New old memories
# Streetdogs. I met a couple of them today. I like animals in general, but I just can't like those dogs. I guess it's because of all the stories about them, because of the aggressivity and the diseases they carry around. But the streetdogs of Cobán actually seemed nice today.
# Men in the streets. I remember how one sometimes couldn't even walk ten meters without getting tired of them whisteling and shouting after you. But during one hour I think I just got the "I love you"s, the "hello"s and the "goodbye"s thrown after me like seven times. Maybe they're not as machistas in Cobán anymore. Or maybe they're more used to extranjeras now. Or maybe it's been raining to much for the men to stay out. Or maybe I just don't hear it anymore...
# Internetcafés. They're everywhere now. Even in my neighbourhood! Times of globalization.
# Paca, ropa americana. Packages of clothes sent from the states, new ones and 2 hand. Sold very cheap in small tiendas. My "brother" bought a t-shirt today, american eagle, for ten quetzales, more or less one dollar. Like new!
# Shop assistants. They're so many!!! Sometimes the shops are even to small to make space for everyone working there. But they're always very nice and smiling.
# The market. Those smells. Those colors. All this movement. It's something special for sure!
# Sidewalks. Sometimes exists, sometimes not. Normally they're not intact and there are many dangerous holes where you can hurt yourself if you're not careful...
# Trafic. It's just crazy. And smoggy.
# Shoeshine boys, children selling fruit, children selling nuts. Children working all day. This a part I don't like, but can't change either. All I can do is to talk to them. And maybe buy some nuts.
# Machetes and big guns. The man in the sidewalk, the guard ouside the bank. There are a lot of weapons around.
# Churches. They are many. Some of them just in small houses in the middle of the city. Playing livemusic with the doors open to be able to share their missin to as many as possible.
# And the food! Oh my, I'm gonna get fat! Almost three weeks with tortillas, beans, rice, pasta, eggs and potatoes. Beach 2009 here I come!
My breakfast. Beans and fried tortilla with egg. So good! And coffee of course with heaps of sugar. And for dinner we had soup with beans and fried tortilla;)
Back home
"Home is not where you live but where people understand you." (unknown)
Isn't it strange how home can be so far away from everything you know as your own world? Today I arrived home again. I always get the same warm feeling of welcome when the bus drives over the last part of the mountains from the south of Guatemala and into the green, rolling landscapes of Alta Verapaz. I will try to show you some photos later but I think it will be very hard to catch the real feeling for you anyway.
I've been in Guatemala since Thursday night now (Friday morning Swedish time) but it feels like much longer. I've spent a couple of days with some great girls and women. Indigenous women, single mothers with well payed jobs. I've seen the rich part of Guatemala. The shopping malls (with cinemas and United Colors of Benetton), the gated communities (that are not very gated, but at least a bit more secure) and the culture of having lunch and dinner at McDonalds and TacoBell.
Now I'm beginning something new. Also here in Cobán I'm staying with a well situated family with tv, internet and hot water in the shower. But the city here is small and with a majority of indigenous people. That means less trafic, a big mix of languages and a beautiful textile culture. It also means I can get closer to the marginalized people in another way than in the capital. There I couldn't even go through the poor areas with a locked car... I allready arranged a small "office" in my room and tomorrow I'll try to start "working".
For you to get a closer look at my Guatemala without seing any pictures, here are some things I almost forgot about:
# There are roadbumps EVERYWHERE in the roads. And they're high, slim and made out of asphalt. Somehow, everytime you have to pass one you hold your breath, waiting for the car/bus to collapse.
# The female mannequins in the shop-windows have HUGE asses, and they pose a bit more than the Swedish ones.
# Frijoles, huevos and tortilla. Never forget that! Beans, eggs and (corn) tortillas made the Guatemalan way is just the best food in the world!
# When you go by bus there will always be salesmen getting on and off, trying to sell you everything form food and drinks to sissors and strange medicine.
# Along the high and winding roads there are a lot of memorial places to someone who died in any car accident.
# The men just HAVE to whistle after every woman they see in the streets, they just can't help it...
# And the best of all (maybe that's why I like it here...): I'm tall here! At least almost all the indigenous women are shorter than me...
the United States of America
But sorry, the US... I had to change flight twice there yesterday and they just surprise me every time! Allready at the check-in disc in Stockholm they started to ask us all a lot of questions about EVERYTHING. The security guy wanted to know how much electronics I brought with me, for how long I had owned them, who had used them since I bought them, where I've been staying, even where and when I bought my old backpack (they didn't ask about the other, not so "backpackish" bag though...). I'm surprised the guy didn't ask me about what I had for breakfast and why... And then we have all those security controlls, like five of them or something (ok, not really, I'm just a bit embittered), on the way to the gate. And when you FINALLY get to the gate, they've got another security control there as well, asking you where your bag has been since you checked in, if you bought something new on the way or accepted any gift from someone at the airport... Phu...
And then, sorry, we have the discrimination part that just makes me SOOOO frustrated. There was this girl in front of me in the line to the check-in who obviously said goodbye to her boyfriend for a while and she was crying a bit. She was Canadian, but also with an American citicenship and looked just like me (ok, almost...). Her boyfriend, who actually was her husband, was from Libya. So, when the security guy had asked her the usual twenty questions he started to ask her personal questions about her husband, about how they met, where, why in Sweden and so on. After that they took her to another room to search her bags completely, they even went through her bag of used underwear. Finally she as well got to the gate, and hepp! What do you think happened? They searched her whole bag AGAIN! Hers, and thse of a couple of other people with darker skin...
Anyway, this blog is going to be about Guatemala, nothing else. Here, on the contrary, there's no security at all... And when we landed at the airport I happend to have a window seat. They guys working at the airport in Guatemala are not as old as in the US. I would say the youngest one taking care of our luggage wasn't older than ten years. How are their backs doing when their 25?
Anyway, I got here, my bags got here. Now I'm having some lazy days with some nice girls here in Guatemala City before I head up to Coban to try to start my project. And Juan, I can't promise to be totally objective in this blog, that's not my aim. But I will describe what I experience, and how I see it, and I really apreciate all of you commenting (under "kommentarer") what I write and start a discussion if you want to. That'll just be developing for me!
Ok, now it's breakfast time with Itza and Margarita. Hasta Luego!
On my way...
It's not really time to leave Sweden yet, I still have one night left at my parent's place before I start to travel. But I allready packed my bags, for once I didn't do it five minutes before departure...
I've been trying to prepare my self for what I will meet in Guatemala. Friends there will get me at the airport when I arrive late at night and I do allready have a wonderful family to stay with up in the Highlands. But I will meet a new world I'm sure. To get to know women, some will probably be younger than me, allready mothers and with no man to support them. Single mothers depending on their family, or frineds, or work at times when the children sleep, or even childlabour.
They say that Guatemala has become more and more insecure, especially the latest six months. A good friend of mine, who's soon going to Guatemala her self as peace observer, told me some people are even afraid of a new civil war breaking out.
But I'm not to worried about those things. I trust in the Swedish embassy, I trust in people. I might still have a bit blue colour in my eye, but I just don't want to stop trusting in people. What do I have left if I don't have any trust? No, what I worry about is for me not being able to handle what I see and what I meet. I worry about me getting to involved or maybe even worse, not involved at all.
I'm really looking forward to going now. Feels like I can't do nothing more here than wait. And Guatemala IS a beautiful country! I hope to be able to show that to you through this page as well. The beautiful country with landscapes reminding of a fairytale and with people and a culture of art that just makes you happy!
