arrival in Guatemala City

21 Febrero Arrived in Guatemala City and am finally scared, or excited I suppose. The airport here is small, and I got through customs quickly - not a question asked, just ´hola´ and ´bueno´ when I handed over my passport and form. Much more pleasant than US customs, who took away my apple and orange in Vancouver. Was picked up and taken about 2 min. to the small Hotel Dos Lunas where I spent the night. It´s a beautiful, clean, little hotel inside a veritably fortified high wall with razor wire. For US$40, I got transportation to the airport, a night´s stay, a ride to the bus station the next day, a first-class bus ticket to Xela, and someone from La Escuala Español Juan Sisay to pick me up from there and take me to the family I´m staying. So I´ve been more coddled than would be my usual liking, but I think it´s good because I have no idea what to do here, and any Spanish I thought I knew is gone when I try to actually use it. Most rooms at Dos Lunas are different pastel colours; my room has pink stucko walls, or perhaps peach. It´s 20C outside, and my window is open. The planes pass almost directly overhead, but the rest of the time at night all I hear is occasional traffic, crickets, and a strange occasional beeping sound. To bed early tonight, after reading a little more of I... Rigoberta Menchu - An Indian Woman in Guatemala. 22 febrero - Guatemala City to Xela Most other houses and businesses I see have high protective walls and often razor wire. Traffic is heavy and chaotic. As contrary as it is to my usual habits, I´m glad to get a ride to the bus station. On the drive we saw a herd of about 12 goats, unleashed, walking cooperatively along the sidewalk and crosswalk. The driver said you can buy a cup of warm milk, squeezed as you wait. The city is very heavily advertised for cars, electronics, weight loss, and other familiar things. Perhaps I didn´t give it a chance, but I´m glad to be moving right along to Xela. The ´first-class´ bus cost Q37, about CDN$6 for the 4 1/2h, 200km trip to Xela. The bus looks like an 80´s Greyhound bus, with a cracked-up right-hand windshield and springs protruding through my seat cushion. A policeman with a short-barrel, pump- During the trip, I observe examples of what appear to me as obvious highway class discrimination. There are many police enforcement traps along the highway. We pass one where a group of police are ticketing a group of indians* who are packed into the back of a small pickup. Someone translates for me that the bus driver´s assistant explained something like "they´re not allowed to ride like that." Which, if true, means the police were ostensibly "protecting" them from themselves. Which reminds me a bit of the premise of bicycle helmet laws, but don´t get me started on that. Anyways, a bit later, our driver passes a vehicle around a blind corner, honking to warn any unfortunate souls around the corner of the impending danger, while his assistant waves to the passed vehicle to slow down. He does this many times on the trip, but this time there is a police trap which waves us over. The driver and assistant get out, and after a couple minutes of bargaining we are on our way again. He continues passing around blind corners. A perhaps more subtle unfairness along this highway, to my mind at least, is the obvious danger to those bicycling or walking with heavy loads along its narrow shoulders or in its litter-filled concrete ditch where such existed. At least, none of this is as bad what occured during the civil war, as I´m reading about from Rigoberta Menchu. The volcanoes en route look like the perfect triangular mountains I drew as a kid. The layered agrigulture adds beautiful striated texture to the arid hillsides. The highway is rough, dusty, windy, hilly, and with some steep dropoffs next to the road. Highly scenic. I´m having some technical difficulties transferring photos onto a computer, but will post some good ones when I can. Descriptions of the family I´m staying with, the Juan Sisay school (www.juansisay.com), Xela, and the food here will follow. Unfortunately I´m finding I just don´t have enough time both to do all I want to here and to write about it. Last night I was asleep by 10:30pm, up at 6am, and will likely continue similarly. Off for dinner then homework now. *I´m not sure yet what the correct term is to use, but for now will go with the term Indians, used in the book I´m reading "I... Rigoberta Menchu."