a handful of El Salvador guys who had summer jobs [...]

 
(^^^ Above; from May 23, 2006 Nuestro Diario)
Guatemala is not in the World Cup this time around, but the frenzy for the games already started before I left. Its so intensely different being in a country (read; most of the world) that gives a shit about Futbol (I growl at the term soccer) than being [...]

(Above; building around Lake Atitlan)
It struck me tonight when I was trying to update my Netflix choices with some modern Guatemalan flicks. There are SO few! Then I remembered when I was initially researching Guate the main categories of informations were:
1. Mayan culture
2. tourist areas; Tikal, nature areas, Antigua
3. Crime, political corruption and THE WAR
Well folks, although these areas cover [...]

(^^^ Above; Mask I bought at market in Chichicastenango^^^)
This mask is the perfect symbol of the geographic ….(confusion is too negative a word to use) search I have been on the last few years. When I lived in my last long term residence, I collected masks. I adored them. (And I would like to think [...]

(^^^ Above; Sign on bathroom door a cafe in Chichicastenango)
For those of you about to head off to Guatemala, por favor, dont throw a darn thing in the toilet. You dont want to know the consequences!!!!
This is the funniest part of my (almost over) reverse culture shock. I am a deer in headlights for a [...]

The downfall of this site is that I set it up with the old blog mentality of posts being chronological. As you will see in the following weeks as I update the site with notes from different parts of this trip, that has ended, the chron part is, um, more than over.
So be it, thats [...]

“But please dont make us idols.
Because we are not myths of the past or present.
We are active communities.”
-Rigoberta Menchu, in an epilogue on the DVD for his film

I thought it fitting that I watch this film again upon returning home from Guatemala. The information in it strikes my brain as new, even though I watched [...]